Solely Two Sci-Fi Motion pictures Have Gained Finest Image At The Oscars

Within the 97 years that the Academy Awards have been going, sure genres have at all times remained the underdogs, no matter how normal audiences could really feel about them at any given time in historical past. In terms of science-fiction, for instance, solely two entrants within the style have truly walked away with the Finest Image Oscar, and each are more moderen than you would possibly anticipate. Truly, there hadn’t been a single Finest Image-winning sci-fi movie in any respect till Guillermo del Toro’s sci-fi horror romance “The Form of Water” got here up for air in 2017. However, del Toro’s story of a girl (Sally Hawkins) falling for a merman (Doug Jones) managed to test all of the required containers on the time, successful Finest Image over the likes of “Name Me By Your Identify,” “Get Out,” “Dunkirk,” “Three Billboards Exterior Ebbing, Missouri,” “Darkest Hour,” “The Submit,” “Woman Hen,” and “Phantom Thread.” 

This was additionally the victory that seemingly broke the seal for the sci-fi style on the Oscars; simply 5 years later, administrators Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert went on to scrub up on the Academy Awards with their very own Finest Image-winning sci-fi hit “The whole lot In all places All At As soon as.” Daniels’ outlandish story of alternate dimensions and the dream of simply doing laundry with somebody was an enormous success all through the 2022 awards season, culminating with stars Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and Jamie Lee Curtis all successful Oscars, and verifying that sci-fi was lastly getting some deserved (and lengthy overdue) recognition from the Academy. That brings us to the current the place, on the time of writing, one more sci-fi image finds itself in rivalry to win some shiny gold statuettes.

What with the likes of “The Godfather Half II” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” being the one sequels in historical past to win Finest Image Oscars (and thought of among the finest motion pictures of all time), would possibly there be an opportunity that “Dune: Half Two” be part of the ranks as a uncommon champion and one other contender from the sci-fi style that will get some effectively earned reward? Not since Peter Jackson’s preliminary departure from Center-earth has a blockbuster epic like this been so beloved by each critics and audiences alike, making it a movie greater than worthy of consideration from the Academy.

Apart from boasting spectacular performances from the likes of Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, and Austin Butler (all of whom should be thought of within the Oscar dialog), Denis Villeneuve’s route on the sci-fi tentpole alone warrants consideration from the Academy. Certainly, “Dune” and “Dune: Half Two” star Josh Brolin has even threatened to give up performing if Villeneuve would not obtain an Oscar nomination for his efforts on the “Dune” sequel (and he seems to solely be half-joking). Having triumphantly closed the e book on Frank Herbert’s “unfilmable” story, “Dune: Half Two” definitely deserves to grow to be one of many uncommon sci-fi motion pictures to be topped Finest Image come Oscar night time. The Academy could have barred Hans Zimmer’s rating for the “Dune” sequel from getting a nomination however there isn’t any purpose to snub Villeneuve and the remainder of the movie.

Who is aware of — with a bit of luck, 2025 will grow to be the yr that we add a 3rd Finest Image-winning sci-fi function to the pile.