Archive notice: This article was originally published on January 15, 2016. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
There were a full twelve nominations for “The Revenant” by “Birdman” director Alejandro González Iñárritu, while “Mad Max: Fury Road” is nominated in ten categories. This makes these two films the favorites to take home the most trophies at the 88th Academy Awards, which take place on February 28.
Best VFX
Both films also received a nomination in the “Best Visual Effects” category. The effects for “The Revenant” starring Leonardo diCaprio, including an aggressive CG bear, were supplied by ILM, MPC, Soho VFX and Cinesite, among others. Iloura and Method Studios worked on the VFX for “Mad Max,” while Stereo 3D handled the conversion. The two films have one thing in common: Tom Hardy as an actor. The British actor was nominated for best supporting actor for his performance in “The Revenant” (be sure to watch the film in its original-language version; Hardy’s slang is great).
Other nominated films whose VFX the jury considered particularly noteworthy are “Ex Machina” (Double Negative , Milk VFX), “The Martian” (Framestore, MPC, Prime Focus, Milk VFX) and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” (ILM).
The Best Animated Films
In the “Best Animated Feature” category, “Inside out” can be regarded as the biggest favorite. The other nominees are Anomalisa, Boy and the World, Shaun the Sheep Movie and When Marnie Was There.
In the “Best Animated Short Film” category, the following projects received a nomination:
“Bear Story” by Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala from Chile
“Prologue” by Richard Williams and Imogen Sutton from the USA
The Pixar short film “Sanjay’s Super Team” by Sanjay Patel and Nicole Grindle
“We Can’t Live without Cosmos” by Konstantin Bronzit from Russia
“World of Tomorrow” by Don Hertzfeldt from the USA
You can find all nominees in the remaining categories on the Academy website.
