Oscar VFX Race Narrows To 20 Films

The Academy’s visual effects race just heated up, with twenty features advancing to the next round of consideration.

According to Variety, which made the announcement (the Academy doesn’t publicly release its final 20 list), Disney leads with seven contenders, including James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash and Dan Trachtenberg’s Predator: Badlands. Marvel and Disney’s live-action divisions both show up with multiple entries, from The Fantastic Four: First Steps to Tron: Ares.

Warner Bros. Discovery follows closely with titles including Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17, Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, and James Gunn’s Superman. Apple makes a strong showing through co-productions like F1 and Paul Greengrass’ survival thriller The Lost Bus.

Universal also scores a trio of heavy hitters: Wicked: For Good, How to Train Your Dragon, and Jurassic World: Rebirth. Netflix has a pair of VFX awards hopefuls, too, in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein (despite the insistence from some of its actors that “CGI is for losers”) and the Russo brothers’ The Electric State.

Paramount rounds out the studio slate with Edgar Wright’s The Running Man and Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

Preliminary voting for the shortlist starts on Monday, December 8, and ends on Friday, December 12. The shortlists in 12 categories – including VFX and animated short – will be announced on Tuesday, December 16.

VFX Top 20 Finalists (According to Variety)

• Avatar: Fire and Ash (20th Century Studios)
• Captain America: Brave New World (Marvel Studios)
• The Electric State (Netflix)
• F1 (Apple Original Films/Warner Bros.)
• The Fantastic Four: First Steps (Marvel Studios)
• Frankenstein (Netflix)
• How to Train Your Dragon (Universal Pictures)
• Jurassic World: Rebirth (Universal Pictures)
• Lilo and Stitch (Walt Disney Pictures)
• The Lost Bus (Apple Original Films)
• Mickey 17 (Warner Bros.)
• A Minecraft Movie (Warner Bros.)
• Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (Paramount Pictures)
• Predator: Badlands (20th Century Studios)
• The Running Man (Paramount Pictures)
• Sinners (Warner Bros.)
• Superman (DC Studios)
• Thunderbolts* (Marvel Studios)
• Tron: Ares (Walt Disney Pictures)
• Wicked: For Good (Universal Pictures)