VFX Oscar noms down to 7
Seven on VFX list
Dec 17, 2005
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed on Friday the seven films in consideration for achievement in visual effects for the 78th Annual Academy Awards.
The films include Warner Bros. Pictures' "Batman Begins," "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire;" Buena Vista Pictures' "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe"; Universal Studios' "King Kong"; LucasFilms and 20th Century Fox's "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith"; and Paramount Studios' "War of the Worlds."
After conducting a series of meetings, the VFX committee waded through more than 300 films, then narrowed the list to 30-40 and finally whittled the group down to 14-15 "respectable visual effects films," according to Richard Edlund, visual effects branch governor.
"The list of films has increased every year since we formed the category 11 years ago," said Edlund, who is this year serving his last term as branch governor. "Visual effects are much more common now, but we still have only three nomination slots." Edlund said he could foresee the category growing to five nominations in the future but anticipated that it would take some time.
"As time goes on, (the list of visual effects Oscar nominees) will increase from three to five," he mused. "At which point, if we had to go beyond seven (shortlisted films), we will have to have two nights of bakeoff reels."
The committee balloted 10 films in order of preference and PricewaterhouseCoopers tallied the votes to determine this year's bakeoff seven. Among the films that made it into the final 15 but failed to make the short-listed seven according to sources, were Warner's "Corpse Bride" and DreamWorks Animation's "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit." Other films closely considered that failed to make the prenomination cut were Fox's "Fantastic Four" and "Kingdom of Heaven," Dimension Film's "Sin City" and Sony Pictures' "Stealth."
Four visual effects representatives have been selected by executives in charge of production on each of the films vying for Oscar's three nomination slots. The seven teams will present 15-minute clip reels from their respective films for the Visual Effects Award Nominating Committee on Jan. 25.
The "Batman" team includes Janek Sirrs, Dan Glass, Chris Corbould and Paul Franklin; "Charlie" is represented by Nick Davis, Nikki Penny, Chas Jarrett and Jon Thum; "Harry Potter's" team is Jim Mitchell, Tim Alexander, Tim Webber and Jon Richardson; the "Narnia" team is Dean Wright, Bill Westenhofer, Jim Berney and Scott Farrar; "King Kong's" team is Joe Letteri, Christian Rivers, Brian Van't Hul and Richard Taylor; the "Sith" group is John Knoll, Roger Guyett, Rob Coleman and Brian Gernand; and the "War of the Worlds" team is Dennis Muren, Pablo Helman, Randal M. Dutra and Daniel Sudick.
All nominations for the 78th Academy Awards will be announced on Jan. 31. Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements for 2005 will be presented on March 5.
The films include Warner Bros. Pictures' "Batman Begins," "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire;" Buena Vista Pictures' "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe"; Universal Studios' "King Kong"; LucasFilms and 20th Century Fox's "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith"; and Paramount Studios' "War of the Worlds."
After conducting a series of meetings, the VFX committee waded through more than 300 films, then narrowed the list to 30-40 and finally whittled the group down to 14-15 "respectable visual effects films," according to Richard Edlund, visual effects branch governor.
"The list of films has increased every year since we formed the category 11 years ago," said Edlund, who is this year serving his last term as branch governor. "Visual effects are much more common now, but we still have only three nomination slots." Edlund said he could foresee the category growing to five nominations in the future but anticipated that it would take some time.
"As time goes on, (the list of visual effects Oscar nominees) will increase from three to five," he mused. "At which point, if we had to go beyond seven (shortlisted films), we will have to have two nights of bakeoff reels."
The committee balloted 10 films in order of preference and PricewaterhouseCoopers tallied the votes to determine this year's bakeoff seven. Among the films that made it into the final 15 but failed to make the short-listed seven according to sources, were Warner's "Corpse Bride" and DreamWorks Animation's "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit." Other films closely considered that failed to make the prenomination cut were Fox's "Fantastic Four" and "Kingdom of Heaven," Dimension Film's "Sin City" and Sony Pictures' "Stealth."
Four visual effects representatives have been selected by executives in charge of production on each of the films vying for Oscar's three nomination slots. The seven teams will present 15-minute clip reels from their respective films for the Visual Effects Award Nominating Committee on Jan. 25.
The "Batman" team includes Janek Sirrs, Dan Glass, Chris Corbould and Paul Franklin; "Charlie" is represented by Nick Davis, Nikki Penny, Chas Jarrett and Jon Thum; "Harry Potter's" team is Jim Mitchell, Tim Alexander, Tim Webber and Jon Richardson; the "Narnia" team is Dean Wright, Bill Westenhofer, Jim Berney and Scott Farrar; "King Kong's" team is Joe Letteri, Christian Rivers, Brian Van't Hul and Richard Taylor; the "Sith" group is John Knoll, Roger Guyett, Rob Coleman and Brian Gernand; and the "War of the Worlds" team is Dennis Muren, Pablo Helman, Randal M. Dutra and Daniel Sudick.
All nominations for the 78th Academy Awards will be announced on Jan. 31. Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements for 2005 will be presented on March 5.
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