Could 'Gravity' Boldly Go Where No Sci-Fi Film Has Gone Before?
Could "Gravity" boldly go where no movie of its genre has gone before at the 86th Academy Awards?
Believe it or not, no sci-fi film has ever won the Oscar for Best Picture and only seven have been nominated: "The Tree of Life" (2011), "Inception" (2010), "Avatar" (2009), "District 9" (2009), "E.T: the Extra-Terrestrial" (1982), "Star Wars" (1977), and "A Clockwork Orange" (1971). Science-fiction films may be among Hollywood's most successful – "Avatar" is the biggest U.S. box-office hit ever – but when it comes to those oft-snooty Academy Awards, voters prefer films about real men ("The King's Speech," "Argo") to those starring little blue ones.
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The bias is so extreme that even some of the greatest sci-fi flicks of all time – like "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977) – weren't even nominated. One of the few that did break in – "E.T." – ended up suffering an infamous loss to "Gandhi." What gives?
The answer probably has a lot to do with those green aliens and blue men.
When looking over the list of past Oscar Best Picture winners and nominees, one pattern is clear: Voters prefer movies based upon real-life events like "Titanic" (1997) and "A Beautiful Mind" (2001), or at least films with stories that feel quite real, like "Slumdog Millionaire" (2008) and "Million Dollar Baby" (2004).
"Gravity" feels very real, too, and doesn't showcase lizardlike aliens who gobble up Reese's Pieces. It seems more like "The Right Stuff" (1983) and "Apollo 13" (1995) – Best Picture nominees that were set in outer space, yes, but weren't (for the most part) fictional. Alas, "The Right Stuff" lost its Oscar Best Picture race to "Terms of Endearment," and "Apollo 13" got shot down by "Braveheart."
The same bias against sci-fi films seems to afflict fantasy movies, too. In 2001, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" entered the Oscar derby as the second-biggest grossing film of the year after "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," and it led with the most nominations (13), followed by "A Beautiful Mind" (8) and "Moulin Rouge!" (8). After it lost Best Picture to "A Beautiful Mind," the next "Rings" installment ("The Two Towers") lost to "Chicago" a year later, and "Ring" fans were getting furious. It's terrifying to think what they may have done if the Oscars hadn't finally relented in 2003 and crowned "The Return of the King."
Similar resistance was dramatically evidenced in the sci-fi genre the year "Star Wars" lost to "Annie Hall." "Star Wars" was not only the box-office champ of 1977, but it reaped awards validation by being voted Best Picture by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Heading into the Oscars, it had 10 nominations compared to 11 for "Julia" and "The Turning Point," and only 5 for "Annie Hall." "Star Wars" fans surely must've been getting their hopes up throughout Oscar night as they heard the film's euphoric theme music again and again as it won category after category. The George Lucas-helmed blockbuster earned six awards that night, but not the biggie.
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Looking to the future, sci-fi fans have good reason to be hopeful. Even if "Gravity" fails to win Best Picture, there will be plenty of chances for the genre in the coming years. One strong contender in the next race will be “Interstellar,” which features a bevy of past Oscar winners and nominees, including Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and Michael Caine. It’s directed by Christopher Nolan, who helmed “Inception,” so don't be surprised if it picks up more than a few nominations.
