You know, when i saw the title of this thread i was going to say that Narnia has zero chance of any nomination in any category for the Academy Awards, but after seeing that list i would have to say that beyond the obvious certainty of "Inception" and "Tron Legacy" for VFX Nominations it would seem to be a fairly open field for the three remaining spots (reportedly the category is being expanded from three nominations to five nominations for this year)

VDT didn't have the most mind-blowing special effects i've ever seen - but they were fairly solid (none of the dodgy matte-painting shots or obvious day-for-night shots which plagued LWW for me) and even when not particularly impressive from a visual point of view (there was nothing really that compared to the standard of visuals seen in Prince Caspian), they were often very impressive from a technical point of view. The Dawn Treader for example, whilst never 100% convincing as being a real boat on a real ocean, did still impress me in the sense that i knew how much technical work had gone into creating the illusion given that the boat itself never touched water. Equally The Dufflepuds i thought were pretty impressive from a technical stand point.

Anyway, i strongly believe that "Scott Pilgrim Vs The World" deserves to be in the final 5 alongside "Inception" and "Tron Legacy" for some truly unique and original use of the VFX medium, but not too many of the others jump out of me as being sure-fire placements above VDT. Of those films, i thought “Alice in Wonderland”, “Clash of the Titans", “The Last Airbender”, “Percy Jackson” and “Prince of Persia” were all poor-to-average films, with poor-to-average special effects (though VDT doesn't exactly excel too far beyond any of them). Even "Shutter Island", which was one of my favourite films of the year, doesn't really jump out at me from a VFX point of view. Likewise for "Iron Man 2", a movie for which i must of been one of the only people in the world who though it was better than the original (which i thought was distinctly average) still doesn't really jump out at me as being particularly nomination worthy when it comes to the VFX for that film.

So overall, in spite of my reservations about certain aspects of the film, i would honestly have to say that it would seem that VDT possess a reasonable shot at an oscar nomination in the VFX cateogory, especially given the expanded scale of the nominations for this year, That said though i wouldn't hold your breath - as with most Oscar nominations it depends to a large degree how strongly the studio campaigns for it, so you are far more likely to see the films with a lot of studio clout behind them (Harry Potter being one of them) taking the remaining spots.

Even if nominated, it won't win. I'd say its a toss between Inception and Tron Legacy.

yeah, I see Inception taking the win. But a nomination is very nice just the same.

Well, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (the best film of the year btw) has some of the most unique visual effects in years, so I wouldn't be surprised if that was nominated.

Inception (the second best film of the year) doesn't have as many visual effects in it as you might think. There's a lot of scenes where they just talk. Sure, the effects that ARE in it are pretty impressive, but far from innovative. (with the exception of the folding street)

Deathly Hallows Part I should be another nominee IMO. There are some really impressive effects in that film. The effects in the Potter films have gotten better and better over the years.

Iron Man 2 is another.

Shutter Island had visual effects? Don't remember seeing anything special in that one, but I guess that's generally when the effects are great; when you don't notice them.

After seeing the film, I saw that VDT most definitely had a strong chance to be nominated, but of course with the long list of films that are also in the running, VDT hardly stands any chance of winning at all. Understandably, there are certainly films in that list that contained much stronger special effects and are standouts among this group.

Inception definitely possessed several extreme VFX scenes, as Griffle mentioned the most important one being the intense collapsing city moment. So besides being a top film of the year, and though it is not overwhelmed with effects, it is certainly amongst others a standout in this Oscar category.

Obviously, Iron Man 2, Tron Legacy, and Alice in Wonderland are packed with visual effects, and scores in the box office.

Honestly, I don't find myself very impressed by the visual effects in Harry Potter...the film series has carried on endlessly, lost steam ages ago, and therefore the effects seem continuously repetitive as well.

I haven't seen the others on the list, so I cannot judge them. Regardless, as I mentioned before, VDT will most likely be completely overlooked. I'm not trying to be pessimistic, but from watching the Oscars many times before, they always pick films that were big box office hits, which contained famous Hollywood actors, and unusual visual effects. I'm still keeping my hopes up that Narnia is at least honored for the many visuals that it did contain.

It should at least be nominated for Best Costumes award. The outfits were splendid- Isis Mussenden totally outdid herself again.

I agree, the costumes were beautiful.

Academy Awards announce the 7 semi-finalists. Sadly Narnia is now out of competition in this category. The seven left are:

Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Hereafter
Inception
Iron Man 2
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Tron: Legacy

But on other news. VDT did receive a nomination for Art Directors Guild Awards in the Fantasy Film category, up against:

Alice In Wonderland
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1
Inception
Tron: Legacy

From the list we are given I'd say the three to be nominated are Inception, Tron: Legacy, and Alice in Wonderland.

Harry Potter has already been won and nominated before so I don't see them bothering with that one. Iron Man 2 had nothing the first didnt have and the first didnt even win back in 2008. Hereafter and Scott Pilgrim are unlikely.

And as far as costumes go, while they are good, they are not nearly as "oscar worthy" as several other films being released. And the editing is certainly not a strong point for this film. Or the cinematography. And certainly not the Adapted Screenplay.

we can maybe hope for a "Best Song" nomination for "There's a Place For Us". While many don't like the song, it did receice a Golden Globe nomination and that counts for something.

two things. This category will have five nominees rather than three as in previous years. Also, Harry Potter has been nominated for Oscars, but they have yet to win an Oscar.

"There's a Place for Us" lost its golden globe to "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me". Oh well. It was nice to be nominated...

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Best Makeup as a possible Oscar nomination for VDT. After all, Howard Berger did win one for LWW. I also can't think of any other obvious contenders in this category besides Alice in Wonderland.

Well, VDT didn't get any Oscar nominations.

I think there were just a lot of other films out there this year that were much better. It's always hard for a film that gets less than 50% on RottenTomatoes to win many Academy Awards unless it has some aspect about it that is exceptionally well done. There weren't any aspects of VDT that were groundbreaking or that pushed the limits. LWW managed to come out early enough that it was still in new territory, but the bar has just been set higher every year. VDT, by 2010 standards, was merely average.

Well, the People's Choice and Kids' Choice awards have both ignored VDT completely, so it looks like the Golden Globes are our only high-profile nomination.

On the bright side, VDT did win a Truly Moving Picture Award and NarniaFans reports that the International 3D Society's 3D Creative Arts Awards gave Dawn Treader the People's Choice Award for Favorite 3D Live Action Movie.

I wonder if the Oscars will even have a clip of Dawn Treader in a montage somewhere? Perhaps one of the actors will give out an award?

Sorry to be bleak, but I don't think there's any chance of them showing up at the ceremony at all.