Star Trek Nominated For 4 Academy Awards – Matching Franchise Record February 2, 2010
by Anthony Pascale , Filed under: CBS/Paramount,Star Trek (2009 film) , trackback
This morning (Feb. 2) the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominees for the 82nd annual Academy Awards, and the 2009 Star Trek movie picked up four nominations, matching the record set by Star Trek IV. Although there was a bit of buzz, Star Trek did not pick up a Best Picture nomination. In addition, some Trek vets picked up nods. Details below.
Star Trek gets 4 Oscar nominations
Star Trek was nominated in four categories: Visual Effects, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, and Makeup. Here are the films that Star Trek is going up against:
Visual Effects
- “Avatar” Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
- “District 9” Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
- “Star Trek” Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton
Sound Editing
- “Avatar” Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
- “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson
- “Inglourious Basterds” Wylie Stateman
- “Star Trek” Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
- “Up” Michael Silvers and Tom Myers
Sound Mixing
- “Avatar” Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
- “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
- “Inglourious Basterds” Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
- “Star Trek” Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
- “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson
Makeup
- “Il Divo” Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
- “Star Trek” Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
- “The Young Victoria” Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore
There was much buzz about the expansion of of the Best Picture category to 10 and how that would bring some mainstream films into the mix, possibly Star Trek. The 2009 Star Trek film did end up on the National Board of Review Top 10, and was also one of 10 nominees by the PGA, but in the end didn’t make it for the Academy. Here is the list of the 10 Best Picture nominees.
Best Picture
- “Avatar” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
- “The Blind Side” Nominees to be determined
- “District 9” Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
- “An Education” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
- “The Hurt Locker” Nominees to be determined
- “Inglourious Basterds” Lawrence Bender, Producer
- “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
- “A Serious Man” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
- “Up” Jonas Rivera, Producer
- “Up in the Air” Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers
Other categories where Star Trek was nominated by the associated guild, but not by the Academy were: Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Costumes, and Art Direction.
The nominee leaders for the year were The Hurt Locker and Avatar, each with a total of 9 nominations. This was a good year for science fiction, with Star Trek, Avatar and District 9 picking up a total of 17 nominations between them, with Avatar and District 9 both being nominated for Best Picture. However, Avatar didn’t set the sci-fi record, which is still held by Star Wars with a total of 10 nominations (including Best Picture) in 1977. For a complete list of nominations visit Oscars.org.
Star Trek ties franchise record
Star Trek is fifth film in the franchise to be nominated, although none has ever won an Academy Award. Star Trek matched Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home in total nominations. The chart below shows how 2009 Star Trek movie stacks up against past Trek films.
| The Motion Picture |
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home |
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country |
Star Trek: First Contact |
Star Trek | |
| 1979 | 1986 | 1991 | 1996 | 2009 | |
| Cinematography | X | ||||
| Original Score | X | X | |||
| Art Direction | X | ||||
| Makeup | X | X | X | ||
| Visual Effects | X | X | |||
| Sound Mixing | X | X | |||
| Sound Editing | X | X | X |
Giacchino, Plummer and other Trek vets pick up nods
The Trek connections in this year’s Oscars don’t end with the new film’s nominations. A few other Trek vets have also been nominated. Even though he wasn’t nominated by the Academy for his Star Trek score, Michael Giacchino was still recognized for his work on Disney/Pixar’s Up. The major Trek-related nomination, however, is that of Star Trek VI actor Christopher Plummer (General Chang), who is up as Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for his work as Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station. Interestingly, this is Plummer’s first Oscar nomination in his nearly sixty-year career.
In addition, star Trek VI CG supervisor Joe Letteri was among those nominated for the visual effects of James Cameron’s Avatar. Robert Stromberg, a matte artist on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Voyager, and Star Trek: First Contact, is also up for Avatar in the Art Direction category. Greg P. Russell, who worked on Star Trek VI as a sound re-recording mixer, shares a nomination in the Sound Mixing category for his work on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Lastly, sound mixer Andy Nelson is nominated for his work on Avatar in addition to being nominated for Star Trek.
The 82nd annual Academy Awards airs live on ABC on Sunday March 7th at 8 pm (EST), 5 pm (PST).
Chuck Trotter contributed to this report
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Comments
I’m really sick of hearing about Avatar. Anyway, congrats to JJ and the Star Trek team for the nominations! Star Trek is an excellent movie!
AVATAR over Star Trek??? I have officially given up on the Academy Awards.
Firssssss. Bravo Star Trek.
They might as well just hand out the awards to Avatar now. You know damn well they’re going to get picked over Star Trek.
cool…first??
We Got Robbed!!!
Lame. I mean…great for Star Trek to be nominated at all…I’m just irritated because aside from the visual effects of Avatar, I found it to be a highly disappointing film. At the very least, Star Trek deserved an extra nod with one more nomination somewhere. Cinematography? Art Direction? No? Nothin’? Sigh.
Oh…and District 9 for Best Picture? Please.
are certain messages being deleted?
I hope it wins in some of the categories.
I was only saying that i would feel a bit sad that past Trek movies never won.
Star Trek def has to win in the sound mixing and visual effects they were the best of 2009
be a disgrace if Transformers 2 wins anything, it was terrible.
If it wins Best pic I will be happy,
They uped the nominations to Best Picture to 10 and yet couldn’t give
Star Trek one of the 10 slots? Well at least this year they will honor a
film people have actully seen.I won’t be watching Oscars since my
policy Is to only watch Oscars when something I have seen Is up for
major awards.I boycatted it last year In protest of the Dark Knight
not being nominated for Best Picture Director or screenplay.Although I
knew they would give it to Heath Ledger.I haven’t seen Avatar,and
don’t have plans to In the Immedate future.
9 yes lol
11 scrap my last message referring to best pic
but it has to win for visual effects and sound mixing in the categories it has been nominated for before.
ST09 has no chance to win in any of the categories except for makeup. Avatar and Hurt Locker are going to win everything.
about Heath Ledger’s win last year, I don’t think he would have been nominated if he had not died.
He did deserve but i do feel the hype about the oscar only came to light after his death.
Makes you wonder.
You’ll see how those unoriginal sounds emanating from the na’vi animals will get them the oscar, just like if it was 1993 again… and by that youngsters I mean Jurassik Park… back then it was original
I wouldnt be upset if Tranformers ROF wins for FX, those were pretty dang impressive. But Im not sure if its even up for that.
UP was better than Startrek?? And not even nominated for score? So weak sauce
District 9 really hurt Star Trek.
There was no way that the Academy was going to nominate three genre films in the same year. ST had the bad luck of coming out in a great year for genre films. Avatar’s nomination was a given… In my mind one of those two final slots came down between D9 and Star Trek.
While I’m glad that District Nine (great film) was nominated there are some other films on that list (I’ve seen the majority of the nominated films) that I objectively thought ST was better than.
I have to admit I’m a little disappointed. While I held no illusions that ST could win best film. I thought it stood a great chance of grabbing one of those final nominations.
I wonder how close the voting was?
Most of my non-trekkie friends and specifically all those who were women liked star trek a lot more than district 9. They hated all the guts etc, even if there was hacked up love story at the end of the movie, but they still preferred Star trek, while with men it was more of 50/50 with weirdos digging D9 more than trek… funny
It should definitely win for sound mixing. The sounds in the film were very memorable. The opening sound effects were haunting.
I raced home from work this morning to watch the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announce……….nothing exciting. I thought for sure that having 10 spots open for Best Picture ‘Star Trek’ would be there! Holey Moley. Well, maybe 2013!
cool….
I like district 9 as well, but honestly hollywood likes movies that have a political lean towards them. It probably did come down to Star Trek and District 9, with D9 winning because of what the story was based on.
I think Star Trek stands a chance in Makeup and Sound. The sound was outstanding, especially in the mind meld scene, and with things like ships jumping to warp and the unique sound of the Jellyfish.
Great chart, Anthony. Very interesting to see where each film finished in regards to Oscar nominations. (And stunning to think that this is only the second time in 11 films that Star Trek has been nominated for visual effects.)
VFX will go to Avatar. We may have a shot at the others, but if there will be a Trek Win, I would have to say it’ll be makeup.
robbed
I really loved District 9.
oy!
Nobody should take the Academy seriously enough to complain about their judgment on anything.
#31 Agreed, Star Trek 09 is the winner in our minds no matter what :}
I would say Star Trek’s best shot at picking up an Oscar would be its nomination for makeup.
I’m pretty sure the make-up award will go to Star Trek.
About the others…. I’m afraid “Avatar” will win those.
I think “District 9” is overrated personally. However, to think that Star Trek (by the way, over at aintitcool, they refer to it as STINO or “Star Trek: In Name Only, WTF!?) Would get an Oscar Nomination for best picture is reaching, don’t you think?
Star Trek was never seen as cool in the Academy’s eyes. District 9 is gritty sci-fi (the Academy likes its grit!) and Avatar (although I loved the film) is “Dances with Wolves” on another planet. Dances with Wolves was loved by the Academy back in the early 90′s.
#27 Agreed. Avatar will get best VFX, and rightly so. IMHO, the VFX are ALL that makes Smurfgully . . . Avatar stand out from the crowd.
Sound editing and sound mixing, I don’t understand well enough to have an opinion.
Makeup is out best shot, and I think it might be ours, especially if some of the CG work (see the OB/GYN that delivered baby Jim) is included.
- Harry
Tomatometer Scores:
Avatar: 82%
The Blind Side: 70%
District 9: 90%
An Education: 95%
The Hurt Locker: 97%
Inglourious Basterds: 89%
Precious: 91%
A Serious Man: 87%
Up: 98%
Up in the Air: 90%
Star Trek: 94%
It deserves to be there.
i think a Shatner cameo would have propelled Trek to best picture
“Avatar didn’t set the sci-fi record, which is still held by Star Wars”
Star Wars is not sci-fi. Lucas himself confirmed that ;)
Like it’s message or not, District 9 had something to say. I love ST09, but I’m not sure it had anything particularly deep to offer. For this reason, I’m okay with District 9 getting the nod…
What a great year for genre pictures!
:)
No nomination for the music? Shame! -__-’
Sound mixing for ST09 for sure. There is no way it [ST] is going to win VFX, however, as Avatar’s–whether you like the actual film or not–are pretty stunning. The dialog on the other hand…I think some of it was written in crayon on a wall by a child.
I did not expect to see a ST best picture nomination (not that I wouldn’t have been super happy to). Although it is a very good film, it is probably not the most important film (if that is even a consideration anymore) or the best film of the year.
-’Trick
40. brian
Exactly.
-’Trick
25.
Agreed. Sound and Makeup.
Hm, there aren’t a lot of makeup nominees this year. I guess when you can use a stylus on a wacom instead of makeup on a face…
-’Trick
will there be a tribute to brent Spiner as it his birthday today?
Transformers2 is officially in the running for a Razzies Worst Picture nomination.
46
excellent
#35 Sean-Wan
Star Trek actually made quite a few major critics top ten list.
It was somewhat of a longshot, but it was definitely in the running. As late as last week USA Today and Entertainment Weekly predicted it would be nominated for best film.
Thanks for the heads up VOODOO. I should have taken that into consideration. I just feel like the Academy is a bit too elitist.
Here is a small article about the Oscars from Entertainment Weekly that makes mention of Star Trek being “snubbed”.
http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/02/02/oscar-nominations-who-got-snubbed/
The way I see it, Star Trek will always be one of the best pictures, to the fans anyway.
Yeah, I’m a little surprised that District 9 is up there instead of Star Trek. The gore in District 9 was unnecessary and childish. It ruined the movie for me. I enjoyed the apartheid parallel and thought it clever, but the overall irreverence and banality of the action in the movie made the parallel somewhat diminished in its significance. Star Trek is a far superior film.
Hardly surprising. I don’t know why anyone gives a rats ass about the Academy Awards anyway. Its an inbred clicque of self important individuals. Filthy rich people giving themselves awards and lots of self adulation.
I think it actually speaks more to Trek’s integrity that its not up for best picture.
this is bad. Star Trek yet AGAIN gets pushed into the ‘same-old, same old geekfest’ category by Visual Effects, Sound and Makeup-only nominations by the Academy while less-deserving films get nominated for Best Picture…
SCREW THE ACADEMY AWARDS ANYWAY!!! In all honesty, the REAL movie awards that COUNTS these days are the MTV movie awards…and since MTV is part of the same parent corporation as Paramount…let the campaign begin:)
Really???? The Blind Side? We got totally hosed.
Of course the Academy wouldn’t give Trek the respect it deserves though, so I probably should have seen this coming.
Almost forgot:
I’m the most annoyed that Trek wasn’t nominated for best original score. I thought the score for the movie was incredible.
Seany-Wan #49
I don’t think the Academy was elitist enough this year in some respects. Ten films is too many. It cheapens the award.
Example A: Is Sandra Bullock’s “The Blind Side” truly best film material?
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice movie, but does it truly deserve to be nominated for best film?
On the other hand I do agree that the Academy can be elitist. Sorry, but “A Serious Man” and ” An Education” were both bores.
If I were picking I would have nominated both “Star Trek” and the very underrated “Moon” over any of those three.
It’s not my intention to sound like a nerd by suggesting that four Sci-fi films should have been nominated, but this was a special year for genre films. The majority of time Sci-fi films are childish and made for the lowest common denominator that just likes to see loud explosions and cardboard characters doing macho things on screen, but 2009 produced four films that could have been legitimately nominated for best film.
The fact that Star Trek (2009) has garnered so many Academy Award nominations does not surprise me.
I hope that it will win at least one of them.
Even if it does not, however, it is an honor to be nominated even once. To be honored four times is a quadruple honor.
Trek tells us of a hopeful future. I have just updated my blog with some recent comments expressing my hope that its vision will not be in vain.
and to clarify: IT HAS NEVER BEEN MORE OBVIOUS THAT STAR TREK IS BEING DELIBERATELY BLACKBALLED…and in this case it keeps getting the shaft to an egregious film that has the underlying message (despite its scifi nature) that ‘America is the enemy’…add to that that AVATAR LIFTED ITS LOOSE STORY FROM STAR TREK INSURRECTION!!!
As much as i love Star Trek , I never bought into all the Awards Hype! As much as I’d love to see Star Trek win an Oscar for best Movie, it’ll likely never happen,ever! As for District 9, I loved it! Great movie. As for Avatar, I went there believing that it was all hype and that people were only considering the F-X and CGI and 3-D, etc, and had read all the comments about it not being a great story, so putting everything I heard, read, and expected aside I went to the film and have to honestly say that it deserves everything it gets! It is truly groundbreaking and will go down in history as something unique & truly special, and aside from the technology used in this movie i feel the movie had a beautiful message of the connectivity of all Nature’s creatures and the symbiotic relationship of the planet and its inhabitants, and the cycle of Life, and the oneness with all other life and the connection with deity, etc., etc. I really thought that it was something special, and although I am a trek fan of 35 years, I think Avatar was the better film… I just wish it hadn’t been released at year’s end and stole Star Trek’s thunder!!!!
I can’t believe “Youth in Revolt” was ignored. It’s Michael Cera hatred, I tell you!
I’ll take grity Sci-fi Like Star Trek 09 or District 9 “(dispite the political undertows) over new age mumbo jumbo.
I know the Oscars is the top of the mountain or #1 for movie awards and nominations since the dawn of time. Lets dont forget how full shit the oscars are normally. This is the same group that didnt think The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan) or Gran Torino (Clint Eastwood) were not worthy of best movies of the year catagory last year. Slum Dog Millionare won best picture, yeah right. Clint Eastwood should also been nominated for best actor last year, guess what, not. Sean overated Penn won it for a shit film named Milk. The Oscars are full of shit only nominated overated independent films loaded with washed up actors or way over praised films like Avatar. Star Trek should be up in the Best Movie catagory.
I think “Moon” should have received at least two nominations; Sam Rockwell for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. :-) Loved that movie!
Congratulations ST09 & team on your nominations!
@ 19 – “District 9 really hurt Star Trek.”
Wrong. Weak script and lame plot hurt Star Trek. That is one of the reasons it is no nominated for anything serious.
My faith in the Academy has been renewed.
#64- I agree….awesome movie…and it’s actually science fiction!
I hope Trek wins for sound mix….that was one of the best mixes I’ve heard in years.
I didn’t expect Trek to get nominated for anything outside of tech categories….I certainly don’t feel it’s Best Picture material, but then again I don’t think Avatar is either.
Please, tell me more about how much the Academy sucks.. I needed a good laugh..
Up with people!
#66
That pretty much sums it up. District 9 is a much stronger film overall.
#66
I completely disagree with what you said about Trek’s plot and script. I thought they had a good plot and a very well written script. With that said, District 9′s was better, and my fandom will allow me to admit that.
I never thought I’d ever hear such bitching over something like this.
Up better than Star Trek? Yes.
District 9 better than Star Trek? Yes.
I mean, seriously, is there really that much of a lack of good taste here?
These films were all better, leagues better, in fact. It’s as if you think that Star Trek was a cinematic masterpiece. I don’t know what you’re expecting.
72, I’m sorry, but to me, Star Trek (2009) WAS, indeed, a cinematic masterpiece.
I’m pretty emotional right now, because I think the man I voted for, President Obama, is about to kill one of the things in government I love most — the manned space program. (I even updated my blog for the first time in a year to say so.)
But to fans like me, there was NO BETTER MOVIE than Star Trek (2009). It’s a matter of personal preference.
I loved Avatar, and I hope it does win Best Picture.
But it was no Star Trek.
I’m actually pretty satisfied with that. Those are pretty much the only four areas ST09 actually excelled in.
#52: Even if you didn’t have the stomach for some of the VFX in District 9, I don’t see how that makes a movie that substituted lens flares for 90% of its plot somehow superior.
#56: We were clearly listening to two completely unrelated film scores. :)
#59: not to hate on Insurrection (which I actually liked, despite it not being all that special), but Avatar probably ripped the plot from any number of other, more prominent films.
#66, 72: AMEN.
#71. I’ve come to the conclusion that this man had just finished a week-long Dora the Explorer marathon immediately before watching ST09. Nothing else can explain his insinuations that the film had a plot, or his praise for the four bars of auditory Clip-Art that were repeated over and over throughout the entire film. :P
Here is a question I have been pondering: How many “Best Picture” winners have endured the test of time? I know Godfather has, but out of all the best picture winners, how many have truly aged well? Some would trash Titanic now…
But people quote “The Godfather”, not “Titanic” . Is quotability a true test of a films endurance?
Avitar was over rated..
The academy is run by some pretty foolish people. I will not hold my breath for star trek to win all 4… one or two is realistic. Never the less GOOD LUCK to JJ, Bob, and alex with the rest of the crew of the Enterprise.
Maybe Star Trek would have got a nod if it had more four letter words, and maybe a political theme masked as Sci-fi. Hmm could have based it on custards last stand or something.
#74
Well to each his own, I suppose, but myself and 94% of movie critics disagree with you. (check out Rotten Tomatoes)
DEF DESERVES BEST PICTURE!! – and BEST DIRECTOR!! – WITHOUT A DOUBT.. if you do… just LOOK AT THE FILM AGAIN! – enough Said . . .!
Hang on ST4 got nominated for original score?
Star Trek got plenty of good reviews and did respectably at the Box Office, whether that works for the nay-sayers or not. I am one of those who believed Star Trek was a terrific film all ’round — great cast, great story. I don’t really care whether it gets any awards… even the Beatles went hardly recognized by the Grammies for years… who can ever figure that one out? When ENT ended, I really thought that would be the end of Star Trek for some time. JJ and Co. did us Trekkies a huge favor by making Star Trek legitimate again.
Ran #66
Among the people would would disagree with you are
1) The Producers Guild
2) Entertainment Weekly
3) LA Times
4/ E-Online
5) Access Hollywood
6) Urban Wire
7) Aint it Cool
8/ Clevland Plains Dealer
9/ The Examiner
10/ SF Wire
Should I go on?
When you consider that films like “The Blind Side” were nominated. I’d say it’s safe to sat ST got snubbed.
I’m pretty well flummoxed by the Academy… No other Trek score was ever nominated??? I can hardly believe this, and now they nominate what I figure is one of the weakest Trek scores ever… and don’t get me wront I’m a huge fan of MG’s Lost score, and UP is deserving, but his Trek score was just okay IMHO.
and on the question of the Academy, Avatar may be deserving of some awards, but Best Picture is certainly not one of them, it’s highly derivative, overly simplistic, eye candy. (and I’m also a big fan of Cameron)
Doug L.
Transformers 2 cleaned up with the Razzies Nominations! or “Trannies, Too” as they refer to it lol
Ummm….wtf? I read two reports yesterday that said Trek was nominated for Best Picture, both of those reports were through the Associated Press.
re 66 RAN…
I agree with you. A stronger script and some plot tweaks would have propelled Star Trek into a whole new category.
Doug L.
btw… i liked district nine too.
re 66 RAN…
I agree with you. A stronger script and some plot tweaks would have propelled Star Trek into a whole new category.
Doug L.
btw… i liked district nine too.
The only surprise is that Transformers is nominated for something. When will Jean Claude Van Damme get his due?
re several posters…
94% of critics had their bar for Trek set to Nemesis. Anything resembling good would be a hit.
and please, just because there are people out here that think it’s okay that Trek didn’t get a Best Picture Nomination, doesn’t make us (certainly not me) a “hater”.
Doug L. (sorry bout the double post above. computer froze)
re my post 83… i clearly mis-read some facts. I see that Trek was nominated for best sound, not best score. this makes sense to me.
dl
This is disappointing and sad. This is like saying Star Trek is no better or worse than the others in the Academy’s eyes. I meaning, come on. Not even Best Adapted Screenplay!? LAME!
I just want to hear Enterprising Young Men and see the entire gang go up there and accept a snubscar.
#54
Elsewhere you’ve noted that Viacom which owns Paramount also owns MTV. MTV also owns SPIKE. You don’t think those award shows are the least little bit biased towards not challenging Viacom’s bottom line?
Trek should def win for sound and make-up. If it doesn’t, then the Oscars officially mean crap.
And whatever happened to the best picture list being expanded to include more box office hits, not more artsy snore-fests? So weak…
Nothing about Avatar except the visual effects are award-worthy. I feel like the industry is just paying its respects to Cameron or something. I hope it does not win any of the big categories.
Star Trek not a Best Picture? That’s okay, besides it won the Hollywood Movie of the Year Award from Yahoo! and that’s enough for me but I hope they get the best make-up and sound. I’ll give the VFX away to Avatar.
At least New Moon wasn’t nominated for anything here.
petter piper pick a stack of pickle peppeers………….penic