Movie Fan Polling On Star Trek Academy Best Pic Omission – But Orci Says ‘No Snub’

Not long after yesterday’s nominations for the Academy Awards were announced, many in the media started calling the omission of a Best Picture nod for Star Trek a ‘snub’ or a ‘surprise’ (see previous report). Now a couple of polls show many movie fans agree. However, Star Trek exec producer and co-writer Roberto Orci doesn’t agree.

 
 

Polling for a snub?

Yesterday we ran a TrekMovie Poll on the exclusion of Star Trek, and the results were about 50/50, although most agree the film was more deserving than The Blind Side.

Was Star Trek Snubbed for Best Picture Nom?

* Yes – Robbed! (52%)
* No – but more deserving than “Blind Side” (29%)
* No (21%)

But it isn’t just here that polling here, a couple of other polls show many feel Trek was snubbed

Box Office Mojo

What was the biggest surprise omission from the Best Picture Oscar nominees?

26.3% Star Trek
19.0% (500) Days of Summer
13.1% Invictus
12.9% The Hangover
6.1% Other
4.8% Crazy Heart
4.4% The Lovely Bones
4.1% A Single Man
4.0% Nine
3.2% The Fantastic Mr. Fox
1.0% The Messenger
1.0% The Young Victoria

Access Hollywood

What was the biggest surprise from the Oscar noms?

* ‘Star Trek’ not up for Best Picture:  28%
* ‘District 9’ getting a Best Picture nod: 23%
* Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Best Supporting Actress nod:  20%
* No Best Director nod for Clint Eastwood for ‘Invictus’: 29%

 

Blind Side came out of nowhere

It appears that the omission of Star Trek (or one of the other films considered in contention like (500) Days of Summer, Invictus or The Messenger) combined with the inclusion of The Blind Side is causing most of the scratching of heads. Awards Daily has an interesting analysis chart showing how (unlike Trek and the other films being talked about) The Blind Side came out of nowhere, not being nominated by any of the precursor events (guild awards, critic groups or other awards like BAFTA, Golden Globes, etc). And according to the LA Times, even the Academy wasn’t ready for the nod (shown by not being able to identify the appropriate producers):

…the most likely reason why the movie was stigmatized by being lumped into the "to be determined" purgatory: The academy simply didn’t think "The Blind Side" would earn a best picture nomination, so they hadn’t gotten around to fully completing the vetting process.


Orci says ‘no snub’

Of course there is no rule to say that Academy has to nominate any one film over any other based on past events. Surprises happen and that’s that. Star Trek did pick up four Oscar nominations, which matches the franchise record. Plus it has been nominated by almost all of the  Hollywood guilds and picked up many other honors as well. It is fair to say that the 2009 Star Trek film has the most accolades of any film in the franchise, along with it being popular both with Trek fans and the general movie going audience. 

Star Trek co-writer and executive producer Roberto Orci dropped by TrekMovie yesterday and commented on the whole ‘snub’ thing, saying:

Agree with those who say Star Trek was not snubbed, but appreciate so much those who feel that way on our behalf.

May we all live long and prosper


Maybe next time

And of course there is always the ‘Star Trek: Something Something’ sequel. According to reports, the Academy’s expansion of 10 nominees rule was made because many felt that last year The Dark Knight was snubbed and the Academy was ignoring popular and genre films. The Batman Begins sequel was a huge success with filmgoers and with critics. People at Paramount and on the ‘Trek Supreme Court’ liked to point at Batman Begins as a model for the first Star Trek. All indications are that they succeeded in meeting (and possibly exceeding) that standard of re-invigorating a franchise. So now the challenge for the team is for them to make that great second movie, like The Dark Knight (or Wrath of Khan, or Empire Strikes Back, etc).

No pressure guys


Can Trek keep the trend?

 

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May the academy be attacked by a ravenous horde of vampire tribbles.

The Academy Awards are Hollywood’s insiders appreciation of their own kind. We can only enjoy the fact that a new ST film was made at all. Most of us will feel it is the Best Picture without the Academy given it an award.

Im not sure I agree with Bob on this one, I think it was a snub. But thats the stigma of being Trek. ST 09 went a long way to knock out that stigma, and perhapes the sequel will do even better.

Have we forgotten what the Oscar is supposed to represent? Star Trek was a good movie. It brought juice, energy, and mainstream credibility to an ailing and geek infested franchise. It made a lot of money.

However, it had no real social relevance or message, broke no real new ground in cinema, did not showcase any phenomenal acting performances or dialogue, and although popular, did not become a major event where it became a must-see film.

In short, it was not BEST PICTURE material.

So zip up, I can see your geek from here.

Movie goers vote with their bucks. If they want an “important” movie, they’ll makeit number one. If they want a movie that takes them away from their worries for a few hours, they’ll go see Avatar and Star Trek.

Oscar is empty calories. It’s no reflection on the quality or popularity of a movie. Hollywood is the least qualified creature on Earth to judge its own work.

# and ANY of the movies nominated had true social relevance or message that the average person could actually relate to or even give a flip about? The only ground breaking done was by Avatar, mostly because its a visual masterpiece.

And just to clarify: you don’t have to meet all those criteria (Avatar didn’t), but you have to meet some of them (Avatar certainly did).

And for what it’s worth, I thought The Hurt Locker was a pretty good film, certainly gritty with “in your face” realism, but structurally there’s not much story there and only a few small tidbits of strong acting. It has the look of an important film, but it’s really not. The other nominees must really be duds.

Re: 8 Which is why the film is only nominated for Best Picture and Director – purely for its technical achievement and it’s world-shattering event status.

Re: 7 – That’s called the “People’s Choice Award” or better yet, “The MTV Movie Awards”. Where else can Ben Stiller win Best Actor?

Listen, the Academy Awards have always had their head up their ass. Look at 1974…..the Best Actor Oscar went to Art Carney for Harry and Tonto, beating out Jack Nicholson in Chinatown and Al Pacino in Godfather II.

ARE YOU FRIGGIN’ KIDDING ME??!!!

In all seriousness, I never imagined I’d ever see a Star Trek film even seriously MENTIONED as a best picture nominee, so I am elated that it was considered. And that many people outside of a fan site like this apparently feel the same way is staggering.

Sorry, anyone who thinks that movie deserves a “Best Pic” nomination with its dumb 30s scifi serial plot really is delusional. I mean, even Hollywood is not *that* creatively bancrupt yet, and especially in the sci fi genre there were many many better movies this year, with less formulaic, more exciting and *cough* even deep plots.

Oy, vey… TREK 09 never even came within spitting distance of THE WRATH OF KHAN. If ever there was one single TREK film to be mentioned in the same breath as the Oscars, it’s that one.

TREK 09 was fine for what it was. Best Picture caliber, however? Even with 10 slots? Pardon me, but NO EFF-IN’ WAY. Come on, folks.

Hey, at least K&O’s TRANSFORMERS 2 got plenty of other nominations!!!

Um, for Razzies anyway…

Yeah, Pacino couldn’t get a break. This was his third loss in 4 back to back nominations. Nicholson got it the next year though.

I agree with #5

Let’s break some ground with the next one like they did in TOS. That’s really what Star Trek was supposed to be about.

Re: 16 – And before Avatar spoiled it for them at the 11th hour, that thing would’ve been the biggest film released in 2009.

All the Voters of the Awards shows will be put into the Agoniser booth for a period of no less then 2 weeks. How Dare they ignore Trek.

@12: lol. In 1941 Citizen Kane was nominated 9 times and won for best original screenplay. While it LOST to John Ford’s “How Green was My Valley” in 1941, it NOW surpasses “How Green Was My Valley” on most top critics’ all time best movies list.

You can’t say that most people think blind side should not have been nominated. The 52% who say that star trek was robbed may prefer blind side, for all we know. They are not necessarily saying that blind side shouldn’t have made it, so its not correct to say that most people think blind side was more or less deserving – you simply cannot tell on that question and set of answers.

~ Statistics geek

Hehe, true to your name, Captain Mike.

Please stop with the Dark Knight analogies. The next Star Trek film does not and should not need to be dark, depressing, unbalanced or an hour too long. Keep it light.

Trek 09 was a lot better then most filmes. I don;t think it would have won. But is at least number 2 or 3 on the list. So me and my frends in the Terran Empire will hunt down those voters and make the spend some quality time in the Agoniser booth.

For thso of you with the holier than thou attitudes about geeks, fan base and social relevance…Locke laid out the FACTS best on Tuesday.

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.

It wouldn’t be a critcal darling if Star Trek was a piece of fluff popcorn movie…as some of the vocal minority suggests. It was a great movie that SHOULD have been in the 10 nominations. For that matter, it should have been included in the “short list” of 5….if it was just about critical acclaim. But it’s the Hollywood elite that turns up their noses because it’s that silly old 60″s TV show.

SNUB! Plain and simple.

Good Lord, just STOP with this ROTTEN TOMATOES nonsense!!!

You do realize that a majority of “fresh” reviews can constitute reviews that judge a film as merely “okay?” Not every single review in that 94% means the reviewer thought TREK 09 was the Second Coming. A lot of them were merely, “better than your average STAR TREK film.”

Well, to those Trekkies who disagree with me that all is fair, take comfort in the fact that it is truly an honor just to be snubbed.

The next one just needs to have a socially relevant message, I mean that’s the only reason Avatar can be laughingly included in there, it’s that hamfisted bludgeoning over the head environmental message that has gotten it the nod.

I swear, the feeling of victimhood on the part of the “Trek was snubbed!” camp is somewhere between astounding and hilarious. #5 got it right. ST09 did nothing to deserve a best picture Oscar, let alone a nomination. Most of its strength came from re-invigorating a known franchise. It did nothing new. It did nothing groundbreaking. It was a textbook “get the band together and beat the bad guy” story.

Was it nice to see Trek on the silver screen again? You bet. Was it nice to see hope for the franchise? Of course. They don’t give Oscars for rehabilitating something on life support. It has to stand on its own, regardless of franchise, as one of the best films of the year. Movies with plot holes you could drive the Enterprise through tend not to be recognized as such.

That said, if anyone here would like to make the case for ST09 deserving an Oscar, and thus be nominated, I’d be interested. Try to do so without crying “bias” or acting like there some debt owed to Star Trek by the Academy, as doing so would only undermine whatever intelligent points you may or may not make in the process.

Hello Bob two important questions ¿STXI this planned for a conclusion in three parts? and the fan with me love the enterprise of will be a culminating point appearing in “the BIG SCREEN”?

Saludos, y bueno esperaba ver nominada STXI a mejor pelicula, ojala el oscar a maquillaje y esfectos visuales se logre.

Visitanos por Mundostartrek.com

Bob better say he was not snubbed if he wants to get future nominations or wins.

Enterprise of TOS hehe sorry, to the big jump to Tv at Big Screen

I liked Batman Begins more than The Dark Knight, but that’s just me.

By the way, I think it could be cool if the Star Trek sequal was titled without “Star Trek” in it, similar to how The Dark Knight does not have “Batman” in the title.

Maybe call it: “To Boldy Go…” or something.

Hey. Bob Orci. You have a point. But. Still we were Snubed. I think we should all go Terran Empire on them and teach them some lessons.

Some people really need to settle down. Yes, “Star Trek” was “snubbed” based on the number of positive critical reviews as well as the fact that “The Blind Side” wasn’t as well liked apart from Sandra Bullock, but this is nothing new. (A) great movie(s) get “snubbed” every year. This year was no different. But as disappointing as this may seem to some, the biggest snub (possibly ever) was against “The Dark Knight”. As much as I loved “Star Trek”, “The Dark Knight” was a better movie. As for this year’s nominations, the only one I don’t get was “The Blind Side”. Maybe “Avatar” as well. But no one can argue against “District 9”, “The Hurt Locker” or even “Up”. As for the others, I haven’t seen them but from what I have heard, “Precious” is a masterpiece, albeit one that I have no interest in seeing. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter that “Star Trek” didn’t get nominated. Awards are mostly subjective. No one is going to agree on what constitutes “best picture”. If you look at many of the greatest movies in history, a lot of them weren’t even considered for a best picture Oscar.
“The Empire Strikes Back”, “Indiana Jones And The Lost Ark”, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and “The Dark Knight”. Movies that won that probably shouldn’t include “Shakespeare In Love” and “Crash”. Its just the way it goes and is why all awards shows should be taken with a grain of salt.

Hey, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Star Trek deserved an Oscar nod….I just don’t think, in general, that the Oscars have any merit or integrity. Look at all the actors who didn’t get one for their best work and then, years later, get one for some substandard performance simply out of sympathy/sentimentality!

Utter nonsense!!

I am surprised by the snub comments.. the movie was huge at the box office but that alone does not make it academy award worthy, even among star trek fans this movie is not considered the best star trek movie, so how can we believe it should be academy worthy.. if any film that came close to being all of the things an academy award film, it probably would be Wrath of Kahn..

I am just happy that more fans have come and embraced this movie and I expect that the next one should improve with a little more content, a lot more character development and be fun..

#29 Bob all’s fair but just a nod would have brought more attention and maybe a little legitimacy. IMO perception is a big part of reality. Even if something is a lie, if enough people believe it, its “true” to a certain extent. By and large the general public think of Trek as being a geek fest IMO. Thats something that hopefully will change with the new movies.

sorry Anthony. Maybe to YOU Empire was better than Star Wars. Not to everybody.

“Star Trek 09” is a terrific film. Can’t wait for the next one…

When I close my eyes, I see a epic sci fi tale that has yet to be told, one filled with wonder, adventure and mystery. Give us the grand epic space film we all deserve.

Show us Scotty in the silence of space fixing the warp nacelles upside down, side ways out, spinning and working his magic on the Enterprise while inside a nebula cluster hiding from the enemy.

Show us Spock mind melding with some alien technology.

Show us Kirk kicking ass in the command chair.

Show us the moon, mars and how the future solar system would look like, one filled with starships, starbases and trade routes.

More bar scenes filled with aliens of all types.

More torpedo cams and cool realistic shots of ships in space.

Lots of debates between, Kirk-Spock-McCoy.

Problem solving between crew.

Ethical/Moral Dilemma.

Cool looking monsters/aliens.

Advanced civlilzations, no more pre industrial or pre warp societies that love peace.

2.2-2.5hrs feature film with 3D option.

200million budget utilizing the more recent special effects or create new special effect technologies.

New ships we have not seen, ones that look as cool as the Enterprise, historical TOS style ships but with incredible style and detail added.

Red Shirt Death.

Distress Call while x.

He’s Dead Jim, line.

Refit the Enterprise.

Cameo from Guardian or use it as a plot device.

Show us new Vulcan.

New Sets for the engineering section.

Someone important dies, remind us that this is a new reality and peoples lives has changed. The person can be brought back but at a expense to morality or ethics by use of x technology. The resurrection of soul/astral energy.

Time Travel, Vulcans preparing to time travel to save their home planet/prime directive issues.

Cloaking technology research/Treaty of Algeron/Sector Iowa (secret federation intelligence)

Enterprise sent to investigate a mystery/missing starship, they find the starship imbued into asteroid, realize that the Federation has been experimenting with cloaking technology. Survivor on board is found and his name is x.

This is the most ridiculous discussion ever. Star Trek was most definitely not snubbed. With all due respect to the esteemed journalistic publications of Entertainment Weekly and serious investigative journalism of Access Hollywood, there was no conspiracy in the Academy to purposefully exclude Star Trek from the Oscars. Seriously. There’s more likely to be a conspiracy by Paramount to compensate these tabloid “journalists” for running such stories.

Okay I haven’t read what everyone else had to say above, but if no one has said this then I shall be the first:

It’s a shame that the Oscars do not have an award for Best Ensamble. Certainly Star Trek could have won this. I believe there was some hope that this kind of award would have been created after all three Lord of the Rings movies were nominated for Best Picture but failed to win any acting awards. And it wasn’t that there weren’t any outstanding acting in the Lord of the Rings – there was just no single character that was the “main” character. While Star Trek did have a couple main characters, the heart of the movie was the crew and their mission. That’s what Star Trek is all about – an unbroken “Fellowship” (please pardon the LOTR reference…). Maybe next go round something can be done regarding this matter.

Oh yes, Avatar was all eye-candy with no compelling story. If a good sci-fi movie was going to get nominated, it should have Star Trek.

The Oscar decision is a mistake, for the same reason Titanic winning best picture was a mistake, and for the same reason leaving Dee Kelley out of the tribute video was a mistake. Star Trek may not have a new plot (how many plots are new, anymore?) or be super super relevant to our present situation, but that wasn’t really why they made the movie they made, was it?

This was the movie that had to be in order to save the franchise.

Hollywood saw it, Hollywood made it, they pulled it off, and now they’re failing to toot their own horn.

Shoulda coulda woulda.

One thing you have to admit is that Roberto Orci is definitely a classy guy. His comments are truly representative of grace and charm.

Better luck on ‘Star Trek something something something!’

It would be completely tasteless to suggest that it was a snub.

Robert Orci clearly is a man of grace.

Id say it deserved it a lot more than something like blind side, but honestly it was not best pic material. It still lacked the depth that a movie needs to obtain that. On top of TWOK I think First Contact would have deserved a best pic nom more than 09. Each had better acting and just a depth that this movie lacked. I hate to say it but I also think District 9 deserves an award in the visual effects more than Star Trek. They blended the CG with what was real far better than 09 did. Still, the Trekkie in me hopes 09 wins.