Which Films from This Summer Could Get an Oscar Nomination?

With summer almost upon us, blockbuster season is about to hit. Since the Academy Awards decided to expand the Best Picture category to ten films however it seems that the summer season is becoming more and more a part of awards season. Most recently Inception and Toy Story 3 secured Best Picture nominations and both were released in July. The year before that saw Up, District 9, Inglourious Basterds and winner The Hurt Locker all being nominated and all were released in the summer. So what films from this summer can join a list that includes the afore mentioned films? To quote Magneto in the X-Men: First Class trailer “Lets find out”

The Tree of Life

The film most likely to get a Best Picture nomination is Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life. Starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life is a film that many are anticipating. Part of this is down to the mysterious nature of the films promotional material. The films story seems to extend over a long period of time, with a dinosaur being present on the films poster. The film has an Oscar friendly cast and Terrence Malick is a respected director among the Hollywood elite, with him being nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director Oscars for The Thin Red Line. This film is one to look out for and is due to get its release May 27th.

Super 8

The ten-nominee change was brought about by a desire from the public for the Oscars to recognize more mainstream and financially successful films; this has lead to the Oscars nominating the most critically respected blockbusters of the summer. Last year it was Inception and Toy Story 3, the year before that District 9 and Up. Super 8 feels like it could fall into a similar category as those films. Directed by JJ Abrams and produced by two-time Academy Award winner Steven Spielberg, Super 8 is another film that has gone about a mysterious marketing campaign. The film tells the story of a group of kids who are making a movie with a Super 8 camera, however a train crash brings a strange being to their town and strange incidents occur. Super 8 is due for release June 10th 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two 

One thing the Oscars love to do is recognize an entire body of work, with the Lord of the Rings trilogy they didn’t award the first two films massively but awarded the final film The Return of the King with a whopping 11 statues. July 15th sees the release of the final Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. No Harry Potter film has been nominated for Best Picture and with the ten nominations now seems like the perfect time for the Academy to tip their hat to the success of the Potter franchise. Whether the nostalgia and sure to be big box office can carry Potter and his pals to Oscar glory remains to be seen but if the film is the huge success everybody expects then a Best Picture nomination may be on the cards. 

Out of all the summer releases those are the three that I believe have the best chance at a Oscar Best Picture nomination. Of course few predicted The Hurt Locker’s march to Oscar victory when it was first released in the summer so who knows what film could appear out of nowhere to take the Oscar gold. Do you agree with my three choices? What other films from this summer do you think could get a Best Picture nomination? Give us your thoughts in the Your Say section. 


By Movie Parliament Prime Minister, 
Michael Dalton