This year’s expanded slate of Oscar nominees for Best Picture includes not one, but two science fiction films (Avatar and District 9). I don’t have the patience to do a Wikipedia search, but I’m pretty sure that hasn’t happened in recent memory (fellow cinephiles are free to correct me). District 9 probably doesn’t stand a chance against Avatar‘s big blue hype machine, even though it seems to align well with Academy voters’ preference for darker fare. And both of them might get branded as too geeky and lose out to a movie that doesn’t feature any oppressed, noble aliens. Still, the Academy’s recognition of these films should go a long way towards ensuring that studios continue to produce more quality science fiction films…about oppressed, noble aliens.
