This just in... The Academy will narrow down the list of possibilities in Visual Effects on a couple of weeks to ten films but they've cobbled together the initial list of 20 semi-finalists. Along with all six superhero films of the year, the presumed frontrunner The Jungle Book is accounted for as is one animated picture - Kubo and the Two Strings. Kubo isn't the first animated picture to make the bakeoffs but only one has ever been nominated for the Oscar in this category (The Nightmare Before Christmas, 1993).
The complete lists of finalists, Oscar trivia, and the films that didn't make the cut are after the jump...
Marvel Studios has yet to win this Oscar category!
THE SEMI-FINALISTS
- Alice Through the Looking Glass
- Arrival
- The BFG
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
This franchise has received only 2 nominations in this category for Batman Returns (1992) and The Dark Knight (2008) - Captain America: Civil War
- Deadpool
- Deepwater Horizon
- Doctor Strange
No Marvel Studios film has ever won this category - Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Of the 8 previous Harry Potter films, 3 were nominated in this category - Independence Day: Resurgence
- The Jungle Book
- Kubo and the Two Strings
- Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
- Passengers
- Rogue One
Revenge of the Sith is the only Star Wars film to not make the final nominee list - Star Trek Beyond
- Suicide Squad
- Sully
- Warcraft
- X-Men Apocalypse
This franchise's only Oscar nomination was for the effects in Days of Future Past (2014)
SORRY ABOUT IT.
Visual effects heavy films that DID NOT make the initial list include A Monster Calls (which was just nominated for the Critics Choice visual effects prize), Pete's Dragon, The Huntsman: Winter's War (its predecessor was actually Oscar nominated for effects), Assassin's Creed, Ghostbusters, The Conjuring 2, and The Legend of Tarzan. If someone would like to explain how cheesy sloppy-looking movies like Apocalypse and Suicide Squad made it instead of A Monster Calls and Pete's Dragon we're all ears!