2024 Oscar Visual Effects Finalists Include Spider-Verse, Godzilla, and Barbie

The shortlist of finalists for the 2024 Oscar for Visual Effects award have been revealed, and as usual, there were some big surprises, and some big snubs. 

The biggest snub that will have cinephiles upset is Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which did not make the list, despite being one of the biggest box office draws of summer for its use of practical effects over CGI. On the other side of that coin, Disney’s The Little Mermaid was also left out of recognition for its CGI undersea visuals. And, despite having an unusually turbulent year, Marvel Studios still made the list with all three of its 2023 movie releases – yes, even Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. 

Zack Snyder made the list with his new Netflix film Rebel Moon: Part One, which may surprise some – while no one should be too surprised to learn that Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is on the list, despite being an animated movie. (With the level of sophistication and mixed styles of animation, we saw in Spider-Verse 2, it’s good to see it getting recognized.)

 Perhaps the most generally surprising thing was Warner Bros. scoring a trifecta, with Barbie, and the yet-to-be-seen films Wonka and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. (The fact that Aquaman 2 made the list over Little Mermaid may be the kind of hype the sequel needs going into its Christmas holiday releiase.)

Other notable surprises are Gareth Edwards’ The Creator and Paramount’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves both edging out the competition – same with George Clooney’s The Boys in the Boat and Toho’s Godzilla: Minus One. 

Here’s a list of the 20 finalists for the 2024 Academy Award for Visual Effects, listed by studio: 

Marvel Studios – Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3, The Marvels

Disney – The Creator (20th Century Studios), Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (Walt Disney Studios)

Warner Bros. – Barbie, Wonka, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

Paramount – Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part One

Sony – Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Netflix – Nyad, Society of the Snow, Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire

Searchlight Pictures – Poor Things 

Apple – Killers of the Flower Moon, Napoleon

Amazon/MGM – The Boys in the Boat

Toho – Godzilla Minus One

The 2024 Oscars will air on March 10, 2024, on ABC.