The Academy Awards are coming up and everyone is making their predictions about which movies can or will win one Oscar. Every year, people discuss which movies got nominated and what the big surprises in the nominations were. The year-long movie collection is an exciting prospect, as it showcases a wide variety of different movies and talks about an ongoing year.
There are certainly many Academy Award winners that have shocked people, such as the fact that 2016’s Suicide Squad will forever be known as an Academy Award winning movie because of the Best Makeup Oscar. But what about the movies that didn’t win but can say it was an honor to be nominated for Oscars, despite how surprising that nomination is? Here are the ten movies you wouldn’t believe could actually be called Academy Award-nominated movies.
My Fat Greek Wedding - Best Original Screenplay
My Fat Greek Wedding was a success story in 2002. It was a sleeper hit, and despite never reaching the number one spot at the box office, it grossed $368.7 million worldwide and became the highest-grossing romantic comedy of the 21st century and the fifth highest-grossing film at the domestic box office in 2002.
It was popular and received great reviews, so it should come as no surprise to see it score an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Still, it’s a rarity to see a mainstream rom-com nominated, especially in a category like screenwriting.
Ted - Best original song
Ted was the blockbuster comedy of the summer in 2012 and was the ninth-highest-grossing film of the year, grossing $218 million domestically. From the creative mind of Seth MacFarlane, who also created Family man And American father, the film contains a lot of raunchy humor, as is tradition with much of McFarlane’s work, it also contains catchy music and the film featured a sweet tune “Everybody Needs A Best Friend” performed by Nora Jones.
The song is a jazzy, heartfelt tune about friendship that made for a nice juxtaposition with the film’s more raunchy humor and earned a nomination for Best Original Song. Sadly it didn’t stand a chance of winning as it was nominated the same year as “Skyfall” by Adele from the James Bond movie Skyfall.
South Park: bigger, longer and uncut - Best original song
South Park: bigger, longer and uncut premiered in 1999 after the premiere of the third season of the series and the movie like the series satirized many topics including censorship and comments about the series itself while parodying a classic renaissance style Disney musical. There are several catchy songs in the film, but no one would have expected the film to be nominated for a prestigious Academy Award… but it was. “Blame Canada” was nominated for Best Original Song.
The most interesting part is what happened after the nomination. Creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker showed up to the Academy Awards in drag and also high on LSD. ABC requested that the song be censored during its airing, which contrasted with the idea of the film, so a compromise was made where Robin Williams would sing the song and turn his back on the camera every time he had to swear. The song ultimately lost to Phil Collins’ “You’ll Be In My Heart”. Tarzan, which led to the musician being the butt of many jokes South Park.
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa - Best makeup and hair styling
The asshole franchise is known for many things, but its awards pedigree is not one of them. But like some other movies you wouldn’t associate with Oscars, it was the Best Makeup and Hair Styling category that asshole his first and only Academy Award nomination. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa lost the Oscar Dallas Buyers Clubbut just the fact that it can even say it’s nominated for an Oscar feels like a major win for everyone involved.
Crocodile Dundee - Best Original Screenplay
Crocodile Dundee is a film that was a huge hit when released in 1986 and was the second highest-grossing film of the year at the domestic box office. Now it feels like it’s remembered more as a joke concept, one that has been parodied on platforms of The Simpsons to even a high-profile Super Bowl ad, but there was a time when this was a huge box office comedy.
Even more surprising is the fact that it was nominated for an Academy Award, and not for a technical award but for Best Original Screenplay, but ultimately lost to Hannah and her sisters by Woody Allen.
Fifty Shades of grey - Best Original Song
Fifty Shades of grey was widely criticized when it was released in 2015, and even the film’s protagonists don’t seem to look back on it fondly. While the franchise certainly declined in box office numbers with each sequel, the first film was a true blockbuster.
It also had a much-loved soundtrack, featuring Ellie Goulding’s “Love Me Like You Do” and The Weeknd’s “Earned It.” “Earned It” received a nomination for Best Original Song, but lost to Sam Smith’s “Writing on the Wall” for Ghost, making it the second film on this list to lose to a James Bond theme.
Batman forever - Best cinematography, best sound and best sound effects editing
Batman forever has been viewed with mixed reviews, with some people having a nostalgic attachment to it, while others criticizing it for being the transition between Tim Burton’s Batman aesthetic to what would become Batman and Robin and terminating the franchise for eight years. Yet at that time, Batman forever was a huge hit at the box office and managed to earn three Academy Award nominations.
While the montage of best sound and sound effects may not come as much of a shock, the film did earn an Oscar for best cinematography, something that even The batter didn’t. Batman forever lost to Best Cinematography brave heart, but it’s still strange to imagine those two films were considered in the same category.
Norbit - Best makeup and hair styling
Norbit is a critically panned 2007 Eddie Murphy comedy that has an interesting relationship to the Academy Awards. It has often been said that the film would have cost Eddie Murphy the best supporting actor dream women, like when people voted for the Oscars, there were ads and billboards for it Norbit all over Hollywood that left voters hesitant to vote for him.
Come next year’s Academy Award, Norbit managed to garner an Oscar nomination for Best Makeup and Hair Styling. The film’s makeup was done by legendary special effects makeup artist Rick Baker, so there’s definitely pedigree behind the camera. The movie lost to La Vie En Rosebut it’s still strange to think that this Eddie Murphy comedy with a 9% on Rotten Tomatoes has an Academy Award nomination.
tropical thunder - Best Supporting Actor
tropical thunder was a 2008 comedy satirizing actors. One of the highlights of the film is that Robert Downey Jr. stars as Kirk Lazarus, a method actor who takes his job so seriously that he undergoes an experimental procedure to change his skin color to play an African-American character. The history of blackface is full of tricky and problematic aspects, and it’s a matter of debate how well the movie satirizes the idea of actors using the technique. Still, one cannot deny that Downey Jr. going all in for the performance, and the actor was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.
Robert Downey Jr. lost to Heath Ledger for his role in The dark knight, who won the Oscar posthumously. The sheer fact that Robert Downey Jr. was nominated for Not Just a Silly R-Rated Comedy Tropical Thunder, but one in which he wears a black face (albeit satirically) seems like a joke in the movie itself. Tropical thunder release was close Iron Manand the Academy Award nomination cemented Robert Downey Jr.’s comeback.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl - Best actor
Johnny Depp’s role as Jack Sparrow is one of the most iconic movie characters of all time. It was a thrill when released and aided in turning Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl from a simple Disney theme park-turned-movie into a sensation and launched one of the most successful franchises in movie history. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl wouldn’t be what it is without Depp’s performance as Jack Sparrow, which was such a risk at the time that Disney CEO Michael Eisner thought he was going to ruin the movie.
While it shouldn’t come as a shock to see the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominate a great performance, they rarely spotlight actors in genre films, especially Disney films. Depp’s nomination marked the first time a star in a Walt Disney Pictures film had been nominated for an acting category since Julie Andrew in Mary Poppins back in 1964. Depp didn’t win the award because Sean Penn walked away with the Oscar for his role in mystical riverbut there’s no question Jack Sparrow won in the long run.
