Deadpool, Pixar snubbed for Oscar nominations

The Academy has never shown too much love for superhero movies. Heading into the Oscar nominations this morning, experts thought there was a chance Deadpool would be the first to earn a nomination.

Unfortunately, Deadpool didn’t receive any kind of nod from the Academy. It didn’t garner a Best Picture or Best Actor nomination for star Ryan Reynolds. The script didn’t pick up any nominations, and even more technical categories where genre films exceed, like Best Sound Editing, Best Visual Effects and Best Costume Design snubbed the “Merc with a Mouth.”

Even though the possibility of Deadpool being nominated for Best Picture was slim, despite the film being nominated for a Golden Globe, many experts thought it had at least a tiny chance of competing with top contenders like La La Land, Lion and Arrival. Henry Jenkins, Professor of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, told Polygon that it was about time a movie like Deadpool was recognized by the Academy.

“The expansion of the Best Picture category from a fixed five nominees to as many as ten nominees a year was designed to allow more popular genres a fighting chance for inclusion, specifically after disappointment that The Dark Knight, a superhero film, failed to get a nomination,” Jenkins said. “But so far, this has mostly provided more room for independent melodramas and social problem stories to make the cut.”

This year, there were nine films chosen to battle it out for Best Picture: Arrival, Manchester by the Sea, La La Land, Fences, Hidden Figures, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, Lion and Moonlight. That means there was one spot left that the Academy could have used to nominate another film. Instead, Deadpool was completely left out of the race.

It’s not the only movie that was snubbed this year, either. Finding Dory, one of the most successful movies of 2016, didn’t earn any recognition. The film was beloved by critics, and the move to exclude it is especially interesting considering the relationship voting members have with Pixar. It’s extremely rare that a Pixar movie doesn’t get a nomination, but this year saw independent animated films like Kubo and the Two Strings pull ahead in the race. Last year, Pixar’s Inside Out won Best Animated Feature.

Naturally, Disney scored a couple of major nominations, including Best Animated Picture nominations for Zootopia and Moana. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s original song from Moana, “How Far I'll Go,” also earned a nomination.

Three of the biggest actors to get snubbed by this year’s nominations include Tom Hanks, Amy Adams and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Hanks’ performance as Captain Sully in Sully was praised by critics, but the veteran, multiple Academy Award-winning actor didn’t receive any love from his fellow colleagues this morning. Sully received one nomination for Best Sound Editing.

Amy Adams also didn’t receive a nod for her performance in Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival. The film itself earned eight nominations, including Best Director for Villeneuve and Best Picture overall, but Adams’ name wasn’t called. The actress earned a nomination for her role at this year’s Golden Globe awards, but lost out to Isabelle Huppert for Elle.

Lastly, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who just won a Golden Globe for his performance in Nocturnal Animals, did not get an Oscar nomination for the same role. Instead, Michael Shannon’s work was recognized by the Academy; an interesting move considering many critics thought Shannon was the better performer and should have won at the Golden Globes instead of Taylor-Johnson.

The 89th annual Academy Awards will take place on Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. ET on ABC. The show will be hosted by late night comedian Jimmy Kimmel. For more extensive reading, here’s the full list of nominations.