It was a good morning for horror fans as Nosferatu received several Oscar nominations, while The Substance broke through in the above-the-line categories, as it was nominated for five categories in total. It wasn’t, however, the best nomination morning for science fiction fans hoping to see Dune: Part Two get the recognition the critical acclaim would suggest it deserves. Sure, it, too, got five nominations, but it was a serious step down from the ten it got for part one, and it missed out on nominations in categories that some thought it was, frankly, a frontrunner in. So, what gives? Today, I’ve laid out ten reasons for why it had a somewhat disappointing nomination morning. So, let’s get to them.
Reason #1 – Recency Bias?
It feels pretty clear to me that, going forward, Dune: Part Two will be the new primary example of why it is important to release films with awards aspirations later in the year. The film was released all the way back in March of 2024, and plenty of films stole its momentum and outshone it on the way to nominations. Films like A Complete Unknown, Nosferatu, and The Brutalist all have much more recent releases, and all got a strong number of nominations despite how late they were released.
Reason #2 – Are they biased against sequels?
Now, consider the example of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Despite the fact that the first film earned 13 nominations, like Dune: Part One earned 10, its sequel Two Towers only netted six nominations, like Part Two has five. It certainly does feel like the film is getting the ‘yes, we’ve already seen this’ treatment, which is really unfair, but which, as you can see, isn’t unprecedented.
Reason #3 – The trilogy conundrum?
In fact, there are those who think Dune has a better chance of receiving its, and Villeneuve’s, grand coronation once the trilogy capper Dune: Messiah comes out. Maybe the fact that we have known for some time now that Villeneuve is coming back for a third film is what is keeping industry voters from checking its box this time around.
Reason #4 – Biased against sci-fi/space epics?
I mean, when was the last time a hard sci-fi film or space epic (not including fantasy films) won Best Picture? Frankly, unless I’m forgetting something, I don’t think a hard sci-fi film or space epic ever has. I mean, unless I’m misremembering, out of all the films in that franchise, only the original Star Wars film was nominated in that category. It’s kind of amazing, when you put it like that, that Dune actually got into Best Picture with both parts one and two. And the last time a quasi-sci-fi film won Best Director was Gravity.
It doesn’t, however, make sense to me that it didn’t get into Film Editing, given that part one *won* that category and was the perceived frontrunner this year. Somethings you just can’t explain.
Reason #5 – Biased against blockbusters?
Or maybe, just maybe, it’s the fact that it is a blockbuster film that is keeping it on the outside looking in. It’s not exactly a situation where it’s a small film that voters think they *have to* champion for it to get in. And, at the same time, maybe voters feel that Wicked is the blockbuster they’d rather champion given its themes.
Reason #6 – Another way to champion its lead?
One film that has had a late rise this awards season has been A Complete Unknown, also starring Timothée Chalamet. His appearances on podcasts, with sports programming, and (soon) on SNL again have made it so that he has campaigned heavily for that film, and perhaps voters simply think they’d rather champion Chalamet for this film. Chalamet had a strong year, and voters who vote for him may think it’s another way to champion the lead of a sci-fi epic they also liked quite a bit (and which also featured strong performance-work from the young actor).
Reason #7 – Not enough of a campaign?
As many know, awards season often comes down to the strength of a studio’s campaign. There are many stories throughout many decades now of voters leaning in favor of films who got their stars out to shake hands and whatnot. Perhaps, having expected more from Joker: Folie a Deux, Warner Bros. just didn’t conjure up enough of a campaign, thus inadvertently leading to voters to forget about the triumph that was Dune: Part Two.
Reason #8 – Category ineligibility created the wrong waves?
Earlier this awards season, news got out that AMPAS had deemed Hans Zimmer’s incredible score ineligible for resembling the original films’ too much, which, I think, was the wrong move. Anyhow, perhaps this category ineligibility paved the way for the industry to take it out of consideration in other categories.
Reason #9 – Was the ending too dark?
Who knows, maybe the real reason this isn’t making waves like many thought it might, is because the ending is a little bit too dark? Or, perhaps, not as happily triumphant as some people may have expected. Unlike, say, the original Star Wars trilogy, Dune: Part Two doesn’t end with a happy celebration. No, in fact, it ends with a young white man taking the emperor’s daughter for his wife and declaring a holy war on the Great Houses, while the woman who loved him feels that he has exploited the religion and trust of her people for his and his family’s own gain. It is kind of dark.
Now, what maybe works against this reason, or theory, is that the first part of Dune was quite dark as well, and it still landed ten nominations. But, hey, it’s something to think about.
Reason #10 – Maybe it wasn’t as well-liked as we thought?
Now, let me be clear, as I sit here and type this, Dune: Part Two is currently my favorite film of 2024. So, I was firmly in the group that thought it ought to be at least as well-received as the first film was, if not even more so. But maybe us fans got carried away with the hype. Maybe we overestimated the critical acclaim. Look, a lot of films come out every year, and there are only so many spots. While the critical acclaim may have suggested otherwise, maybe it wasn’t the huge achievement to industry individuals that critics and fans seemed to think it was.
Personally, I think some of the other reasons are more compelling, but we have to be honest with ourselves and admit that the world of cinema doesn’t revolve around our favorite films, and that’s perfectly OK. While we may think it deserved to be nominated for more categories, five nominations is nothing to scoff at. I mean, let’s be honest, to complain that your film *only* got five nominations is kind of ridiculous, when it did make it into Best Picture, which is a huge achievement on its own. Fans who, like myself, are frustrated that Denis Villeneuve was snubbed in the Best Director category for three sci-fi epics in a row, need to remember that it took many great filmmakers a long time to finally get their industry coronation.
And, frankly, there are many classics that didn’t receive the recognition they deserved at the Academy Awards. That doesn’t mean they are lesser films. Time will make its judgments, as it always does, and I feel confident that Dune: Part Two is the kind of science-fiction epic that has what it takes to stand the test of time and become a genre classic, which is much more meaningful, at the end of the day.
– Article Written by Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen.
I'm Jeffrey Rex 