Only two science fiction films have received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture

In the 97 years of the Academy Awards, certain genres have always been underdogs, regardless of how audiences have treated them at any time in history. When it comes to science fiction, for example, only two members of the genre have actually won a Best Picture Oscar, and both came more recently than one might expect. In fact, no sci-fi film was nominated for Best Picture until Guillermo del Toro’s sci-fi horror novel The Shape of Water came out in 2017. However, del Toro’s story about a woman (Sally Hawkins) who falls in love with a mermaid (Doug Jones) managed to tick all the right boxes at the time, winning best picture for the likes of “Call Me By Your Name,” “Get Out,” Dunkirk, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Darkest Hour, The Post, Lady Bird, and Phantom Thread.

It was also a win that seemingly broke the sci-fi genre seal on the Oscars; just five years later, directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert went to the Academy Awards with their own sci-fi hit, Everything Everywhere and All At Once, which was nominated for Best Picture. Daniels’ offbeat story about other dimensions and the dream of just doing laundry with someone has been a big hit throughout the 2022 awards season, culminating in Oscar-winners Michelle Yeoh, Ke-Hugh Kwan and Jamie Lee Curtis, and confirmed , that sci-fi finally got some well-deserved (and long overdue) recognition from the Academy. This brings us to the present, where at the time of writing, another sci-fi picture is vying for the shiny golden statuettes.

What about The Godfather Part 2 and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King being the only sequels in history to win the Academy Award for Best Picture (and considered one of the best movies of all time)could there be a chance that Dune: Part Two will join the ranks of rare champions and another sci-fi contender to receive the praise it deserves? Ever since Peter Jackson’s initial departure from Middle Earth, an epic blockbuster like this has been so unpopular with critics and audiences alike that it makes his film more than worthy of consideration from the Academy.

In addition to Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi tentpole direction deserving of Academy consideration, impressive performances from the likes of Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, and Austin Butler (all of whom deserve to be considered in the Oscar conversation “). indeed “The Dunes” and “The Dunes: Part 2” star Josh Brolin even threatened to quit acting if Villeneuve doesn’t get an Oscar nomination for his efforts on the Dune sequel (and he seems to be only half-kidding). Triumphantly closing the book on Frank Herbert’s “unstoppable” story, Dune: Part Two certainly deserves to be one of the rare sci-fi films to win Best Picture on Oscar night. Hans Zimmer’s score for Dunes sequel may have been barred from being nominated by the Academy but there is no reason to despise Villeneuve and the rest of the film.

Who knows — with any luck, 2025 will be the year we add a third Best Picture-winning sci-fi feature.