or Close Encounters of the Third Kind (which still failed to show up in Best Picture despite eight other nominations), but his films were the exception to an unspoken rule.Įven films that made huge technological advances such as The Matrix, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day could rack up multiple nominations (and wins) in craft-focused categories without breaking the barrier into the big prize. Spielberg would earn buckets of nominations for films like E.T. Until this point, the Oscars had had a tenuous relationship with fantasy, horror, or science fiction films, unless they had Steven Spielberg’s name attached. As Russell Schwartz, the president of theatrical marketing for New Line Cinema, has put it: “The question about the Academy campaign was, was it worth doing? The biggest problem - and this started with Fellowship - was we had the dreaded F word.” And that word was fantasy. Tolkien’s beloved series wasn’t an obvious candidate for an Oscar run. When the franchise launched in 2001, adapting J.R.R.

So each Wednesday throughout the year, we'll go there and back again, examining how and why the films have endured as modern classics. 2021 marks The Lord of the Rings movies' 20th anniversary, and we couldn't imagine exploring the trilogy in just one story.

The lord of the ring