Open Forum Friday: Should Harry Potter Get a Best Picture Nomination?

Posted by on August 5th, 2011   Filed under: Open Forum Friday
Source: Variety

It’s been quite a while since I’ve had the time or the inclination to put together an Open Forum Friday post, but this certainly seems like an appropriate topic to stir up some debate. Warner Brothers confirmed this week that they will be mounting a heavy duty campaign to earn Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 a Best Picture nomination at next year’s Academy Awards. While some of the previous installments in the series have received nods for things like art design and visual effects, none of them have ever won, nor have they been up for any of the major awards. This year they are hoping things will be different as they are going to try to convince Academy voters to consider a vote for Deathly Hallows: Part 2 to be a vote for the entire franchise. But is this a fair reason to nominate a film?

Clearly they are hoping that Deathly Hallows: Part 2 will follow in the footsteps of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which was nominated for 11 Oscars at the 2004 Academy Awards and won every single one of them. The belief is that the Academy waited for the final film to give Peter Jackson’s trilogy the recognition it deserved. Even with that being said, however, many feel that The Return of the King is the best in the series, and at the very least, it does contain a complete narrative unlike Deathly Hallows, Part 2. Harry Potter also has the disadvantage of being a family film. On the flip side, however, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is one of the best reviewed films of the year (97% on Rotten Tomatoes). What do you think? Is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Oscar-worthy? Is it okay to nominate one film as being a representative of an entire series? Will the Harry Potter franchise finally win something in any category or will it be completely snubbed come February? Give us your thoughts here on Open Forum Friday.



  • Derek McFarland

    No. Harry Potter 3 was the best.

  • Brian Dominguez

    Absolutely yes. I think it would be the recognition this saga deserves.

  • alechs

    The film might pick up some technical award wins; at best maybe even steal best cinematography, but in terms of the biggies it will probably just receive nominations as a pity pick to fill out the 10. Even for the Oscars, the Potter franchise doesn’t deserve to win.

  • Aaron F.

    I’d say no. I love the Harry Potter series as much as the next guy, but the category is Best Picture…a singular movie. It shouldn’t ever represent the series as a whole, but the academy won’t vote that way. Add this to another reason the Oscars continually prove its irrelevancy — right behind Oprah’s honorary Oscar and Ratner’s producing credits.

  • Tim

    No – reviews of almost all these movies (except the third) – tepid film making.

  • Anthony

    Not only does it have 97% on RT, the average rating of the film (a far better indicator of how critics felt about a film) is 8.4/10, which is excellent for an average (since it’s brought up and down by outliers).

    As a comparison, here are the tomatometer scores and average ratings for last year’s best picture nominations:

    Social Network: 96%, 9/10
    The King’s Speech: 95%, 8.6/10
    The Fighter: 91%, 7.8/10
    Black Swan: 88%, 8.2/10
    True Grit: 96%, 8.4/10
    127 Hours: 93%, 8.3/10
    Toy Story 3: 99%, 8.8/10
    The Kids Are All Right: 94%, 7.8/10
    Winter’s Bone: 94%, 8.3/10
    Inception: 86%, 8/10

    So in that aspect, it matches up well. Although there are problems with the number systems and RT:

    1. Not everyone interprets the number system the same. Some people think 7/10 is a great film, others think 7/10 is an average film

    2. There are a lot of people who differentiate between “favourite” and “best”, and may have just gone by how much they enjoyed the film when reviewing it and rating it.

    3. The ratings could just be in comparison the the series. One of the biases with reviewing a sequel is comparing it to past films and judging it based on the previous ones.

    /rant.

  • indianamcclain

    I loved part 2 but Best Picture does seem like a far reach since it is half a movie although I think it works fine on its own.

  • The Lord Of The Rings was a different matter completely. It was one story, that was written as such, and that then was divided into three parts because it was deemed too long by the publisher. I always look at LOTR as a one long 10 hour movie.

    Harry Potter is a series of books that coalesce into one storyline, but the first film is very different then the last. It was made by different directors. The tonal shifts are all over the place. Giving a nomination “for the series” doesn’t make sense to me whatsoever.

  • Kasper

    After watching the horrendous first and second movies I stopped watching Harry Potter altogether. I love the books, but gawd, those were probably the worst blockbuster flicks I’ve ever laid my eyes upon. So if the series should be judged as a whole: NO!

  • MJS

    Harry Potter is a very different beast than LOTR in terms of Academy recognition. Yeah, ROTK did probably win as a recognition of the entire series, but let’s not forget that Fellowship and Two Towers both got BP nominations of their own. That also means that Academy members were very familiar with that series when it came time to honor ROTK. How many Academy members will have seen the previous seven films in the series when it comes time to screen this one? How many will be thrown off by the general tackiness of the Part 1/Part 2 format of the last installment?

    I’d also be a bit skeptical about those RT ratings. Yes, most of the critics liked it, but how many of them loved it? Not that many I suspect, I certainly don’t expect it to be on top of many top ten lists. Star Trek (2009) got similar scores on RT, and that certainly didn’t triumph at the Oscars.

  • bullet3

    I would say it’s too early to say, as we haven’t seen the Fall movies yet. As of now, its probably my favorite movie this year after Attack the Block, so it would definitely deserve a nomination. If we get a ton of really great movies in Fall, then it probably wouldn’t be strong enough. It certainly won’t win, its not Return of the King level, but I think it could deserve a nomination.

  • JordanH

    Many people seem to be in the dark about the awards, still. The Oscars are back down to 5 nominations, ergo: no chance for a pity nomination at all.

    It was a good movie, but it’s not the kind of thing the Academy would nominate.

  • patrik

    Nomination for what? Not being shit like the rest, Prisoner of Azkaban excluded.. It was ok but it should definitely not get a nomination other than maybe effects or something.

  • rob

    yes i think it should

  • mike v

    no. that’s really all that needs to be said.

  • david

    This movie stands alone just like ROTK and deserves credit. If you didnt like this movie then you had no business seeing it in the first place.

  • One big difference is that FELLOWSHIP and TWO TOWERS were both nominated for best picture while none of the POTTER movies have been.

    Given the new way the Academy is tabulating nomination votes for best picture this year, I would be very surprised if it gets one for picture. It’s not that they are back down to five this year, it’s that it could be anywhere from 5 to 10.

  • I’ll give a mild yes. I haven’t seen as many movies in the theater this year, so it’s hard to compare, but thus far it stands out as one of the better choices. I wouldn’t push it to win the award, but it should definitely be in the discussion.

  • mike v

    “This movie stands alone just like ROTK and deserves credit. If you didnt like this movie then you had no business seeing it in the first place.”

    lol, you’re a mess

  • I have a mixed opinion. It should for screenplay and visual. As far as direction and story goes, the previous episodes were better. But, I still love the movie a lot — it is great, but not quite sure about being the best movie in academy.

  • Tyler

    With so many weak films this year, Harry Potter 7 pt. 2 should most definitely WIN Best Picture. Can anyone name a film this year that comes even close to HP 7?

    King’s Speech was a cop out Best Picture.

    Don’t make that mistake again, Oscar idiots. I’m still mad at you all for not choosing Shawshank Redemption…