‘Hurt Locker,’ ‘Inglourious Basterds’ Lead List of Oscar Nominees on Disc

2 Feb, 2010 By: John Latchem

---

Movie fans looking to check out nominees for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards on home video are in luck. Of the 10 films nominated for the Oscar for best picture, seven are already on disc or have been slated for release, including frontrunner The Hurt Locker. 

The Hurt Locker, about soldiers who dispose of bombs in Iraq, scored nine nominations, including best picture, director for Kathryn Bigelow, actor for Jeremy Renner, original screenplay, original score (Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders), cinematography, film editing, sound editing and sound mixing. Summit Entertainment released the film on DVD and Blu-ray in January, which could be a huge advantage in expanding the film’s exposure despite a $12.7 million box office take. 

Bigelow won the Director’s Guild award Jan. 30, making her the favorite to take home the Oscar and become the first female director to win the prize. 

Quentin Tarantino’s World War II actioner Inglourious Basterds, on disc from Universal Studios Home Entertainment, scored eight nominations: best picture, director, supporting actor for Christoph Waltz, cinematography, film editing, sound editing, sound mixing and original screenplay.

Pixar’s Up, on disc from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, earned five nominations, including best picture, animated feature, original score for Michael Giacchino, original screenplay and sound editing. The film becomes only the second animated feature to earn a best picture nomination (after 1991’s Beauty and the Beast), helped no doubt by the expansion of the category to 10 films. 

The sci-fi parable District 9, available from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, earned four noms, including best picture, visual effects, film editing and adapted screenplay.

The Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man, nominated for best picture and original screenplay, hits shelves Feb. 9 from Universal, bringing to five the number of best picture nominees on disc prior to the March 7 Oscar ceremony.

Three more best picture nominees have been announced for DVD and Blu-ray but won’t see a release until after the winners are announced. Lionsgate March 9 releases Precious, nominated for best picture, actress for Gabourey Sidibe, supporting actress for Mo’Nique, director, film editing and adapted screenplay. Warner March 23 releases The Blind Side, nominated for best picture and actress for Sandra Bullock.

The box office juggernaut Avatar, the home video fate of which is already subject to intense speculation, equaled The Hurt Locker with nine nominations. The James Cameron sci-fi epic, which has already amassed more than $2 billion at the worldwide box office (and was poised to pass Titanic’s $600 million on the domestic charts Feb. 2, the day of the Oscar nomination announcements), earned nominations for best picture, director, art direction, cinematography, film editing, original score for James Horner, sound editing, sound mixing and visual effects.

The other best picture nominees are Sony Pictures Classics’ An Education and Paramount’s Up in the Air.

Other nominees already on home video:
• Bright Star (Sony Pictures), costume design
• Coraline (Universal), animated feature
• The Cove (Liosngate), documentary feature
• Food, Inc. (Magnolia), documentary feature
• Il Divo (MPI), makeup 
• In the Loop (MPI), adapted screenplay
• Julie & Julia (Sony Pictures), best actress for Meryl Streep
• Star Trek (Paramount), makeup, sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Paramount/DreamWorks), sound mixing
• Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death (Lionsgate), animated short film

Nominees announced for home video release:

• Coco Before Chanel (Sony Pictures, Feb. 16), costume design 
• Fantastic Mr. Fox (Fox, March 23), animated feature
• The Princess and the Frog (Disney, March 16), animated feature, original songs “Almost There” and “Down in New Orleans”
• Sherlock Holmes (Warner, March 30), art direction, original score for Hans Zimmer 

For a complete list of nominees, visit

 

Bookmark it: