Godzilla Minus One could make Oscars history for Best VFX

Awards show season is fully upon us and with it comes the announcement of this year's Oscar nominees for Best Visual Effects. Among the nominees, top favourites The Creator and Godzilla Minus One are surprisingly low-budget, suggesting that small costs could result in big wins this year. 

A host of newcomers will be taking on VFX industry veterans such as Neil Corbould, who's previously won for blockbusters like Gladiator and Gravity. Thanks to Courbould, The Creator's ingenious VFX puts it in good stead to take home the award. However, out of the 17 individuals who make up the nominees, 13 are completely new to the VFX category, suggesting we could potentially see some fresh faces making history.

The nominees for Best Visual Effects 

• The Creator
• Godzilla Minus One
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
• Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
• Napoleon

Currently, the predicted win is between Godzilla Minus One and The Creator. All four members of Godzilla's VFX team are newcomers, including Tatsuji Nojima, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi, and Takashi Yamazaki. If the team win, Kiyoko Shibuya will be the first woman of colour to win the award and become the third female winner alongside Sara Bennett (Ex Machina, 2016) and Suzanne M. Benson (Aliens, 1987).

As the only former winner, Neil Corbould could see further victory through one of three separate nominations for Napoleon, The Creator or Mission: Impossible. If successful, he will join the list of 20 other VFX artists to win 3 or more Academy Awards. Seeking redemption will be his contender Guy Williams who is up for his fourth MCU nomination for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 after losing to Courbold in 2014.

With Avatar: The Way of Water taking the win last year, the standards have been set incredibly high. While this year's Best VFX nominees are certainly a strong selection, I'm a little disappointed that some of my favourites weren't included (I'm looking at you Poor Things). 

If you're looking to get started with VFX, check out our guide to the best laptops for 3D modelling and take a look at our explainers for key VFX software Houdini and Unreal Engine 5. For more VFX inspiration, check out our interview with creatives at Framestore, the VFX studio behind blockbuster projects like the Barbie movie.