Would increasing the number of Best Picture Oscar nominations from five to ten also increase the number of genre films honored? The question has been answered with today’s news that an impressive three sci-fi or fantasy pictures, Avatar, Up, and (surprisingly but very deservedly) District 9, have been nominated.

How big a deal is this? In the 83-year history of the Oscars, here’s a list of all the science fiction or fantasy films that have ever been nominated for Best Picture:

• The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) *
• The Wizard of Oz (1939) *
• Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941) *
• It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
• King’s Solomon’s Mines (1950)
• Mary Poppins (1964)
• Doctor Dolittle (1967)
• The Exorcist (1973)
• Star Wars (1977)
• Heaven Can Wait (1978)
• Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
• E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
• Beauty and the Beast (1991)
• The Sixth Sense (1999)
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
• Avatar (2010)
• District 9 (2010)
• Up (2010)

The only sci-fi or fantasy movie to win Best Picture is The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

(A few other fantasy-esque historical films, like Gladiator, have also been nominated, but don’t quite quality as “fantasy.”)

Here’s the full list of this year’s nominations.

* These years the Academy had ten nominees for Best Picture, just like this year.

Back again for another highly opinionated — some might even say downright cranky — look at the week in fantasy. You’ve been warned!

WHY IS FANTASY LITERATURE SO POPULAR (AND WHY IS SCI-FI FADING FAST)?

Earlier in the week, I linked to a writer who had come up with some explanations for why fantasy is exploding in popularity as a literary genre while science fiction seems to be fading.

(Depressingly, a lot of people in the comments are taking issue with his premise that sci-fi is dying as a literary genre, which is just stupid. The trends are obvious and clear, as we’ve written about ourselves; fantasy literature outsells science fiction by a factor of at least ten, and probably more).

Anyway, I wasn’t too impressed with most of his reasons for the popularity of fantasy: because the future has caught up to sci-fi, because we’ve grown up on fantasy films, and because “literary” writers like Margaret Atwood are cannibalizing sci-fi sales with their own speculative fiction.

But I liked his first reason a lot:

More women than men read books.

I would amend this to say, “More women than men read fiction” (because men read a lot of non-fiction), and then I’d say he’s put his finger right on it. The more I work in publishing and the more I publish novels myself, the more obvious this is to me. As more and more men are drawn to the bells and whistles (and violence) of computer gaming, I think women dominating the publishing industry is becoming even more true.

And women readers seem to be drawn more to fantasy than science fiction.

No, I don’t think it’s that women don’t like or can’t understand “science” (or, as Talking Barbie used to say, “Math is hard!”). I think the explanation is even simpler: the fantasy genre has catered to female readers in a way that science fiction has not.

Traditionally, of course, both science fiction and fantasy gave women only ridiculously passive and stereotypical characters. (Depressingly, even some female writers still do this today **cough** Stephanie Meyer **cough**).

But in the 1970s, the industry began to change, as more and more female authors began writing books themselves. For whatever reason, more women were drawn to fantasy, or — chicken or the egg — maybe fantasy editors and publishers were simply more receptive to them, especially in the children’s and young adult field.

In response, it was like science fiction doubled down, becoming more insular and more seemingly male-dominated. But given the changing demographics, this was a massive strategic disaster.

And I think it’s the reason for where we are today.

So why is science fiction still so popular as a movie and TV genre? Well, that’s the subject of another column!

A SCI-FI OR FANTASY-THEMED OSCAR NOMINEE?

Speaking of sci-fi movies, earlier this year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced that they’re increasing the number of Best Picture Nominees from five to ten — which has some folks speculating that a genre movie could potentially get a nod.

The movies that seem to be in serious contention are Star Trek, Up, and District 9, which is too bad, because I think only District 9 truly deserves consideration (along with Drag Me to Hell, which, of course, doesn’t stand a chance in hell, no pun intended, because it’s a horror movie, and a very “B-movie” one at that).

Here’s my list of fantasy-themed movies I saw this year that I think mostly “work,” from best to worst:

• District 9
• Drag Me to Hell
  
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
  
• Watchmen
• Coraline
• Up

Here are the movies I saw that don’t really work (or flat-our stink), from best to worst:

• A Haunting in Connecticut
• Monsters Vs. Aliens
• Ponyo
• Underworld: Rise of the Lychans
• G-Force
• Dragonball: Evolution (flat-out stinks)
  
• Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian (flat-out stinks)
• Where the Wild Things Are (flat-out stinks)
• Inkheart (flat-out stinks)
• The Vampire’s Assistant (flat-out stinks)
• The Box (really flat-out stinks)
• Year One (really flat-out stinks)

Full disclosure: there are still a few movies I haven’t seen yet (Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Zombieland), movies I refuse to see out of principle (New Moon), and movies that haven’t opened yet (The Princess and the Frog, Avatar, Sherlock Holmes).

Still, whenever I compile lists like this, I’m always shocked by how many truly stink-o-rama movies I see in a year. And yet I keep going back. Why is that? Answer: because when a movie is truly great, like District 9 or Drag Me to Hell, it makes putting up with all the crap worthwhile. Which I really believe, until I have to sit through another movie like Where the Wild Things Are or The Box.

THE IDIOT BOX

The closer we get to the holiday break, the more likely shows are to go into reruns (don’t ask my why — that’s simply the “rule”), but this week brings new episodes of Sanctuary (Friday, 10 PM, SyFy) and Legend of the Seeker (syndicated, check local listings).

Also, check out Spike TV’s Video Game Awards on Saturday (8 PM, Spike TV).

THE BOX OFFICE

So Transylmania got a 0% rating at RottenTomatoes.com — not a single critic liked it. Didn’t I warn you it would suck? Didn’t I?

Well, this week’s flame has sputtered out, but join me again next week when I promise I won’t be nearly so cranky.

Oh, who am I kidding?!

Looking to buy any of the projects mentioned in this article (or any other media)? Support TheTorchOnline.com by purchasing it through this link.

• Okay, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice isn’t what I expected at all. The first trailer is out, but can I just say? How in the hell did Nicolas Cage get to be a superstar? He’s annoyed me ever since Peggy Sue Got Married.

• Fringe has cast Peter’s mother (Walter’s wife). But what’s the deal with her age? (Spoiler alert) Incidentally, what happened to Theresa Russell anyway? I thought she was supposed to be a love interest for Walter.

• Maybe new media isn’t quite the king yet after all. Nielsen says 99% of video viewing is done on a traditional TV — and out of 31 hours of weekly TV viewing, only 31 minutes is in DVR/playback mode. Meanwhile, studio executives say that the death of the DVD market is wildly overstated — that it’s mostly due to the recession, and that, regardless, Blu-Ray is making them a bundle.

• A producer of speculative fiction magazines is paying 1/5 of one cent per word — a shockingly low rate. An editor says that obscure credits in magazines no one has heard of won’t help you break through. What do professional writers get paid? Here’s another writer’s more pessimistic take. (This is all complicated by the fact that there is basically no real professional market for short stories anymore, but both writers’ experiences are consistent with my own experience: pay rates for short stories vary wildly, which is why pay is only one of the things you should take into consideration when writing short stories. I’ll write em as a favor to a friend putting together an anthology, but that’s about all.)

• Hmmmm. Universal is bragging via email that The Wolfman, coming in February, received an “R,” for “bloody horror, violence and gore.”

• Despite all the rumors, casting for The Hobbit is just beginning (except for Ian McKellen, returning as Gandalf). Meanwhile, Peter Jackson says disregard those rumors that the film has been delayed.

• Why is sci-fi literature dying while fantasy is flourishing? One writer gives some good reasons.

• Sigourney Weaver really, really likes Avatar:  “It will pick you up and shake you like a little rag doll. I’m not too much of an emotional creature, but I was weeping by the end. I remember reading the script and thinking, I love this but how can he ever do this. Nothing like this has been done before – floating mountains! I think for a certain generation it will change what they want to happen in the cinema. It is as big as sound. I hope it won’t impact every movie, but for the big movies it raises the bar – it throws the bar away.”

• Will a sci-fi picture get a Best Picture nod now that the category will now have ten nominees? Conventional wisdom is that the movie with the strongest shot is Star Trek (which is ridiculous, IMHO), although I think it would be an outrage if District 9 was not a contender, since I thought it was easily one of the best pictures of the year. Where the Wild Things Are is also sometimes mentioned as a possibility, but I think that’s extremely unlikely (if you read this site, you know I think that was one of the worst movies of the year, hands down). The Road and Moon are also mentioned as possibilities.

• Terry Gilliam is interested in Robert Duvall for The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, but as usual, Duvall is all “show me the money!”

• Author Joel Shepherd explains the power of the female protagonist, especially in fantasy: “Given that male leadership is the norm in most societies even today, putting a woman in the role of primary protagonist automatically creates a series of tensions that I don’t get with a male character. In a medieval-level society even more so.”

Looking to buy any of the projects mentioned in this article (or any other media)? Support TheTorchOnline.com by purchasing it through this link.