The average moviegoer might be eager to watch another chapter in their favorite franchise, but when it comes to the most esteemed awards ceremony in the land, sequels struggle to get much major attention at the Oscars. Throughout its 96 ceremonies so gar, nine direct sequels have been nominated for Best Picture, only two of which have been fortunate enough to go home with the shiny golden man. The first win was in 1975 when Francis Ford Coppola explored two different generations of the Corleone family in “The Godfather Part II.” The second wouldn’t come until 2004 when the Academy praised Peter Jackson’s first fond farewell to Middle-earth and the best of the “Lord and the Rings” and “The Hobbit” movies, “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.”
The two films couldn’t be further apart, with one being all about kissing the ring, while the other is about doing everything to destroy a (very different) finger band. Nevertheless, there’s no doubt that both made their relevant impact not just in their respective years of release but in all of movie history. Frequently deemed two of the best movies of all time, Coppola and Jackson’s epics are both films that deliver in their own right, even as they expand upon and tie up loose threads from what came before. The great thing now is that this once-rare trend of a sequel filling a nomination slot for Best Picture at the Oscars is becoming more common and is all the more likely to grow in the coming years.
More sequels are getting attention at the Oscars
Of those nine sequel movies nominated for Best Picture to date, six of them were released after 2002. The most recent two — “Avatar: The Way of Water” and “Top Gun: Maverick” — specifically came out in 2023, aka the year of the Oscar blockbusters. Unfortunately, both lost out to the brain-breakingly brilliant “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” While it was great to see an inventive and original sci-fi movie earn the Academy’s highest honor (which is rare in itself), it seems that Hollywood is now, more than ever, a franchise-churning monster, and the likelihood of another sequel earning the most sought-after prize of the night is greater than ever before.
With that in mind, could “Gladiator II” or “Dune: Part Two” get some acknowledgment at the Oscars when the 97th ceremony rolls around? Is it possible Tom Cruise’s farewell to the IMF and Ethan Hunt in “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” will be treated just as well as “Top Gun: Maverick” was? For that matter, might Vin Diesel’s gas-filled swan song as Dominic Toretto in “Fast XI” finish off the “Fast & Furious” franchise with the respect it deserves? It really is anyone’s guess, but just like any good sequel, this article will have to leave off on a cliffhanger while we wait for the next chapter in the story.
To be continued.