The Only Two Harry Potter Movies To Not Receive Oscar Nominations

There are a lot of reasons why the “Harry Potter” reboot currently in the works at Max has received a lot of skepticism so far, but a big one is that the original movie adaptations were already so impressive. From 2001 to 2011, Warner Bros. was dropping one impressive “Potter” film after another. Fans may complain about certain omissions from the source material here or there, but the movies are still so consistent in quality and so iconic in its score and visuals. Why try to remake them so soon? 

But although the “Harry Potter” films were successful by most metrics, not all of them succeeded equally. Of the eight movies, two of them never received any Oscar nominations at all: “Chamber of Secrets” at the 2003 Academy Awards and “Order of the Phoenix” at the 2008 awards. 

The “Potter” films with the most Oscar nominations were “Deathly Hallows: Part 2” (Best Art Direction, Best Makeup, and Best Visual Effects,) and “Sorcerer’s Stone” (Best Art Direction and Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, Best Music/Original Score). Behind them were “Prisoner of Azkaban” (Best Visual Effects, Best Original Score), and “Deathly Hallows: Part 1” (Best Art Direction, Best Visual Effects). Only receiving one Oscar nom were “Goblet of Fire” (Best Art Direction) and “Half-Blood Prince” (Best Cinematography). 

For the two odd movies out, they can be comforted by how none of those Oscar noms for the other movies ever resulted in a win. Is it better to be nominated for an Oscar and lose, or to not be nominated and therefore never get your hopes up in the first place? As an “Order of the Phoenix” defender, I’d say it’s best to be the latter. 

The second movie in the series, “Chamber of Secrets” was the awkward middle child between the series’ three main kid-friendly installments. “Sorcerer’s Stone” introduced viewers to this world of childlike magic and whimsy, and “Prisoner of Azkaban” proved that the series could gracefully handle the characters’ tradition into adulthood. “Chamber of Secrets” was caught in the middle. It was about as simple as that first film, but without any of the novelty to smooth over the rougher edges.

The first two “Potter” films also had the misfortune of competing against “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Those movies were an unquestioned triumph in categories like Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Production Design, and Best Visual Effects. “Sorcerer’s Stone” could compete with them because it was the movie that introduced the wizarding world to viewers, but “Chamber of Secrets” (which didn’t innovate much from what the first movie established) couldn’t. 

As for why the fifth movie, “Order of the Phoenix,” was snubbed? There’s no official explanation of course, but it certainly didn’t help that 2007 was a weirdly good year for movies, and the competition for the Oscars was as high as it’d ever be. When it comes to the award for Best Visual Effects, which was the “Potter” franchise’s strongest category, “Order of the Phoenix” was competing against “The Golden Compass,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” and “Transformers.” Even if it was nominated, there’s no chance it was winning against any of those. Tough break! Perhaps an adaptation of “Order of the Phoenix” will have better luck at the Emmys, assuming the “Harry Potter” TV show can make it to season 5.