
I teased
Awards shows for the first Sunday
entertainment feature of July, so I'm returning to the
the Critics Choice Super Awards nominations to examine the nominees for Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Movie. The most nominated film in this category is
Dune: Part Two with 5 nominations, followed by three films,
Alien: Romulus, Companion, and
Mickey 17, with three nominations,
The Wild Robot with two, and
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes with just this one. Picking the winner is trivial; it will be
Dune: Part Two. It already has a Critics Choice Award for visual effects and the same people are voting here. Electorates matter.
This could have been a more interesting contest if the Critics Choice Association (CCA) had nominated
Wicked. This category is for science fiction
and fantasy films, and
Wicked is my choice for Best Fantasy Film at the next Saturn Awards. It's not better than any of the nominated movies here? Really? What a snub!

Out of a field that comprises Austin Butler and Timothée Chalamet for
Dune: Part Two, David Jonsson for
Alien: Romulus, Robert Pattinson for
Mickey 17, Jack Quaid for
Companion, and Miles Teller for
The Gorge, I'm picking Timothée Chalamet to win. I think his only serious competition is Robert Pattinson. Austin Butler? He has a better chance to win Best Villain in a Movie.

While I think two-time Emmy winner Zendaya has the inside track for her role in
Dune: Part Two, I also think she has stiffer competition than Chalamet in his category. Both Lupita Nyong'o for
The Wild Robot and Alicia Vikander for
The Assessment are Oscar winners, although the former is a voice acting role and the latter is in a less heralded movie than either
Dune: Part Two or
The Wild Robot, so those circumstances help Zendaya. That's not to count out the rest of the field. Naomi Ackie for
Mickey 17 won a BAFTA TV Award, so she's a credible nominee. So are Cailee Spaeny for
Alien: Romulus, who earned a second nomination at these awards for
Civil War, and Sophie Thatcher for
Companion, who seems to have a breakthrough performance.
I conclude the movie categories with one I covered in
'Deadpool & Wolverine' and 'Thunderbolts*' lead movie nominees at the Critics Choice Super Awards.

Emma Corrin really chewed the scenery in Deadpool & Wolverine, making for a good villain one loves to hate, but I'm not going to pick a winner yet. I have until August 7th to do that, so I'll hold off until I look at the rest of the categories.
As I wrote above, Austin Butler has a better chance to win Best Villain in a Movie and might do so as part of a
Dune: Part Two sweep. Still, I think there are better villains, or at least villains played by more well-known actors, like Hugh Grant and Denzel Washington, so I'm not getting out the broom just yet.
I conclude the movie section by looking at what the nominees in the above categories mean for the Saturn Awards. Only two of the nominees for Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Film are eligible,
Companion and
Mickey 17. The rest were already recognized in this winter's ceremony, where
Dune: Part Two and
Alien: Romulus won Science Fiction and Horror Film, respectively.
The Gorge and
The Assessment from the acting categories make two more. Looking through
Box Office Mojo shows only three more potential nominees,
Lilo & Stitch,
Jurassic World: Rebirth, and
M3GAN 2.0, four if
A Minecraft Movie gets nominated as Science Fiction instead of Fantasy. That's enough for a full field of nominees and would set up a match between
Lilo & Stitch and
Jurassic World: Rebirth. Just the same, I wouldn't be surprised if the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA sacrifices the Superhero Film category again and nominates
Superman and
The Fantastic Four: First Steps for Best Science Fiction Film. I hope they don't.
The
Dune franchise also has a TV nomination, but I'm saving that for a future post. Stay tuned.
Previous entries about the 5th Critics Choice Super Awards