'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' leads fantasy films at the Saturn Awards with 13 nominations

I ended 'Dune: Part Two' leads movie nominations at the Saturn Awards with today's topic.

Stay tuned for Best Fantasy Film and Best International Film nominees tomorrow. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice vs. Godzilla!

Here are the nominees for Best Fantasy Film.

Best Fantasy Film:
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
My Old Ass
Poor Things
Wonka

As Deadline reported and the Saturn Awards excerpted, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice earned 13 nominations, followed by Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire with four, Wonka with three, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire with two, and one each for My Old Ass and Poor Things. Seeing Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire with only two nominations makes me re-evaluate what I wrote about the movie in 'Godzilla Minus One' wins two Critics Choice Super Awards plus an entertainment retrospective.

As for Godzilla Minus One, I'm looking forward to seeing it on my Saturn Awards ballot later this year, where I have it penciled in as my vote for Best International Film, along with Poor Things and The Boy and the Heron, which are my current choices for Best Fantasy Film and Best Animated Film, respectively. That written, I already think Poor Things will lose to the kaiju movie currently in theaters, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire for Best Fantasy Film. In addition Godzilla will face friendly fire, as I would not be surprised if both Godzilla Minus One and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire both earn nominations for Best Fantasy Film. Only if the kaiju fans split their votes in this category does Poor Things stand a chance of winning at the Saturn Awards, given that "the Saturn Awards are about entertainment not art, they don't care for subtle, and they love to stick it to the experts."

I can brag about all of the films I predicted would be on the Saturn Awards ballot making it there: Godzilla Minus One is nominated for Best International Film, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and Poor Things are nominated for Best Fantasy Film, and The Boy and the Heron earned a nomination for Best Animated Film. I think I'm also still right about Poor Things, but for the wrong reasons. It may lose to Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire for Best Fantasy Film, but no one except the tabulators will know this; instead, I'm sure that Beetlejuice Beetlejuice will win this award. I didn't consider it in my calculations because I wasn't sure about the eligibility period, which I figured would extend until about October 1, 2024, but didn't know Beetlejuice Beetlejuice's release date. Had I known, I might have adjusted my prediction. Speaking of release dates, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is available for streaming on Max today and my wife and I are planning on watching it. If it lives up to my expectations, I'm voting for it in this category and Jenna Ortega as Best Younger Performer in a Film.

On the other hand, I was wrong about some other predictions, but I'm not whining; I'm relieved. The movie committee did not nominate Godzilla Minus One for Best Fantasy Film, so it and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire are not competing with each other in that category. Also, they could have nominated The Boy and the Heron for Best International Film as well. They didn't, so the two Oscar winners aren't competing against each other. I think the selection committee made the right decisions, so I'm not complaining.

Since I mentioned both Best International Film and Best Animated Film, follow over the jump for the nominees in those categories and my opinions of them.

Best International Film:
Animal Kingdom (France)
Godzilla Minus One (Japan)
Kill (India
Monkey Man (India
Oddity (Ireland)
Society of the Snow (Spain)

Godzilla Minus One is the only nominee with multiple nominations for this category, Best Film Direction, Best Film Screenwriting, and Best Film Visual/Special Effects. The rest have only this nomination. As I wrote above, I had Godzilla Minus One penciled in as my vote back in April. It's now in ink. Godzilla Minus One's only serious competition is Society of the Snow, which earned two Oscar nominations, including for Best International Feature Film, but that would be a professional choice. A more popular choice would be Monkey Man, but it won't beat the king of kaiju.

Best Animated Film:
[The] Boy and the Heron
Despicable Me 4
Inside Out 2
Kung Fu Panda 4
Spy x Family Code: White
Transformers: One
The Wild Robot

As I wrote above, Oscar winner The Boy and the Heron had been my choice in April. No longer. I'm voting for the highest-grossing film of 2024, Inside Out 2. It might not win, despite its popularity. All of the editors, most of the experts, and nearly all the top 24 users think The Wild Robot will win next year's Oscar for Animated Feature, and the Saturn Awards electorate might follow suit. Then again, they might not. Electorates matter.

I don't feel like revisiting the acting, directing, writing, and craft nominations after spending so much time on them yesterday for 'Dune: Part Two' leads movie nominations at the Saturn Awards — my readers can click on the link to see them — so I'm closing with two videos of the music from nominated fantasy films, beginning with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Soundtrack | Main Title Theme - Danny Elfman from Water Tower Music.

Main Title Theme from the #OfficialSoundtrack of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Performed by Danny Elfman

That's a lot of fun and even better than the original!

Now for the other Best Fantasy Film nominee also nominated for Best Film Music, Last Frozen Stand from Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.


That's also fun and dramatic. Still, if Emmy-winner Cristobal Tapia de Veer's music from Smile 2 isn't better than Hans Zimmer's from Dune: Part Two, the latter is getting my vote.

I'm planning on covering the Best Action Film nominees Monday after I post the highlights of tonight's Saturday Night Live as the official Sunday entertainment feature. Stay tuned.

Previous posts about the 2024-2025 Saturn Awards

• 'Dune: Part Two' leads movie nominations at the Saturn Awards