'The Hobbit,' 'Lincoln' surprise with Cinema Audio Society nominations

'The Avengers' and 'The Dark Knight Rises' are denied

By Kristopher TapleyTuesday, Jan 8, 2013 8:00 AM

"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"

Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

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Every year there are discrepancies between guild/industry nominations and their Academy counterparts. And the Cinema Audio Society is no exception. Just last year, "Hanna," "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" and "Super 8" all yielded to "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" and "War Horse" with the Academy. And only twice in the Society's history have their nods and the sound branch's nominees for Best Sound Mixing (or Best Sound, as the category used to be called) matched up.

This year? Well, this year, who knows? It's a strange season in that a number of people have missed a number of movies. So something like "Django Unchained" misses here. Then again, "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" did find a place. The two perceived frontrunners in the category, "Les Misérables" and "Skyfall," are there, but missing are summer blockbusters like "The Avengers" (which seemed all systems go for Oscar), "The Dark Knight Rises" (no surprise given the criticisms) and "Prometheus" (which boasts a heck of a track).

Let's just get the nominees out of the way first. Those competing in the live action category are:

"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
"Les Misérables"
"Lincoln"
"Skyfall"
"Zero Dark Thirty"

That's right. "Live action," because this year, the Society has opted to split off animated films for the first time ever. The nominees there are:

"Brave"
"Frankenweenie"
"The Lorax"
"Rise of the Guardians"
"Wreck-It Ralph"

I don't know if any of those can get in with Oscar, but it would be great to see "Wreck-It Ralph" find some room.

So anyway, first off, "Zero Dark Thirty" placing here makes it the only film to have been recognized by each of the industry groups that have announced nominees so far: the Screen Actors Guild, Writers Guild, Producers Guild, Visual Effects Society and Cinema Audio Society. We'll see if that streak continues later this afternoon with the Directors Guild nominations.

As for Best Sound Mixing at the Oscars, just take a stab at picking which films you think will drop out. My guess is "The Hobbit" and maybe "Lincoln," too. Replaced by "Django Unchained" and perhaps "The Avengers." Or maybe "Argo" can make good and slide in, despite missing here. It's happened for eventual Best Picture nominees "War Horse," "The King's Speech," "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and "Gangs of New York" in recent years.

We'll know in two days' time. For now, keep track of all this craziness via The Circuit.

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Kristopher Tapley
Editor-at-Large

Kristopher Tapley has covered the film awards landscape for over a decade. He founded In Contention in 2005. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Times of London and Variety. He begs you not to take any of this too seriously.

JJ1

Would've loved to see Prometheus pop-up, here.

Otherwise, the only major surprise to me is seeing Lincoln in place of The Avengers. I would've thought Avengers could sneak into PGA and then be here for CAS, for sure. VES is all it's got so far. I still think it could pop-up in Sound Mixing, but maybe it will only get Sound Editing.
January 8, 2013 at 9:16AM EST Reply to Comment
Filipe

Les Miserables appeared in everything too, except for the WGA, because it wasn't eligible.
But I guess it wouldn't appear even it was.
January 8, 2013 at 9:49AM EST Reply to Comment
- Patrick Don't forget VES too.
  January 8, 2013 at 10:58AM EST
marshmeli

It won't happen, but would love for Killing Them Softly to sneak in to Sound Editing, a la Drive last year. I know the reviews have been mixed (and bombed in the BO), but I loved the movie and thought the sound was stellar.
January 8, 2013 at 11:37AM EST Reply to Comment
Henry

Not "The Impossible"???
January 8, 2013 at 11:53AM EST Reply to Comment
G

Lincoln has a fantastic sound design. It also had my favorite CGI sequence of the year.
January 8, 2013 at 12:09PM EST Reply to Comment
Blake

I really hoped Life of Pi wouldn't have been forgotten here. The mix on that film was excellent. I'm surprised more people aren't predicting Zero Dark Thirty to win here. Most people will mark it down on their ballots just for the first minute alone.
January 8, 2013 at 12:51PM EST Reply to Comment
henry

wat the hell does he mean bout the dark knight rises it was a classic and was most likely at the time a oscars favorite.Where the avengers was only a pop cork flick never likely to win any major oscars and its makes no sense the dark knight rises criticisms was very good where the avengers was ok but no where near the dark knight rises high standard !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 8, 2013 at 3:01PM EST Reply to Comment
henry

Write a comment...wat the hell does he mean bout the dark knight rises it was a classic and was most likely at the time a oscars favorite.Where the avengers was only a pop cork flick never likely to win any major oscars and its makes no sense the dark knight rises criticisms was very good where the avengers was ok but no where near the dark knight rises high standard !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 8, 2013 at 3:01PM EST Reply to Comment
henners65

Write a comment...Write a comment...wat the hell does he mean bout the dark knight rises it was a classic and was most likely at the time a oscars favorite.Where the avengers was only a pop cork flick never likely to win any major oscars and its makes no sense the dark knight rises criticisms was very good where the avengers was ok but no where near the dark knight rises high standard !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 8, 2013 at 3:03PM EST Reply to Comment
henners65

What the hell this makes no sense the dark knight rises was a great film and a classic, where the avengers was just a pop cork flick witch got a bit of luck.The dark knight rises however was a hight standard film and at the time the most likely oscar winner where the avengers was never thought to be a oscar winner and what does it mean the dark knight rises had bad criticism it had great reviews more then the avengers anyway
January 8, 2013 at 3:14PM EST Reply to Comment
- Kristopher Tapley Hey, what did you think of "The Dark Knight Rises?"
  January 8, 2013 at 3:50PM EST
- Guy Lodge Ha!
  January 8, 2013 at 9:11PM EST
- Guy Lodge I like the use of the past tense, by the way: It WAS a classic. You know, for a week or so.
  January 8, 2013 at 9:13PM EST