‘Alien: Romulus’ Just Became an Academy Awards Nominee

Both The Substance and Nosferatu have received a handful of major nominations for the Academy Awards, but they’re not the only horror movies getting recognition this year.

Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus has received a nomination for Best Visual Effects, competing against Better Man, Dune: Part Two, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, and Wicked.

It’s interesting to note that Ridley Scott’s original sci-fi horror classic Alien took home the trophy for Best Visual Effects at the Oscars in 1980, and James Cameron’s action-packed sequel Aliens followed suit by winning the same major award at the Oscars in 1987. Alien 3 was later nominated in the same category at the Academy Awards in 1993, but did not win.

It wasn’t until 2013 that the Alien franchise popped back up at the Oscars, with Prometheus being nominated for its Visual Effects. This year’s nomination for Alien: Romulus will notably mark the franchise’s first appearance at the Academy Awards in twelve years.

Alien: Romulus has been heavily criticized for the visual effects employed to bring the late Ian Holm back to the screen, with Alvarez and his team actually going back in and attempting to fix the issue for the film’s home video release. While that effects work may have been a little questionable, it clearly did not prove to be a deterrent for the Academy’s voters this year.

The 97th Academy Awards air March 2 from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood.

Alien: Romulus is now available on physical media and VOD outlets, and it’s streaming on Hulu.

In Alien: Romulus, “While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.”