'Potter' snubbed by Academy

The American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced the nominees for the 2012 Academy Awards. Despite holding the record for highest-grossing film of the year, and largest opening weekend (domestic and world-wide), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 failed to secure major nominations in the categories of Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor/Actress, Direction and Cinematography.

Interestingly, the Best Picture category, which since 2009 has included ten nominees, this year only has nine nominees. The AMPAS announced last June that the Best Picture category will now include anywhere from 5 to 10 nominees, 10 being the maximum, depending on votes. We can infer from the rules that Deathly Hallows, Part 2 did not receive at least 5% of the vote for Best Picture from the Academy, resulting in its not being nominated. Apparently no other film also received at least 5% of the vote, leaving what seems like a void on the ballot.

However, Deathly Hallows, Part 2 DID secure three Oscar nominations this year after all, in categories that were revealed on the web site. These categories are:

- Art Direction, Stuart Craig (Production Design) Stephenie MacMillan (Set Decoration)
- Make-Up, Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin
- Visual Effects, Tim Burke (superviser), David Vickery, Greg Butler, and John Richardson

Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe has previously referred to Oscar nominees Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin as his "other mothers" for their work on the Potter films.

A campaign launched by Warner Bros. last Fall sought to achieve greater results with this year's Oscar nominations, but nevertheless we will be rooting for the series to win in Art Direction, Make-up and Visual Effects. Any Oscars won will be the series' first.