The Oscars’ history of some of the most famous franchises still makes no sense to many fans. Harry Potter never won a single Academy Award despite being a visual extravaganza spread over 8 films. Of the eight, six films were nominated for 12 categories, winning none. Meanwhile, even MCU managed to bag 4 Oscars out of its 27 nominations over the years.
George Lucas’ Star Wars also did not get as much recognition as Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings. In particular, Lucas’ prequel trilogy was snubbed of any Oscars, despite bringing industry-defining technology into filmmaking.
Harry Potter And Other Franchise’s Oscar History Explained
One X user, @Rothmus, compared the Oscar wins of different franchises, and fans are convinced that these awards mean nothing. The post includes the four most popular franchises and their number of Oscar wins. They include Harry Potter with zero Oscar wins, MCU with 4 Oscar wins, Star Wars with 7 Oscar wins, and The Lord of the Rings with an astounding 17 Oscar wins.
LOTR W pic.twitter.com/uuZvX31Bom
— Rothmus 🏴 (@Rothmus) July 19, 2024
The Harry Potter franchise released eight movies, six of which were nominated for Academy Awards. The first and last films each earned three nominations, while The Prisoner of Azkaban and The Deathly Hallows – Part 1 each received two nominations. The Goblet of Fire and The Half-Blood Prince were nominated in one category each, while The Chamber of Secrets and The Order of Phoenix received no nominations.
The MCU’s Oscar wins all came from the Black Panther films. The 2018 film Black Panther won three Academy Awards for Best Costume Design, Best Original Score, and Best Production Design out of its seven nominations. Its sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, won the Best Costume Design for Ruth Carter a second time. Of the 33 MCU films, 15 were nominated for a total of 27 Oscars.
Star Wars was a sensation when A New Hope was released in 1978. The film won six Oscars out of its ten nominations. It won the Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Sound, and Best Visual Effects. The Empire Strikes Back won the Oscar for Best Sound. All three original trilogy films were also honored with Special Achievement Awards.
Sadly, George Lucas‘ prequel trilogy did not receive any recognition from the Academy despite its use of revolutionary technology in filmmaking. The three films earned only five nominations in total. The Disney Star Wars projects also did not win an award despite earning 15 Oscar nominations.
Peter Jackson‘s The Lord of the Rings franchise seemed to be an Academy favorite since the three films earned a total of 30 nominations and won 17 of them. The Fellowship of the Ring received a total of 13 nominations and won four of them. The Two Towers was nominated for six categories and won two. The Return of the King holds the record for the highest clean sweep at Oscars, winning eleven awards out of eleven nominations.
The Comparison Makes Some Fans Believe That Oscars Really Don’t Mean Anything
Critics and fans were always disappointed at the Oscars snub for the Harry Potter films. However, some observers point out that the reviews for the films were uneven compared to franchises like The Lord of the Rings. They also point out that different directors and their directorial styles could’ve played a part in their Oscar snub (via LA Times).
Except for Star Wars: A New Hope, none of the other films in George Lucas’ franchise was considered for any major awards. Fans found it problematic that a sci-fi film was considered only for technical awards, while a fantasy film like LOTR was nominated for major categories as well. One fan under the X post shared the opinion that the Oscars really don’t mean anything.
While fans agree LOTR to be an Oscar-worthy franchise, they found the Oscar history of Harry Potter and Star Wars to be unfair. Some of the fan reactions read:
Lord of the rings is great don’t get me wrong but the Oscar’s really don’t mean anything
— Zman (@TheZmanShow) July 19, 2024
Really? Potter got zero??
— Stephen the Martyr (@StM_1979) July 19, 2024
if all you care about is how many Oscars something has gotten, you are missing out on a ton of good movies.
— Renaud Nadeau (@RenaudNadeau) July 19, 2024
I realize you're trying to make a point, but does anyone believe the Hollywood crowd, including the academy, are good stewards of quality storytelling anymore?
— Ben (@Wyndle) July 19, 2024
As it should be. LOTR is a masterful and mostly respectful adaptation of an absolute masterpiece!
— David Thompson (@DBThompsonUS) July 19, 2024
Harry Potter films are available for streaming on Max and Peacock. Both the MCU and Star Wars films are available for streaming on Disney+. The Lord of the Rings films are available on Max.
