Why Terminator 2 Was The Only Oscar-Winning Movie In The Franchise

[Nergal]

 

Terminator 2: Judgment Day is the only movie in the Terminator franchise to win an Oscar, and here's how many and why it hasn't been duplicated. Divisive as they can sometimes be, the Oscars, aka the Academy Awards, are definitely the most prestigious statue one can pick up in Hollywood. However, the Oscar voters rarely prove friendly to crowd-pleasing genre pictures. Horror is the most overlooked in that regard, although lots of action and sci-fi hits struggle to get noticed by Oscar.

There was a push to rectify that in the last few years, via creating an Oscar for Best Popular Movie, which would be used to honor a commercial smash that maybe didn't have the usual trappings of an Oscar-winner. While the Academy's intentions may have been good, the floated change caused a swift and harsh backlash, with many arguing the idea was just plain insulting. After all, the winner would still be seen as unable to measure up to the winners of standard Oscars, and also effectively be labeled a second-tier Oscar-winner.

However, sometimes the realms of blockbuster hit and Academy Awards briefly align, allowing an iconic - or not so iconic - genre movie to take home the gold. For the Terminator franchise, that's only happened with one entry, Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Why Terminator 2 Was The Only Oscar-Winner In The Franchise



Terminator 2: Judgment Day won four Oscars in 1992, including taking home the trophies for Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Sound, Best Makeup, and Best Visual Effects. While it would be easy to argue that Terminator 2 won those awards because it was the best movie in the franchise, the fact that they're all technical achievements counteracts that claim. Lots of bad movies have won technical Oscars. However, later Terminator 2 movies sport even more advanced effects, and didn't win any technical Oscars.

While being a terrific, highly successful film certainly helped Terminator 2 with Oscar voters, another factor that helped it was being at the forefront of CGI technology. The sequel didn't invent CGI, but it was the first major use of it that made the masses sit up and take notice in awe. None of the later movies had that benefit, and weren't seen as impressive. There's also the factor of James Cameron's notoriously exacting direction to take into consideration, which extends to worrying about top notch audio quality and practical special effects where used, enlisting the legendary Stan Winston to supply the latter. Cameron didn't direct any of the other films, a detriment the franchise has never really recovered from.

[deepdigger]

Because it was a masterpiece. It is so well packaged it's unbelievable. The revolutionary (for that time) cgi, the music, the makeup...

Not the most original screenplay, far from it, but it's so well made it's probably the best sci-fi action movie ever.

 

[CGTitan]

Linda Hamilton gave an Oscar-calibre performance in this film. But Cameron made the mistake of trying to list her as a lead actress. If he utilized a similar strategy like what happened with Alicia Vikander for The Danish Girl, then we might have had a nomination, or perhaps a win. After all, she gave the performance of her career in this film, and she deserved an Academy Award.