This morning the Academy announced the 2013 Oscars will include a tribute to the James Bond movie franchise in celebration of its 50th Anniversary this year. With Skyfall recently passing $1 billion worldwide and receiving one of the ten nominations for the 2013 Producers Guild Awards, perhaps the highest grossing film in the Bond franchise will find a way to be included in more than just the technical awards this year.
“We are very happy to include a special sequence on our show saluting the Bond films on their 50th birthday,” said producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. “Starting with Dr. No back in 1962, the 007 movies have become the longest-running motion picture franchise in history and a beloved global phenomenon.”
Personally I don’t think Skyfall has that great a chance, and whatever this tribute entails will surely give the latest Sam Mendes-directed installment its due attention as well as help with the show’s ratings as that has become almost more important to the Academy than the films they’re awarding.
As for the nominations, I’ve been predicting them for the last several months and you can see all my current predictions here. Skyfall currently sits at #11 on my list of Best Picture predictions as this announcement comes with a mere hours before the Oscar nominations voting closes tonight at 5 PM PST.
Oscar nominations will be announced next Thursday, January 10, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. I’ll be here with those and updating them live as they are announced.
