13 Awesome 2016 Movies That Deserve Best Picture (But Won't Get Nominated)

Marvel is finally Oscar-worthy.

Captain America Civil War Oscar
Marvel Studios

Oscar season has been in full swing for a while now, and it's becoming increasingly clear which films are most likely to score Best Picture nominations.

You can pretty much score up Fences, La La Land, Manchester by the Sea and Moonlight as the front-runners, while other spots will probably be taken by Arrival, 20th Century Women and Silence (if it's as good as it looks).

As ever, a ton of great films are going to get shut out of the awards process, and their fans will be whining about it all the way to February's Oscar ceremony.

In part it's perhaps because the studios didn't campaign their films sufficiently, or perhaps it's because the crusty collective of older Oscar voters are simply too set in their ways to appreciate more modern, left-field filmmaking craft. After all, aren't comic book fans all still rightly hurting that The Dark Knight got snubbed in 2009?

Here are 13 awesome 2016 movies that deserve Best Picture (but won't get nominated)...

13. Zootopia

Captain America Civil War Oscar
Disney

RottenTomatoes Score: 98% (8.1/10 average score)

Why It Deserves Best Picture: Zootopia is without question one of the year's most pleasant surprises, an incredibly witty and hilarious social satire which delivers a much-needed message about tolerance without shoving it down the audience's throat.

Voice performances are marvelous across the board and the animation is first-rate, making this a sure-fire Disney classic and arguably their best animated film since 1994's The Lion King.

Why It Won't Get Nominated: Animation always faces an uphill struggle when it comes to breaking out of the Best Animated Feature category, and only three animations to date have scored Best Picture nominations: Beauty and the Beast (1991), Up (2009) and Toy Story 3 (2010).

As such, the odds aren't at all in Zootopia's favour, even if it's going to end up far better-reviewed than many of the eventual Best Picture nominees.

Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.