15 Oscar-Baiting Films That Hilariously Failed To Win

13. The Lovely Bones

Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones was one of the sure-fire Oscar bets of 2009: with Jackson's success scooping Best Director and Best Picture honours for The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, he cemented himself as one of the most successful directors in adapting acclaimed novels. However, with its difficult themes of murder and rape, transferring Alice Sebold's cherished work to the screen was going to prove a challenge, all the more so considering the PG-13 rating Jackson had to deal with. Despite having its release date moved back in the year to a more Oscar-friendly period, The Lovely Bones ended up being a colossal disappointment to fans of the source material and those expecting much of Jackson. Though the movie offered plenty of visual splendour, this felt like a tame interpretation of the movie, de-fanging its thornier themes and turning it into a schmaltzy teen excursion. The movie was panned by most major critics, though Stanley Tucci was almost universally praised for his performance, which earned the movie its sole Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.