Oscars 2014 Nominations: 10 Things We Learned About This Year's Picks

2. The Lone Ranger Wasn't A Total Waste Of Money

It was one of the deadliest box office bombs of the decade. Essentially killing Armie Hammer's chance of fronting anything ever again, the failure of The Lone Ranger also ended the long-lasting relationship between Walt Disney Studios and uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer and marked the point at which Johnny Depp wasn't really cool anymore. But all, it seems, was not in vain, as The Lone Ranger just picked up two Oscar nominations. Gore Verbinski's western €“ somehow €“ beat American Hustle to a Make-Up & Hairstyling nomination, impressive considering David O. Russell's film is 25% wigs. More impressively, The Lone Ranger edged its way into the Visual Effects category, beating the monster-on-robot action of Pacific Rim and the human race-bothering destruction of Man of Steel to a nomination. Of course, no-one's not going to beat Gravity, so the respective teams of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Iron Man 3, Star Trek Into Darkness and The Lone Ranger might as well just all stay home on Oscar night, but Disney will at least be thrilled to hear it didn't blow $250 million for nothing.