Can Spectre Win an Academy Award?

With award season rapidly approaching, we look at whether or not Spectre has what it takes to win Oscar gold.

James Bond is no foreigner to the Academy Awards. That being said, the release of Spectre begs the question as to whether or not the film will appear among this year’s Oscar nominees.

Long story short: it is possible, but not likely.

To begin, Skyfall is the only Daniel Craig Bond film to receive Academy Award recognition. The film won for Best Original Song and Best Sound Editing.

Prior to this, a James Bond film hadn’t received an Academy Award nomination since 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me.

Of course, this doesn’t say much. It comes down to the quality of the film itself. Unfortunately, Spectre is nowhere near the best James Bond film.

This being said, it is still possible that Spectre will receive a nomination. But it likely won’t win anything.

The James Bond films most often get nominated in the categories of Sound Editing and Original Song. Gauging Spectre‘s success, then, is easiest by looking at these two categories.

More from Entertainment

• 10 greatest fictional football players of all time
• Stephen A. Smith learned quickly not to mess with Rihanna
• Everything to know about Taylor Swift’s Thursday Night Football appearance
• House of the Dragon live stream: How to watch
• From boxing to cinema, Javon Walton stars in Samaritan with Stallone

Best Sound Editing might be a stacked category this award season.

Even moving beyond the Summer blockbusters that could be up for the category, such as Jurassic World and Avengers: Age of Ultron, there are more award-worthy films with solid sound work.

Sicario and The Martian are two examples of movies in this vein, as they are sure to be eligible for other categories as well.

However, what it comes down to is how the Academy will view the surprise critical hit Mad Max: Fury Road. If award season is kind to this film, it could rack up a slew of technical awards, including Best Sound Editing. I could see Mad Max being nominated for upwards of six Oscar categories.

As far as Best Original Song is concerned, this category is almost always up in the air. It is hard to predict the nominees before they are announced, as sometimes obscure songs are picked.

If Sam Smith’s song for Spectre picks up a nomination, which is entirely possible given its commercial success, I find it hard to believe that it would win. This is due to the fact that Adele’s Skyfall theme is the only Bond theme to ever win the prize, and Smith’s addition to the Bond canon is less than stellar. Then again, it all depends on what the competition is.

Next: Canadian James Bond Remake in the Works

As always, thanks for reading!