5 Oscar-Nominated Sci-Fi Movies That Nobody Talks About Anymore

If one genre has had the least attention at the Oscars, it's horror. Through the 98 Academy Award ceremonies, only seven films have been nominated for Best Picture. The one other genre that just scrapes ahead, however, is science fiction. When biopics, epic tales, and gut-wrenching dramas get all the attention, is there really room for outer space, time-bending tales, and alien encounters? Well, it turns out there's plenty. While only two science fiction stories, "The Shape of Water" and "Everything, Everywhere, All at Once," won the coveted Best Picture title, directors and stars were nominated and even won their respective awards. In some cases, though, hits of the year came close to victory but seem to have gotten lost on the Blu-ray shelf of time, collecting dust instead of love, unlike other revered sci-fi movies. 

So we've put together a surprising list of films that, after release, earned one or two award nominations, proving they deserved as much credit as some of the other big hitters from their respective years. From animated entries to forgotten Arnold Schwarzenegger action movies, this select batch of sci-fi films deserves attention, even if they weren't massive hits initially. To start things off, we've got a cult body-horror classic where Kevin Bacon goes bad in a movie he's barely seen on screen.

Before Elisabeth Moss was being transformed into a nervous wreck in an updated version of "The Invisible Man," Kevin Bacon disappeared into the role that turned him into an unhinged menace in Paul Verhoeven's "Hollow Man." Released in 2000, the movie earned an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects, and it's understandable to see why. The movie takes the classic formula of "The Invisible Man" and blends it with elements of "The Fly." Bacon is part of a team that includes Elisabeth Shue and Josh Brolin, and he tries out their new breakthrough for himself. In no time at all, things start to go sideways, and the lab team gets picked off by an invisible killer who knows just how to strike at them.

While Bacon's character stays hidden for most of the movie, the glimpses we get of him create some impressive set pieces. Hidden through fog and revealed in flashes of the titular villain, the movie does a great job of showing just enough to keep audiences on their toes. Verhoeven was no stranger to including the occasional lewd and crude sequence of the unhinged Sebastian Caine (Bacon) getting up to no good away from prying eyes. It might seem dated in some areas, but it still has its moments. If anything, we should be grateful the film jump-started Josh Brolin's career and set him up where he is now, whether he admits he likes the movie or not (spoilers: he doesn't).

Perhaps the reason that the Oscar-nominated "Bicentennial Man" isn't talked about as much anymore is that it was barely spoken about when it was initially released. The 1999 film, starring the late, great Robin Williams and Sam Neill, earned an Academy Award nomination for its makeup, which turned the legendary funny man into a self-aware robot who embarks on a quest to become human. Unfortunately, the story didn't resonate with audiences, and it became a box-office bomb for Disney, with little support from critics, either. Looking back, it feels like a misunderstood movie that might've been ahead of its time.

The idea of artificial life and self-identity is a tried-and-true formula that has worked for movies like "Blade Runner" and "Artificial Intelligence," the latter released only two years after Williams' movie (and in which he also cameoed). "Bicentennial Man," fully aware of what its star can do, takes a slightly more lighthearted approach to these topics, which might not have landed quite as well initially. Now, with artificial intelligence looming in our everyday lives, seeing a self-aware robot that looks like Mork from Ork might reassure us that this area of technology might not be so bad after all. Also, watching Williams dial it down in a comedy makes for a strange but still fairly entertaining watch.

It's no surprise that many of Arnold Schwarzenegger's movies have earned a handful of Oscar nominations. "Predator" and "True Lies" both got Academy nods for their visual effects, while "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" and "Total Recall" each took home a gold statue for their visual effects and sound effects, respectively. One movie that got some attention during awards season but not much after marked the end of his action-movie dominance, before Keanu Reeves was dodging bullets or Matt Damon was beating spies to death with newspapers.

Schwarzenegger's 1996 movie, "Eraser," saw him as U.S. Marshal John "Eraser" Kruger, who is forced to go rogue when he finds out there's a mole in his department. The film also stars Vanessa Williams as the woman he's sworn to protect, and James Caan as the bad guy behind a desk who wants them both dead. Along the way, there's a legendary skydiving sequence and an electromagnetic rifle that uses X-rays to find its target, and sounds cool when you fire it. Sadly, even with all that firepower, it wasn't enough, and the film lost its Oscar nomination to the Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas-led thriller, "The Ghost and the Darkness," another forgotten gem that gets nowhere near enough attention.

If one film has been itching to be remade, it's the 1966 microscopic adventure, "Fantastic Voyage." Spoofed in everything from "Futurama" to "The Magic School Bus," "Fantastic Voyage" follows a submarine crew shrunk down to journey through a scientist's body and operate on his brain after an assassination attempt. Beyond fighting the scientist's biological defenses, the team's leader, CIA Agent Grant (Stephen Boyd), keeps a close eye on the rest of the crew after it's revealed that one of them could be a traitor intent on finishing the job.

The movie earned five nominations and won two. In addition to winning best Art Direction, it also earned the well-deserved prize for best special effects. The movie does remain a staple of science fiction, but one that doesn't get as much love as classics like "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Planet of the Apes," which were released the following two years. Since then, one titan of filmmaking, Guillermo del Toro, and the filmmaker behind "Titanic," James Cameron, have both played around with remaking the film, but there have been few updates since 2024. Given their previous Oscar success with their own movies, there's no guarantee they could repeat that level of success on their own voyage, if it ever came to pass.

It might've won Best Animated Movie in 2015, but it still feels like "Big Hero 6" doesn't get anywhere near the recognition it deserves, like some other movies that have nabbed such a status. In fact, it feels like it should get considerably more than most when you consider that its adapting comic book characters that are a part of the Marvel universe and have every reason to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which, last time we checked, is kind of a big deal and has been for some time.

The film, directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams, follows a genius inventor, Hiro (Ryan Potter), who, with his friendly, fluffy assistant robot, Baymax, enlists other geniuses to form their own superhero team. A Disney hit with the same gold-standard animation as films like "Wreck-It Ralph" and "Frozen," "Big Hero 6" also has a lot of heart and incredible action sequences that made it a hit in 2014. It's an impressive achievement, especially when it was going up against films like "How to Train Your Dragon 2" and Laika Studios' stop-motion animated flick, "The Boxtrolls."

Since its release, the film was followed by a television series in 2017, then a "Baymax!" spin-off series that aired in 2022. Talks of a sequel were underway as far back as 2021, but when you consider that the likes of "Frozen" have had two follow-up films and "Moana" has had a sequel and a live-action remake, clearly there's not enough love for "Big Hero 6," which really is a shame.