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“Saltburn,” “Oppenheimer,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Barbie,” “Poor Things,” and “Asteroid City” all earned nominations from the Critics Choice Awards for Best Production Design. That bodes well for each film’s Oscar chances this year. But before we get too ahead of ourselves by predicting who might win this category, let’s take a look back at the last 10 Oscar winners for Best Production Design.

We’re going to take a look at the academy’s tastes here to see what type of films in what type of setting they nominate most. Then, we’ll try to apply those findings to this year’s race as we scrutinize the movies hoping for a nomination in this design category. Here we go.

These 10 winners seem like totally different movies but a closer look does show some similarities. Firstly, seven out of the 10 are set in the real world. “The Shape of Water...

Below-the-line categories at the Oscars just don’t get the attention they deserve. The artistry on display helps to bring to life a movie. Visual effects are such a key part of the storytelling of “A New Hope.” Costume design is vital to the storytelling of “Phantom Thread.” And production design is so key in “Parasite,” “Avatar,” and “The Lord of the Rings” in so many different ways.

With that in mind, let’s take a look a closer look at some of the below-the-line categories, starting here with Best Production Design. We’re going to look at the last 10 winners in this category to work out if there is a pattern in the way the academy awards certain winners. They love biopics in the acting categories, for example, so what are they partial to in Production Design? Take a look at the below chart.

These 10 winners seem like totally...

The Oscars for design — Costume Design, Production Design, and Makeup and Hairstyling — are often awarded together to reward movies that have excelled in their costume creations, set building, and distinct makeup work. “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” won all three while “Black Panther” won both Costume Design and Production Design. Those two are fantasy films, which is a leading genre in the design categories. But period pictures, historical epics, sci-fi flicks, and even distinct contemporary films have also done well in these races.

With that in mind, here’s a breakdown of the eight films we expect to be the strongest contenders across the three categories.

“Barbie”

Let’s get the obvious one out of the way. The trailers have flaunted pretty pastels and plastics in both the sets and the costumes and the full film does not disappoint. The legendary Jacqueline Durran is in...

Ryan Britt Nov 25, 2019

Director Dean Parisot explains why Galaxy Quest gets more “meta every year.”

Imagine a world in which there’s a Guardians of the Galaxy without Galaxy Quest coming first. That’s right. You can’t. To say there isn’t another science fiction movie like Galaxy Quest is both completely true and slightly false. Prior to 1999, a metafictional take on something like Star Trek had never really been attempted with the same level of seriousness and care that Galaxy Quest delivered. But since then, the idea of tongue-in-cheek-not-quite-a-parody is widely prevalent. In some ways, by being both satire and serious science fiction, Galaxy Quest reshaped the mainstream space-action movie genre as we know it. And, with each passing year, Dean Parisot — the director of the film — says he’s tickled by how much the “ironies keep stacking up.”

Den of Geek caught up with Parisot ahead of...