By Jim Kiernan

LOS ANGELES, Calif. --

It’s safe to say that “Avatar” had another good week. Not only did it pass the $2 billion mark in worldwide ticket sakes to surpass ‘Titanic’ as the highest-grossing film of all time, on Tuesday morning it also snagged nine Oscar Nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director for James Cameron. The film joins other geek-friendly films like “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” “District 9,” “Star Trek,” “Sherlock Holmes,” and “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” in this year’s Oscar race.

“Avatar’s” big score with Academy accolades this year is a testament to the quality of the at times overlooked genre of science fiction and fantasy films for Oscar consideration. A global fantasy film phenomenon like “Avatar” is not your typical fare to be recognized for numerous Academy Awards. The last time a genre film was so recognized was in 2004, when “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” practically ran away with the show, winning 11 Oscars.

Though “Avatar’s” strong showing is not a total surprise given its consistent presence during this year’s awards season so far, already winning Golden Globes for Best Picture — Drama and Best Director, in addition to racking up nominations from numerous film critics’ associations as well as the PGA, DGA, and BAFTA. Whether “Avatar” will allow James Cameron the opportunity to reclaim his self-proclaimed status as the “King of the World” after winning Best Director for “Titanic” remains to be seen. His biggest challenger seems to be none other that his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow and her own multi-nominated film, “The Hurt Locker.”

In the technical categories for the Oscars, it’s typical for big budget films with complicated editing, massive special effects sequences, and mountains of deafening sound design to be the frontrunners. So this year we see “Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince,” “Star Trek” and “District 9” up for Achievement In Visual Effects. I will admit a surprising omission was, yes, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” Much may have disregarded the Michael Bay summer blockbuster, but you can’t take away the sheer visual shock and awe assault the film had on audiences. If there is but one thing the film could be recognized for, it would be visual effects, especially after the first “Transformers” had a surprising loss in the category to “The Golden Compass” in 2008. Though it should be noted that “Revenge of the Fallen” did score a nom for Sound Mixing this year.

But perhaps the two films really slugging it out behind the scenes in the sci-fi world for a Best Picture nomination were “District 9” and “Star Trek.” With the Academy expanding the category to ten nominations this year, both the blockbuster reboot of “Star Trek” and the Peter Jackson-produced surprise sleeper hit “District 9” suddenly found themselves seriously in the running for a nod from the Academy (though it should be noted that “The Hangover” had also been mentioned more than once as a possible nominee as well). But after the dust settled, it appears there was room for only one more sci-fi film in the category after “Avatar,” with the indie-oriented, lower budget “District 9” moving forward into contention. The Academy perhaps felt “Avatar” was already representing the big action blockbuster sci-fi film among the nominees, and “Star Trek” too closely fit that mold as well. “Trek” did score nods for Makeup, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects.

I feel an interesting nod for “Avatar” was in the Cinematography category. Much of the film was captured in a studio in front of a green screen, and to no one’s surprise, the majority of the imagery seen on the screen was finalized in post-production by the special effects team on computers. Comparing the cinematography for “The Hurt Locker,” where most of the shots were captured old-school, live on the set and in-camera, one has to wonder if the category should be adjusted or split off into an additional digital category in the future. Certainly smaller films, which are extremely capable of Oscar-worthy cinematography, are still hard pressed to compete with the look of “Avatar” without an army of tech whizzes at their disposal to digitally sculpt the raw footage. Not to take away from Cameron’s vision — the film without question changes the landscape if not the modern definition of cinematography.

Tune in to the 82nd Annual Academy Awards on March 7 to see how many times Mr. Cameron may hear “And the Oscar goes to… ‘Avatar’” — and check back next week for another Week In Geek!

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