9 Film Adaptations Nominated for Oscars This Year

Nominated for Actress in a Leading Role, Glenn Close
Glenn Close plays Joan in the adaptation of Meg Wolitzer’s THE WIFE, about a long and stormy marriage between Joan and her world-famous novelist husband, Joe, and the secrets they’ve kept for decades.

Nominated for Best Picture
With seven Oscar nods, Black Panther continues to make history as the first superhero movie to score a Best Picture nomination. In BLACK PANTHER, Ta-Nehisi Coates takes the helm to usher in a new era for Marvel’s African superhero. When a superhuman terrorist group, The People, sparks a violent uprising in Wakanda, T’Challa must confront forces that threaten a long and powerful line of Black Panthers.

Nominated for Directing, Spike Lee
Nominated for six Oscars—including a first for director Spike Lee—BlacKkKlansman will surely take home a few awards. John David Washington (Ballers) stars as real-life African-American detective Ron Stallworth in this buzzworthy Spike Lee joint. In his memoir BLACKkKLANSMAN, Stallworth tells his story of what is surely one of the most audacious and incredible undercover investigations in history—infiltrating the KKK. Ron recruits his partner, Chuck (played by Adam Driver), to play the "white" Ron Stallworth, while Stallworth himself conducts all subsequent phone conversations. During the months-long investigation, Stallworth sabotages cross burnings, exposes white supremacists in the military, and even befriends David Duke himself.

Nominated for Actor in a Leading Role, Rami Malek
Get a behind-the-scenes look at the unexpected award-winning film Bohemian Rhapsody with this official book of the movie. With photos of the cast and then-and-now imagery highlighting the recreation of Queen’s most historic moments, readers get an inside look at how the biopic of the legendary Freddie Mercury came to be.

Nominated for Actress in a Leading Role, Melissa McCarthy
Before turning to her life of crime—running a one-woman forgery business out of a phone booth in a Greenwich Village bar and even dodging the FBI—Lee Israel had a legitimate career as an author of biographies (including MISS TALLULAH BANKHEAD and ESTÉE LAUDER: BEYOND THE MAGIC). In her memoir, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?, Israel comes clean about the astonishing caper she carried on for almost two years when she forged and sold more than 300 letters by literary notables such as Dorothy Parker, Edna Ferber, and Noël Coward. Melissa McCarthy portrays Israel in the film adaptation of the same name in her best performance yet.

Nominated for Animated Feature Film
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse stars the first ever Afro-Latino Spider-Man, Miles Morales. Naturally, there’s been a lot of excitement surrounding this iconic first and it’s recent Golden Globe win. So we’re revisiting Jason Reynolds’s novel MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN. Miles is just a regular Brooklyn native and teenager but with one secret: he’s Spider-Man. When Miles’s spidey-sense goes on the fritz, he begins to question his abilities and role as the friendly neighborhood superhero.

Nominated for Actress in a Supporting Role, Regina King
Regina King gets her first-ever Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Sharon Rivers in the Barry Jenkins-directed film If Beale Street Could Talk. The James Baldwin book on which the film is based is told through the eyes of Tish, a 19-year-old girl pregnant with the child of her love, Fonny—who is falsely accused of a crime and facing an uncertain future in prison. Their families set out to clear his name, and as they face an uncertain future, the young lovers experience a kaleidoscope of emotions—affection, despair, and hope.

Nominated for Production Design
First Man is a portrait of famed astronaut Neil Armstrong—the first man on the moon—and as one would expect, to bring this account to life would require a complex and awe-inspiring set design. While the film may have come close to recreating Armstrong’s life, including his iconic trip to the moon, it couldn’t possibly paint as definitive a portrait of Armstrong as James R. Hansen’s FIRST MAN. Based on 50 hours of interviews, FIRST MAN is a compelling look inside the life of history’s most famous space traveler.

Nominated for Visual Affects
Recreating the rollicking world in Ernest Cline’s READY PLAYER ONE is no small feat and would require some serious CGI. Thankfully the efforts in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the book were so spot-on, there’s an Oscar nod to show for it! READY PLAYER ONE follows teenage Wade Watts in the year 2045. The only time Wade really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. So, when the multibillionaire creator of OASIS hides his entire fortune somewhere within his creation, Wade embarks on a virtual journey and finds himself beset by players willing to kill for the ultimate prize.

Read the full review of READY PLAYER ONE.