We had two films release this past weekend with the potential for Oscar nominations.

Deepwater Horizon

For “disaster” films, recent efforts have proven that the Oscars aren’t that concerned with recognizing them. Deepwater Horizon is the kind of film, though, that has a touch of prestige to it, which might allow it to skirt the genre resistance in the Academy.

About the Deepwater oil drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico that exploded and resulted in almost 5 million barrels of oil polluting the ocean and damaging coastal area back in 2010. Peter Berg’s drama concerns itself primarily with the explosion on the rig and the heroic efforts of the crew. Berg’s past films have been modestly popular with audiences, but not so much with Oscar voters. Of his 7 prior big screen efforts, Lone Survivor is the only one to score with Oscar, securing nominations for Sound Mixing and Sound Editing.

Those are also the only two categories likely to feature Deepwater Horizon as a competitor. While the film did decently well with critics and audiences, it’s disappointing opening numbers and likely quick descent out of the box office ranks will surely keep it out of the above-the-line categories. However, the sound department tends to like films that successfully create and blend explosions and the like, which might give it a boost. There’s a lot of competition this year, though, so it might just be an also ran.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Tim Burton is one of the few directors whose every work tends to enter the Oscar conversation. While most often it’s only in the creative categories, a few rare exceptions exist where he brings above-the-line considerations.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is said to be a return to the bizarre childlike wonder of his past films, but critics weren’t head-over-heels for the film. That doesn’t mean it can’t be rescued by a strong box office performance. However, the film is certainly not going to make an impact out of the creative categories.

There, it has a lot of strong possibilities. It’s key two categories are the two categories Burton’s films have most frequently competed in: Production Design and Costume Design. He could be a dark horse contender for an Original Score citation and the Visual Effects could also be a possibility, but I ultimately believe that only Production Design and Costume Design are in play and even those categories aren’t all that certain at this juncture.