The Academy Awards are coming up, but for genre fans, perhaps a more appealing ceremony is the annual Saturn Awards, which shines the spotlight on science fiction, fantasy, horror, and other “fringe” categories, although there is a lot of overlap with the Oscars and other more mainstream bodies.
The 2022 release Avatar: The Way of Water was a big winner in the film categories, scoring Best Science Fiction Film, Directing (not categorized) for James Cameron, Screenwriting, and Visual Effects.
This year’s Oscar frontrunner, Oppenheimer took Best Thriller Film, Supporting Actress for Emily Blunt, and Editing for Jennifer Lame. Oppenheimer‘s big screen counterpart, Barbie, which was the top-grossing movie of 2023, earned Best Actress for Margot Robbie, who many believe was snubbed by the Academy Awards after not even gaining a nomination, plus Costume Design for Jacqueline Durran, and Production Design for Sarah Greenwood.
Despite underperforming at the box office and being widely criticized, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny came away as a winner at the Saturn Awards, scoring Best Fantasy Film, Best Actor for Harrison Ford, and Music for John Williams.
In other categories, Talk To Me won Best Horror Film, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 took Best Superhero, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning nabbed Best Action/Adventure, and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse landed Animated. Best Independent with to Pearl, while Best International went to Sisu.
Along the lines of Harrison Ford, two more actors that starred in flops scored with Nicolas Cage winning Supporting Actor for Renfield and Xolo Maridueña scoring for Blue Beetle.
On to TV! Star Trek: Picard landed Best Science Fiction Series, Best Actor for Patrick Stewart, Supporting Actor for Jonathan Frakes, and Supporting Actress for Jeri Ryan, while another Trek, Strange New Worlds landed Featured Guest Star for Paul Wesley.
Best Superhero Series went to Superman & Lois, with Action/Adventure/Thriller going to Outlander, Television Presentation going to Marvel’s Werewolf by Night, Animated Series or Special going to Star Wars: The Bad Batch, New Genre Series going to Star Wars: Andor, Horror going to The Last of Us, and Fantasy going to Wednesday.
Elsewhere in Television,Caitrionaa Balfe scored Best Actress for Outlander, and Jenna Ortega scored Best Younger Performer for Wednesday.
You can see all of the winners below:
Film
BEST SCIENCE FICTION FILM
Avatar: The Way of Water
BEST FANTASY FILM
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
BEST HORROR FILM
Talk to Me
BEST SUPERHERO FILM
Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3
BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE FILM
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
BEST THRILLER FILM
Oppenheimer
BEST ANIMATED FILM
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
BEST INDEPENDENT FILM
Pearl
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
Sisu
BEST FILM DIRECTION
James Cameron (Avatar: The Way of Water)
BEST FILM SCREENWRITING
Avatar: The Way of Water (James Cameron and Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver)
BEST ACTOR IN A FILM
Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny)
BEST ACTRESS IN A FILM
Margot Robbie (Barbie)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A FILM
Nicolas Cage (Renfield)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A FILM
Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer)
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A YOUNGER PERFORMER IN A FILM
Xolo Maridueña (Blue Beetle)
BEST FILM MUSIC
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (John Williams)
BEST FILM MAKE-UP
The Covenant (Donald Mowat)
BEST FILM VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar: The Way of Water (Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, Daniel Barrett)
BEST FILM COSTUME DESIGN
Barbie (Jacqueline Durran)
BEST FILM PRODUCTION DESIGN
Barbie (Sarah Greenwood)
BEST FILM EDITING
Oppenheimer (Jennifer Lame)
Television
BEST SCIENCE FICTION TELEVISION SERIES
Star Trek: Picard
BEST SUPERHERO TELEVISION SERIES
Superman & Lois
BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLER TELEVISION SERIES
Outlander
BEST TELEVISION PRESENTATION
Marvel’s Werewolf by Night
BEST ANIMATED SERIES OR SPECIAL
Star Wars: The Bad Batch
BEST NEW GENRE TELEVISION SERIES
Star Wars: Andor
BEST HORROR TELEVISION SERIES
The Last of Us
BEST FANTASY TELEVISION SERIES
Wednesday
BEST ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES
Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: Picard)
BEST ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES
Caitriona Balfe (Outlander)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES
Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek: Picard)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES
Jeri Ryan (Star Trek: Picard)
BEST FEATURED GUEST STAR IN A TELEVISION SERIES
Paul Wesley (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds)
BEST YOUNGER PERFORMER IN A TELEVISION SERIES
Jenna Ortega (Wednesday)
Home Media
BEST TELEVISION HOME MEDIA RELEASE
Night Gallery, Season 3 (Kino Lorber)
BEST 4K HOME MEDIA RELEASE
John Wick, Chapter 4 – 4K (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)
BEST FILM HOME MEDIA COLLECTION
Superman 1978-1987 4K Collection (Warner Home Video)
BEST CLASSIC FILM HOME MEDIA RELEASE
Invaders from Mars 4K (Ignite)
