YA book adaptations: Oscars nominations, snubs and Razzies nominations

The Academy Awards are upon us and everyone is abuzz over this year’s nominations! But with the tradition of the Oscars also comes the tradition of the Razzies–the awards for the year’s worst movies.

Among the films nominated for both these awards are a couple of YA book adaptations that readers are sure to recognize.

The Academy gave two nods to J.K. Rowling’s ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them‘. The film, a spin-off of Rowling’s popular Harry Potters books and films, has been nominated for Best Costume Design and Best Production Design. In costume design, Fantastic Beasts is going up against ‘Allied’, ‘La La Land’, ‘Florence Foster Jenkins’ and ‘Jackie’. In production design, the movie is competing against ‘Arrival’, ‘La La Land’, ‘Hail, Caesar!’ and ‘Passengers’.

‘Fantastic Beasts’ was written by Rowling and directed by Harry Potter director David Yates. This isn’t the first time a movie from the Wizarding World has been nominated at the Oscars. Six of the original eight Harry Potter films were nominated by the Academy, though none of them won.

Perhaps one of the biggest surprises for YA book lovers is the snub toward ‘A Monster Calls’. The movie, based off the book by Patrick Ness, was expected to be a strong Oscar contender this year. However, the Academy didn’t show this movie any love. Too bad! It’s a beautiful story that everyone should experience at some point in their life.

And on an even sadder note, the third film in the Divergent series has been nominated for two Razzies in the same category. Naomi Watts, who plays Evelyn in the Divergent film series, and Shailene Woodley, who plays Tris, have both been nominated for Worst Actress for their performances in ‘Allegiant’.

We’re sad to see a fan-favorite nominated for a Razzie, but at the same time it’s not too surprising. The issues plaguing the Divergent franchise have been well-documented over the course of the last year. (Although if you ask us, it seems like Allegiant’s primary issues were in the writing and less in the acting!)

What do you think of these nominations?