Blade Runner 2049 Wins Academy Awards For Best Visual Effects, Cinematography

The gorgeous visuals of Blade Runner 2049 are officially award winning. The movie took home an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects at the ceremony on Sunday night, beating out Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Kong: Skull Island, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and War for the Planet of the Apes. The trophy went to John Nelson, Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert, and Richard R. Hoover.

Blade Runner 2049 took place 30 years after the events of the original cult sci-fi hit. The movie featured Ryan Gosling as a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K, who unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what's left of society into chaos. K's discovery leads him on a quest to find Harrison Ford's Rick Deckard, a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing since the events of the first film.

Denis Villeneuve (Arrival) stepped behind the camera for the sequel, which was based on a script from the original film's Hampton Fancher and Murder on the Orient Express' Michael Green. Dave Bautista, David Dastmalchian, Mackenzie Davis, Edward James Olmos, Carla Juri, and Barkhad Abdi also starred in the film, which was a critical favorite, sitting at an 87 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. It was less of a success at the box office, making only $259.2 million worldwide. (via Box Office Mojo)

Blade Runner 2049 also took home an Oscar for Cinematography for Roger Deakins. It also holds Oscar nominations for Production Design, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing.