The American Film Institute delayed the date on which it chose the Top 10 films of 2015 so that its jury could see a number of films that didn’t screen until late in the year – and on Wednesday, the AFI announced that the last of those films, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” was on the organization’s annual list of the year’s best.
Just days after its first screenings, “The Force Awakens” joined a list that included big hits (“Mad Max: Fury Road” and “The Martian”), studio films (Disney’s “Bridge of Spies” and Paramount’s “The Big Short”), small indies (“Carol,” “Spotlight” and “Room”), an urban drama (the N.W.A biopic “Straight Outta Compton”) and an animated film (Pixar’s “Inside Out”).
The AFI film jury was chaired by former MCA vice chairman Tom Pollock.
Conspicuously missing from the list were three other late-breaking films thought to be awards contenders: Alejandro G. Inarritu’s “The Revenant,” David O. Russell‘s “Joy” and Quentin Tarantino‘s “The Hateful Eight.”
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Last year the AFI expanded its Top 10 to 11 films, six of which went on to appear among the eight Oscar Best Picture nominees. The previous year’s list included seven of the nine nominees.
Since the Academy expanded its Best Picture category in 2009, 42 of the 55 Oscar nominees have first appeared on the AFI list.
On the television side, an AFI jury chaired by former Walt Disney Television chairman Richard Frank gave a special award to “Mad Men,” which ended its run this year, and saluted a Top 10 that includes “The Americans,” “Better Call Saul,” “Black-ish,” “Empire,” “Fargo,” “Game of Thrones,” “Homeland,” “Master of None,” “Mr. Robot” and “Unreal.”
The honorees will be saluted at a private lunch in Los Angeles on Jan. 8.
The lists:
AFI MOVIES OF THE YEAR
“The Big Short”
“Bridge of Spies”
“Carol”
“Inside Out”
“Mad Max: Fury Road”
“The Martian”
“Room”
“Spotlight”
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”
“Straight Outta Compton”
AFI TV PROGRAMS OF THE YEAR
“The Americans”
“Better Call Saul”
“Black-ish”
“Empire”
“Fargo”
“Game of Thrones”
“Homeland”
“Master of None”
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“Unreal”
AFI SPECIAL AWARD
“Mad Men”
