'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' 2016 Academy Awards Winner? Experts Weigh In

First reviews for soon-to-be mega blockbuster Star Wars: The Force Awakens have landed, and the results are overwhelmingly positive. But are they good enough to gain the attention of the Academy and garner some Academy Awards nods come Jan. 14? One awards expert seems to think so.

Awards columnist for The Hollywood Reporter and Oscarologist with one of the best track records, Scott Feinberg, posits that in such an unconventional year such as this one, anything can happen. He says people both inside and outside the film industry want to like the film, and therefore, probably will.

The enormous box office gross the film is due for won't hurt either. He likens the success of The Force Awakens to that of the first Star Wars, which was nominated for 10 awards in 1977 despite being a genre film (which the Academy tends to ignore).

And despite The Force Awakens not being new and original like A New Hope was, Feinberg thinks the film will still resonate, saying, "But I think The Force Awakens could resonate with the Academy, too, seeing how much that organization loves an ambitious, well-made mega-hit (see: Titanic's best picture win and Avatar's best picture nom), and keeping in mind that there now can be five to 10 best picture nominees, rather than just five, as was the case in 1977."

Feinberg also bases his theory off of comments from Academy voting members on Twitter following the premiere of the film, which were almost unanimously positive. "It's a year with a lot of movies that many people like, but not a lot of movies that many people love, and the passion that Academy members feel for a film or the people associated with it - as reflected on a preferential ballot - really matters," Feinberg says.

Another awards analyst, Kristopher Tapley, agrees that the film may get nominated for technical achievements, but disagrees that it will have any sort of showing in the big categories. He worries that any talk of awards potential will ruin perception of the movie, saying, "But it's not some awards season game changer, so to go in with that kind of expectation would be a disservice to the movie. Just enjoy it!"

Disney will present the film to the Academy this weekend for consideration, coming off the heels of a huge thumb's up from critics (the space epic currently has 97% on Rotten Tomatoes out of 136 reviews and counting). Nominations for the Oscars will be announced on Jan. 14.