Though how much they actually "matter" to American cinema is certainly debatable, there's no debating that the Academy Awards are a big night for movies, and though the Oscars have often been unkind to genre cinema, some of our favorite sci-fi and fantasy films always manage to snag a few honors. The nominees for the 87th annual Academy Awards were unveiled this morning, and though it might not be at the forefront, genre cinema was definitely present.

Though it's not technically a genre film, we've paid a lot of attention to the superhero-tinged black comedy Birdman this year, in part because of its superhero themes and in part because former Batman Michael Keaton led the film, and just earned a Golden Globe for his performance. Now Birdman is one of the most-nominated films of the Oscars, with nine nods, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Keaton, Best Supporting Actress for Emma Stone, Best Supporting Actor for Edward Norton and Best Director for Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. If you're a science nerd, you'll also be happy to know that Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything picked up five nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Eddie Redmayne and Best Supporting Actress for Felicity Jones.

But let's get on to the genre films themselves. Among those, Interstellar leads the pack with five nominations, for Original Score, Visual Effects, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Production Design. Marvel Studios earned three nominations for the two films it released this year, including Best Visual Effects nods for both Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy, along with a Makeup and Hairstyling nod for Guardians. The rest of the Visual Effects category was, unsurprisingly, dominated by genre, including nods for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and X-Men: Days of Future Past. On the fantasy side of things, Disney's fairy-tale musical Into the Woods earned three nominations -- Best Supporting Actress for Meryl Streep, Costume Design and Production Design -- and the final Hobbit film, The Battle of the Five Armies, picked up a nod for Sound Editing.



Then there's the Best Animated Feature category, where fantasy and sci-fi are always well-represented. The delightful The Lego Movie, sadly, didn't make the cut, though it did pick up a nomination for Best Original Song for the ridiculously catchy "Everything Is Awesome." In The Lego Movie's place were Disney's Big Hero 6, DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon 2, Laika's The Boxtrolls, Studio Ghibli's The Tale of the Princess Kaguya and Cartoon Saloon's Song of the Sea.

Check out the full list of nominees -- including nine nods for Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel and individual nominations for Mark Ruffalo, Benedict Cumberbatch and more -- HERE. The 87th Annual Academy Awards will air Sunday, Feb. 22, at 7 p.m. on ABC.

What do you think? Who's deserving and who got snubbed? Let us know below!

(Via ABC)