In Brief

'The Martian' Nabs 7 Oscar Nominations

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Matt Damon in ‘The Martian’
Matt Damon plays NASA astronaut Mark Watney in ”The Martian," which has been nominated for six Oscars. (Image credit: ™ and © 2015 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.)

"The Martian" is poised to take home some more awards-season hardware.

The sci-fi epic snagged seven Oscar nominations today (Jan. 14), just four days after winning Golden Globes for Best Picture and Best Actor (both, somewhat puzzlingly, in the comedy/musical movie category).

"The Martian" got Oscar nods for Best Picture, Best Actor (Matt Damon), Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Production Design, Visual Effects and Adapted Screenplay. (The film is basd on the best-selling novel of the same name by Andy Weir.)

The Oscars, formally known as the Academy Awards, are given out by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The winners will be announced during a live broadcast on Feb. 28.

"The Martian" stars Damon as fictional NASA astronaut Mark Watney, who is stranded and presumed dead on the Red Planet after a powerful windstorm. Watney must use his wits and scientific smarts to stay alive by himself on Mars and find a way to contact NASA, so the agency can mount a rescue mission.

The film opened in theaters throughout the United States on Oct. 2 and came out on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital HD on Tuesday (Jan. 12).

"The Revenant" — like "The Martian," a survival story, but set in the American West in the 1820s — led all films in Oscar nominations, with 12. To see a complete list of all 2015 nominees, check out the Oscars website here: http://oscar.go.com

[Editor's Note: This article previously stated that "The Martian" was nominated for six Oscars. It is nominated for seven.]

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

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Mike Wall
Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.