Star Wars dominates Empire Awards

Star Wars: The Force Awakens was well clear at the top of the UK Box Office chart
Star Wars stars John Boyega and Daisy Ridley were named the Best Newcomers at the Empire Awards

Star Wars: The Force Awakens won the most awards at the Empire Awards, being honoured as the Best Sci-Fi, for its visual effects, for director JJ Abrams and for its lead actors John Boyega and Daisy Ridley, who took the best male and female newcomer awards.

But regarded as the top awards of the night, The Revenant was named the Best Film of the past year, with SPECTRE being picked as the Best British film. The latest Bond film also won in the Best Thriller category, while The Hallow took the Best Horror prize and the Best Comedy went to Spy. Amy was named the Best Documentary and Inside Out took the honours for the best animated feature.

Matt Damon was named the Best Actor by the magazine’s readers, for The Martian, and The Danish Girl‘s Alicia Vikander won the Best Actress award.

The Big Short won the Best Screenplay prize, but most of the craft awards went to Mad Max: Fury Road, which was honoured for its production design, costumes, make-up & hair and soundtrack.

For the first time in the twenty one year history of its awards, Britain’s biggest-selling film magazine handed out an prize for the best TV Series, giving it to Shane Meadows for This Is England ’90. As well as accepting his own award, Meadows was also at the ceremony, at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Mayfair, to present his frequent collaborator Paddy Considine with Empire’s Inspiration award.

The magazine also named Stanley Tucci as the Empire Hero and gave a posthumous Empire Legend award to Alan Rickman. Empire’s News Editor Chris Hewitt said “This is a heartfelt tribute from the Empire staff to an actor who touched us all with his extraordinary career.”

With winners being selected by members of the public, the Empire Awards don’t carry the same kudos as most of the prizes handed out between the Golden Globes and the Oscars, but with the biggest awards going to box office hits such as Star Wars, Mad Max, Spectre and The Martian, it’s an indication of how remote the Oscars and the BAFTAs can seem to the audiences whose ticket purchases keep the studios in business.

THE FULL LIST OF WINNERS AT THE JAMESON EMPIRE AWARDS 2016

BEST FILM presented by Sky Movies

·         The Revenant WINNER 

BEST BRITISH FILM presented by The Hollywood Reporter

·         Spectre – WINNER

BEST COMEDY presented by Absolute Radio

·         Spy – WINNER

BEST SCI-FI/FANTASY

·         Star Wars: The Force Awakens – WINNER

BEST HORROR

·         The Hallow – WINNER

BEST THRILLER presented by Corinthia Hotel London

·         Spectre – WINNER

BEST MALE NEWCOMER

·         John Boyega (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) – WINNER

BEST FEMALE NEWCOMER presented by the Forever Hope Foundation

·         Daisy Ridley (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) – WINNER

BEST DIRECTOR presented by Vue Entertainment

·         J. J. Abrams (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) WINNER 

BEST ACTRESS

·         Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl) WINNER 

JAMESON BEST ACTOR

·         Matt Damon (The Martian) – WINNER

BEST SCREENPLAY

·         The Big Short — Charles Randolph, Adam McKay WINNER 

BEST ANIMATED FILM

·         Inside Out WINNER 

BEST DOCUMENTARY

·         Amy WINNER 

BEST SOUNDTRACK

·         Mad Max: Fury Road — WINNER

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

·         Mad Max: Fury Road — WINNER

BEST MAKE-UP AND HAIRSTYLING

·         Mad Max: Fury Road — WINNER

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

·         Star Wars: The Force Awakens — WINNER 

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

·         Mad Max: Fury Road — WINNER

BEST SHORT FILM presented by Jameson Irish Whiskey

·         World Of Tomorrow — WINNER 

BEST TV SERIES presented by Wuaki TV

·         This Is England ’90 WINNER 

BEST GAME presented by the Forever Hope Foundation

·         Batman: Arkham Knight — WINNER

WINNER EMPIRE LEGEND

Alan Rickman

WINNER EMPIRE HERO

Stanley Tucci

WINNER EMPIRE INSPIRATION presented by Jameson Irish Whiskey

Paddy Considine