Bulls and Bears - Tom Mayenknecht

Forty years after Rocky, Stallone packed a punch in 2015

Forty years after he was nominated as Best Actor in the Academy Awards for his lead performance in the 1976 boxing movie Rocky, Sylvester Stallone was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for reprising the role of Rocky Balboa in the spinoff Creed. 

The result was the same: Disappointment for Stallone and proponents of the sport movie genre at the Oscars in 2016.  

Although the sport movie box office was up in 2015 on the strength of Creed ($109.8M) and McFarland USA ($44.5M) -- and it was the deepest year of sport movie releases this decade -- it was the fourth straight year in which sport movies were shut out at the Academy Awards. The last winner was Undefeated, the Texas high school football documentary that won the Oscar for best documentary in 2011.

Recent big years included 2010 when Christian Bale and Melissa Leo each won best supporting honours for their parts in the terrific boxing movie The Fighter and 2009 when Sandra Bullock earned the best actress nod for her turn in Blindside.

Drinking the glass half full, Stallone still made his mark with 35 best supporting actor nominations and 18 wins in 2015-'16 for his seventh appearance as Rocky, including top honours from the Hollywood Foreign Press at the Golden Globes.

Among his 18 wins came here in The Sport Market Movie Awards for 2015, where he was the clear winner as best supporting actor in a sport movie.

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Note: The 2016 sport movie campaign is off to a respectable start with the early releases of Race, the long overdue Jesse Owens biopic, and Eddie the Eagle, the story of the British ski jumper (Michael Edwards) who literally stole the show at the Calgary 1988 Winter Olympic Games.

The Sport Market Movie Awards 2007-2015

The following is a list of winners in The Sport Market Movie Awards recognizing excellence in the genre of sport movies since 2007:

Best picture

2015 – Creed (boxing)

2014 - Brothers in Exile (baseball documentary)

2013 – Rush (auto racing)

2012 – Pelotero (baseball documentary)

2011 – Moneyball (baseball)

2010 – The Fighter (boxing)

2009 – The Blindside (football)

2008 – The Wrestler (wrestling)

2007 – Gracie (soccer)

Best actor

2015 – Will Smith (Concussion/football)
2014 - Steve Carrell (Foxcatcher/wrestling) 
2013 - Daniel Bruhl & Chris Hemsworth (Rush/auto racing) 
2012 - Gerard Butler (Chasing Mavericks/surfing)
2011 - Paul Giamatti (Win Win/wrestling)
2010 - Mark Wahlberg (The Fighter/boxing)
2009 - Morgan Freeman (Invictus/rugby)
2008 - Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler)
2007 – Will Ferrell (Blades of Glory)

Best actress

2015 – Maria Bello (McFarland USA/track and field)

2014 - Lake Bell (Million Dollar Arm/baseball/cricket)

2013 - Nicole Beharie (42/baseball)

2012 - Amy Adams (Trouble with the Curve/baseball)

2011 - Amy Ryan (Win Win/wrestling)

2010 - Diane Lane (Secretariat/horse racing)

2009 - Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side/football)

2008 - Renee Zellweger (Leatherheads/football)

2007 – Elisabeth Shue (Gracie/soccer)

Best supporting actor

2015 – Sylvester Stallone (Creed/boxing)

2014 - Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher/wrestling)

2013 - Harrison Ford (42: The True Story of An American Legend/baseball)

2012 - John Goodman (Trouble with the Curve/baseball)

2011 - Nick Nolte (Warrior/Mixed Martial Arts)

2010 - Christian Bale (The Fighter/boxing)

2009 - Matt Damon (Invictus/rugby)

2008 - Dennis Quaid (The Express: The Ernie Davis Story/football)

2007 – Dermot Mulroney (Gracie/soccer)

Best supporting actress

2015 – Tessa Thompson (Creed/boxing)
2014 - Vanessa Redgrave (Foxcatcher/wrestling) 
2013 – Alexandra Maria Lara (Rush/auto racing) 
2012 - Elisabeth Shue (Chasing Mavericks/surfing)
2011 - Jennifer Morrison (Warrior/Mixed Martial Arts)
2010 - Amy Adams (The Fighter/boxing)
2009 - Marcia Jean Kurtz (Big Fan/football)
2008 - Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler/wrestling)
2007 – Kyra Sedgwick (The Game Plan/football)

Best cast

2015 – Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, Forest Whitaker and Naomi Harris (Southpaw/boxing)

2014 - Steve Carrell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Sienna Miller, Vanessa Redgrave, Anthony Michael Hall (Foxcatcher/wrestling)
2013 - Daniel Bruhl, Chris Hemsworth, Olivia Wilde, Alexandra Maria Lara (Rush/auto racing)
2012 - Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, John Goodman, Justin Timberlake (Trouble with the Curve/baseball)
2011 - Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, Chris Pratt, Stephen Bishop (Moneyball/baseball)
2010 - Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo, Amy Adams, Mickey O’Keefe and Jack McGee (The Fighter/boxing)

Best director

2015 – Nicki Caro (McFarland USA/track and field)

2014 - Bennett Miller (Foxcatcher/wrestling) 
2013 - Ron Howard (Rush/auto racing)
2012 - Ross Finkel, Trevor Martin and Jonathan Paley (Pelotero/baseball documentary)
2011 - Bennett Miller (Moneyball/baseball)
2010 - David E. Russell (The Fighter/boxing)
2009 - Robert D. Siegel (Big Fan/football)
2008 - Dennis Aronofsky (The Wrestler/wrestling)
2007 – Davis Guggenheim (Gracie/soccer)

Best screenplay

2015 – Ryan Coogler & Aaron Covington (Creed/boxing)
2014 - E. Max Frye & Dan Futterman (Foxcatcher/wrestling)
2013 – Peter Morgan (Rush/auto racing)
2012 – N/A
2011 – Original:Thomas McCarthy (Win Win/wrestling); Adapted: Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin (Moneyball/baseball) based on the story by Stan Chervin and the book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis.
2010 – Original: Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson and Keith Dorrington (The Fighter/boxing); Adapted: Mike Rich and William Nack (Secretariat/horse racing) from Nack’s book Secretariat: The Making of a Champion.
2009 - Original: Robert D. Siegel (Big Fan/football); Adapted: John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side/football), from the book by Michael Lewis.
2008 - Original: Robert D. Siegel (The Wrestler); Adapted: Charles Leavitt (The Express: The Ernie Davis Story), from the book by Robert Gallagher
2007 - Lisa Marie Peterson and Karen Janszen (Gracie).

Best song in a sport movie

2015 – Kings Never Die by Eminem featuring Gwen Stefani (Southpaw/Boxing)
2014 - Miracles by Coldplay (Unbroken/Track & Field)
2013 - Fame by David Bowie (Rush/auto racing)
2012 - On My Way performed by The Neighbors & Greg Camp/written by Randy Brown (Trouble with the curve/baseball).
2011 - Have a Nice Day performed by Jon Bon Jovi (Win-Win/wrestling)
2010 - Never Say Never performed by Justin Bieber featuring Jaden Smith (The Karate Kid/kung fu).
2009 – Southern Voice by Tim McGraw (The Blind Side/football)
2008 – The Wrestler by Bruce Springsteen (The Wrestler)
2007 – Growing Up by Bruce Springsteen (Gracie)

Best soundtrack in a sport movie

2015 – Creed (boxing); music by various artists.
2014 - When the Game Stands Tall (football); original music by John Paesano
2013 - Rush (music by Hans Zimmer)
2012 - Chasing Mavericks (music by Chad Fischer)
2011 - The Art of Flight (snowboarding documentary)
2010 - The Fighter (music by Michael Brook)
2009 - Whip It: The Soundtrack (Whip It/roller derby)
 
Best sport documentary

2015 – Co-winners: Red Army (hockey) and Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newsman (autoracing)
2014 - Brothers in Exile (baseball)
2013 - The Crash Reel (snowboarding/extreme sports)
2012 - Ballplayer: Pelotero (baseball).
2011 - Catching Hell (baseball – made for TV) and Senna (auto racing – theatrical release)
2010 - Kick in Iran (tae kwon do).
2009 - Facing Ali (boxing).
2008 - Bigger, Stronger, Faster (multi-sport)

Best sport comedy

2015 – Trainwreck (basketball and sport medicine)
2014 - Intramural (football)
2008 – The Hammer
2007 – Blades of Glory (figure skating)

Best Canadian Sport Movie

2011 – Breakaway (hockey)

2010 - Keep Your Head Up, Kid: The Don Cherry Story (hockey).

2009 – Facing Ali (boxing).

Best sport-themed movie

2015 – Everest (mountain climbing)
2014 - Unbroken (the war film about US track and field Olympian Louis Zamperini).
2013 - The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (archery).
2012 - Silver Linings Playbook (NFL football/sport gambling).
2011 - Drive (auto racing)
2010 – Black Swan (ballet)

Box office champion (US dollars earned worldwide)

2015 – Creed - $109.8 million
2014 - Million Dollar Arm - $36.457 million
2013 - 42: The True Story of an American Legend - $95.0 million (baseball).
2012 - Trouble with the Curve (baseball) - $35.76 million
2011 - Cars 2 (auto racing) – $191.45 million
2010 - Karate Kid (martial arts/kung fu) - $359 million
2009 – The Blindside (football) - $309.21 million
2008 – Kung Fu Panda (martial arts/animated) - $631.91 million.
2007 – Blades of Glory (figure skating) - $118.6 million