First awarded in 1963, this Oscar is awarded to a film that best creates something that otherwise could not have been filmed. The Academy Awards have set two official criteria for the nominees of this award: First, there is "consideration of the contribution the visual effects make to the overall production"; Second, the "artistry, skill and fidelity with which the visual illusions are achieved" is also judged.http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/rules/rule22.html

Avatar won for Best Achievement in Visual Effects at the 82nd annual Academy Awards on March 7, 2010. Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones—each of whom worked on the film—will each take home Oscars.

• Avatar (20th Century Fox) — WINNER
  • Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
• District 9 (Sony Pictures Releasing)
  • Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
• Star Trek (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment)
  • Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

• 2009
  • The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (winner)
  • The Dark Knight
  • Iron Man
• 2008
  • The Golden Compass (winner)
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
  • Transformers
• 2007
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (winner)
  • Poseidon
  • Superman Returns
• 2006
  • King Kong (winner)
  • The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
  • War of the Worlds