Oscar Predictions

- By Brandon Brown

With the 95th Annual Academy Awards less than a week away, I thought it might be fun to take a look at each of the nominees for each category and share my predictions for who will take home each award! Let’s dive right in!

BEST PICTURE

1. Everything Everywhere All At Once (A24)

2. The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight Pictures)

3. TÁR (Focus Features)

4. Elvis (Warner Bros.)

5. Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount Pictures)

6. All Quiet on the Western Front (Netflix)

7. The Fabelmans (Universal Pictures)

8. Avatar: The Way of Water (20th Century Studios)

9. Triangle of Sadness (NEON)

10. Women Talking (United Artists Releasing)

BEST DIRECTOR

1. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert – Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24)

2. Steven Spielberg – The Fabelmans (Universal Pictures)

3. Todd Field – TÁR (Focus Features)

4. Martin McDonagh – The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight Pictures)

5. Ruben Östlund – Triangle of Sadness (NEON)

BEST ACTRESS

1. Cate Blanchett – TÁR (Focus Features)

2. Michelle Yeoh – Everything Everywhere All At Once (A24)

3. Michelle Williams – The Fabelmans (Universal Pictures)

4. Andrea Riseborough – To Leslie (Momentum Pictures)

5. Ana de Armas – Blonde (Netflix)

BEST ACTOR

1. Austin Butler – Elvis (Warner Bros.)

2. Brendan Fraser – The Whale (A24)

3. Colin Farrell – The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight Pictures)

4. Bill Nighy – Living (Sony Pictures Classics)

5. Paul Mescal – Aftersun (A24)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1. Angela Bassett – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Disney)

2. Kerry Condon – The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight Pictures)

3. Jamie Lee Curtis – Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24)

4. Stephanie Hsu – Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24)

5. Hong Chau – The Whale (A24)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1. Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24)

2. Barry Keoghan – The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight Pictures)

3. Brendan Gleeson – The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight Pictures)

4. Brian Tyree Henry – Causeway (Apple Original Films)

5. Judd Hirsch – The Fabelmans (Universal Pictures)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1. Everything Everywhere All At Once – Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert (A24)

2. The Banshees of Inisherin – Martin McDonagh (Searchlight Pictures)

3. TÁR – Todd Field (Focus Features)

4. The Fabelmans – Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner (Universal Pictures)

5. Triangle of Sadness – Ruben Östlund (NEON)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1. All Quiet on the Western Front – Ian Stokell, Lesley Paterson, Edward Berger (Netflix)

2. Women Talking – Sarah Polley (United Artists Releasing)

3. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – Rian Johnson (Netflix)

4. Living – Kazuo Ishiguro (Sony Pictures Classics)

5. Top Gun: Maverick – Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, Christopher McQuarrie (Paramount Pictures)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1. All Quiet on the Western Front – James Friend (Netflix)

2. Elvis – Mandy Walker (Warner Bros.)

3. Empire of Light – Roger Deakins (Searchlight Pictures)

4. TÁR – Florian Hoffmeister (Focus Features)

5. Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths – Darius Khondji (Netflix)

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

1. Elvis – Catherine Martin (Warner Bros.)

2. Babylon – Mary Zophres (Paramount Pictures)

3. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Ruth E. Carter (Walt Disney Studios)

4. Everything Everywhere All at Once – Shirley Kurata (A24)

5. Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris – Jenny Beavan (Focus Features)

BEST FILM EDITING

1. Everything Everywhere All At Once – Paul Rogers (A24)

2. Top Gun: Maverick – Chris Lebenzon, Eddie Hamilton (Paramount Pictures)

3. Elvis – Matt Villa, Jonathan Redmond (Warner Bros.)

4. TÁR – Monika Willi (Focus Features)

5. The Banshees of Inisherin – Mikkel E. G. Nielsen (Searchlight Pictures)

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

1. The Whale (A24)

2. Elvis (Warner Bros.)

3. The Batman (Warner Bros.)

4. All Quiet on the Western Front (Netflix)

5. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Walt Disney Studios)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

1. All Quiet on the Western Front – Volker Bertelmann (Netflix)

2. Babylon – Justin Hurwitz (Paramount Pictures)

3. The Fabelmans – John Williams (Universal Pictures)

4. The Banshees of Inisherin – Carter Burwell (Searchlight Pictures)

5. Everything Everywhere All at Once – Son Lux (A24)

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

1. “Naatu Naatu” – RRR (HR Pictures)

2. “Lift Me Up” – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Walt Disney Studios)

3. “Hold My Hand” – Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount Pictures)

4. “This Is a Life” – Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24)

5. “Applause” – Tell It Like a Woman (Samuel Goldwyn Films)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

1. Babylon (Paramount Pictures)

2. Elvis (Warner Bros.)

3. Avatar: The Way of Water (20th Century Studios)

4. All Quiet on the Western Front (Netflix)

5. The Fabelmans (Universal Pictures)

BEST SOUND

1. Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount Pictures)

2. All Quiet on the Western Front (Netflix)

3. Avatar: The Way of Water (20th Century Studios)

4. Elvis (Warner Bros.)

5. The Batman (Warner Bros.)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

1. Avatar: The Way of Water (20th Century Studios)

2. Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount Pictures)

3. All Quiet on the Western Front (Netflix)

4. The Batman (Warner Bros.)

5. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Walt Disney Studios)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

1. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (Netflix)

2. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (A24)

3. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (Dreamworks Animation)

4. Turning Red (Disney/Pixar)

5. The Sea Beast (Netflix)

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1. Navalny (HBO Documentary Films)

2. Fire of Love (NEON)

3. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (NEON)

4. All That Breathes (HBO Documentary Films)

5. A House Made of Splinters (Giant Pictures)

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

1. All Quiet on the Western Front (Germany)

2. Argentina, 1985 (Argentina)

3. Close (Belgium)

4. The Quiet Girl (Ireland)

5. EO (Poland)

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

1. The Martha Mitchell Effect

2. The Elephant Whisperers

3. How Do You Measure a Year?

4. Stranger at the Gate

5. Haulot

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT

1. An Irish Goodbye

2. The Red Suitcase

3. Le Pupille

4. Ivalu

5. Night Ride

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

1. The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and The Horse

2. My Year of Dicks

3. An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe it

4. Ice Merchants

5. The Flying Sailor

Let me guess: You scroll back up to see that my pick for Best Picture was indeed Top Gun: Maverick. Have I lost my mind? A film like this is not typically a movie the Academy would pick to represent their top pick for movie of the year, especially with a loaded best picture group that feels like five or six of these could potentially take home the gold. But for me to properly explain my pick, I need to take you outside of the Letterboxd reviews and into the world of movie theaters. It’s the Summer of ‘22, and there isn’t anybody coming to movie theaters unless it's for something like Jurassic World: Dominion, and even then, the crowd gets smaller and smaller after its first two or three days. I know this because I worked at Denton’s very own Cinemark for the summer, and I got to experience firsthand what Top Gun: Maverick did for theaters, especially my own! People come in every SINGLE night to see this particular movie. The first weekend, second weekend, and third weekend were all the same as swarms of people, old and young, flocked to see Tom Cruise’s adrenaline-fueled air force phenomenon. I typically worked the day shift, and even THAT was filled to the brim with eager fans excited for their long-awaited sequel. This continued on for weeks, and then months, and even though the crowds did eventually begin to die down, we never had a showing of Top Gun: Maverick without at least some people in it. I bring all this up, as this was the movie that revived the economy of movie theaters a bit, even prompting Steven Spielberg to famously thank Tom Cruise for boosting audience interest in attending movie showings at theaters again. I assume that if there is one thing that casual moviegoers and the Academy can agree on, it’s that movie theaters are good for both the art and the business of movies. With this movie being the one to pave the way for many after it to get full movie theater releases, I believe there is a chance that Top Gun: Maverick could take home the Best Picture Award this season for what it did in the industry of filmmaking. Realistically, the Best Picture winner will likely be Everything, Everywhere, All at Once or Banshees of Inisherin, both of which are very deserving movies, but it’s fun to think if the movie that played a major hand in big screen releases this year has what it takes to win the grand prize.