Year in advance Academy Award predictions are a tricky thing. On the one hand, who doesn’t like to be right with their picks a full twelve months in advance? On the other hand, it’s almost impossible to be right. Especially over the last handful of years, the top prizes have largely gone to films and performances that one never would have initially picked. That’s just the nature of the Oscar beast. So, despite this being my first crack at predictions, keep in mind that they’re total shots in the dark. The movies and performances below may check off certain boxes for Academy members, but by and large, they’re totally unseen. So, there’s just no way to know. We’ll kick it off with a bit of Best Picture chatter/speculation. In my eyes, Netflix has a pair of strong contenders in David Fincher’s Mank and Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods. Either one, or maybe both, could be the streaming giant’s ticket to getting their much coveted Best Picture win. They’re hardly the only players on the block, though, as Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel, Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7, and Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story loom large. Don’t sleep on Mike Mills either, as his untitled film (potentially called C’mon C’mon) could be the indie player of 2020. The same can be said for Andrew Dominik and Blonde, along with Tom McCarthy’s Stillwater. Plus, Christopher Nolan has a potential X factor in Tenet. Basically, we have options, which we’ll sift through over the coming months… Here now is my first crack at early Oscar predictions: BEST PICTURE 1. Mank 2. Da 5 Bloods 3. The Trial of the Chicago 7 4. West Side Story 5. Untitled Mike Mills Project 6. The Last Duel 7. Blonde 8. News of the World 9. Stillwater 10. Nomadland Next in Line: 11. Ammonite 12. Tenet 13. In the Heights. 14. The French Dispatch 15. I’m Thinking of Ending Things 16. Minari 17. Promising Young Woman 18. Annette 19. The Eyes of Tammy Faye 20. Dune 21. On the Rocks 22. Next Goal Wins 23. Those Who Wish Me Dead 24. Soul 25. King Richard 26. Greyhound 27. Happiest Season 28. Hillbilly Elegy 29. Wonder Woman 1984 30. Onward BEST DIRECTOR 1. David Fincher – Mank 2. Spike Lee – Da 5 Bloods 3. Steven Spielberg – West Side Story 4. Mike Mills – […]