It’s Almost Time For Hollywood’s Most Important Night
With the awards film circuit coming to a conclusion, many people are starting to look towards who might be expecting Oscar nominations this year. Among the people making predictions is The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg; having scoured his list of Oscar nomination predictions, we’ve collected some of the biggest ones to look out for.
Best Picture: September 5
Running about 94 minutes, September 5 has received an 86% critics score from Rotten Tomatoes. It tells the story of the 1972 Munich Olympics attacks, focusing on the ABC Sports reporters that managed to broadcast the attacks to an entire nation.
BerghausWöbke Filmproduktion, September 5 (2024)
Best Picture: Conclave
Conclave is a slightly longer movie from Focus, and has received a 92% critics score and an 85% audience score from Rotten Tomatoes. This powerhouse film features household names like Stanley Tucci, Ralph Fiennes, and John Lithgow, and focuses on the behind-the-scenes action in choosing a new pope after the death of the previous pontiff.
House Productions, Conclave (2024)
Best Picture: Wicked
Featuring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo (as well as Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey), Wicked follows and expands on the story of the popular stage musical by the same name. It's become a blockbuster hit, with everyone on social media talking about it. We predict they'll be talking about it on Oscar night too.
Best Picture: Gladiator II
Gladiator II stars Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn and Connie Nielsen, and receives a 76% critics rating from Rotten Tomatoes. Set 15 years after the original film, this sequel promises to bring all of the spectacle and majesty that the original Gladiator is known for.
Paramount, Gladiator II (2024)
Best Picture: Sing Sing
Sing Sing released in July to very promising ratings, earning a 98% critics score and a 93% audience score from Rotten Tomatoes. This touching and emotional tale tells the story of men incarcerated in New York’s maximum-security prison, Sing Sing, putting on an amateur theater production.
Best Director: Jacques Audiard
Jacques Audiard heads up another film that is in contention for best picture, Emilia Pérez. This bold take on the musical follows the journey of a Mexican cartel lord who enlists the help of a lawyer in order to undergo a true transformation. Audiard’s unique care and approach to the subject shines through all aspects of this film.
OSCAR GONZALEZ FUENTES, Shutterstock
Best Director: Brady Corbet
Brady Corbet is suspected to get a nod for his role in helming The Brutalist, a film that tells an epic tale of survival and growth. Corbet’s careful direction helps stars Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones shine as a Hungarian Jewish architect and his wife who flee Europe to build a new life in America.
Matteo Chinellato, Shutterstock
Best Director: Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott is the steady hand behind the aforementioned Gladiator II. He was also the director of the original film, Gladiator, meaning that he uses his careful direction and vision to carry on his beloved and powerful story.
OSCAR GONZALEZ FUENTES, Shutterstock
Best Director: Edward Berger
Edward Berger is heading up Conclave. This is an intricate and detailed story that could easily be muddled if not handled with care. Berger’s direction adds the clarity and gravitas needed to make this film shine.
Best Director: Sean Baker
Sean Baker is heading Anora, which is yet another possibility for Best Picture. Under Baker’s direction, Anora takes a very dark topic and treats it with an unusual sense of humor in this tale about a young woman in a difficult career whose romantic entanglement with a powerful and dangerous family becomes messy.
Best Actor: Colman Domingo
In a film like Sing Sing it takes a very talented and emotional actor to properly portray the subtle nuances of the lead role. Colman Domingo’s performance is exactly what this film needs, carrying the heart of the story through from beginning to end.
Best Actor: Sebastian Stan
This is, potentially, a big year for Sebastian Stan, who has made a career off of playing complex and unique characters. It’s projected that he could be nominated for two different roles, either from The Apprentice or A Different Man. While both roles are extremely different, each truly highlights Stan’s talent as an actor.
Tailored Films, The Apprentice (2024)
Best Actor: Adrien Brody
As stated already, Adrien Brody captivates audiences in The Brutalist as a Hungarian Jewish Architect who flees the war in Europe. His portrayal of the challenges faced by those who made this same journey creates the power of the film.
Brookstreet Pictures, The Brutalist (2024)
Best Actor: Daniel Craig
An unorthodox yet engaging film, Queer captivates the audience precisely because Daniel Craig is a force that cannot be looked away from. He is the heart of this semi-autobiographical odyssey that will take the audience on a journey from postwar Mexico City to the Amazon.
Best Actor: Ralph Fiennes
Conclave would not be the movie that it is without Ralph Fiennes' quiet power lurking throughout. It is the tension that Fiennes evokes as an actor that brings the audience to the edge of their seats for this film.
House Productions, Conclave (2024)
Best Actress: Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie stars in Pablo Larraín’s biopic of Opera legend Maria Callas. Following in the line of Larraín’s previous two biopics Jackie and Spencer, Jolie packs beauty and passion in this tale about a woman forced to experience extreme emotional distress while still very much in the spotlight.
Best Actress: Demi Moore
Demi Moore headlines the film The Substance, which takes aim at the unreasonable beauty and youth standards that women are held to in Hollywood. Performed with power and emotion, Moore brings to life these very real problems that many of her own peers face.
Working Title, The Substance (2024)
Best Actress: Mickey Madison
Anora is the sort of film that hinges entirely on the actors and actresses playing their main roles. Thus, Anora would be nothing without Mikey Madison’s performance evoking emotion through every scene in the leading role.
Best Actress: Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman is a household name because her talent is already recognized around the world. In Babygirl, Kidman uses that talent to display a tense, honest and emotional role in this thriller that explores the passions and desires of a tightly wound CEO.
Best Actress: Karla Sofía Gascón
You cannot have the film Emilia Pérez without the magnificent and powerful performance of Karla Sofía Gascón. She brings her own experiences to the performance of the title role with brilliance and honesty.
Why Not Productions, Emilia Pérez (2024)
Best Supporting Actor: Stanley Tucci
Everyone loves Stanley Tucci. It's a fact. He is charming, endearing, and he brings so much to every single role that he plays. His supporting role in Conclave is no different, bringing all of the talent that we’ve come to expect of him to the screen yet again.
House Productions, Conclave (2024)
Best Supporting Actor: Denzel Washington
Washington has announced that he will be retiring after completing the roles that he has currently committed to, making this role in Gladiator II one of the last ones that we will be seeing him in. Will this performance be another award for Washington to end his career on? We'll see.
Paramount, Gladiator II (2024)
Best Supporting Actor: Jeremy Strong
Along with Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong's name keeps coming up this awards season in connection with his role in The Apprentice. This timely and hard-hitting film certainly brought out the depth of the actors playing its characters.
Tailored Films, The Apprentice (2024)
Best Supporting Actor: Keiran Culkin
Although he's sometimes in the shadow of his more famous child star brother, Keiran Culkin steps into the light in A Real Pain with a beautiful, playful yet emotional role. This movie, an emotional take on the quirky oddball travel companion trope, is filled with both humor and heart, with Culkin carrying much of the show.
Topic Studios, A Real Pain (2024)
Best Supporting Actor: Guy Pearce
There are some films where a single star stands out, and there are others where the whole cast come together to make an outstanding picture. The Brutalist is one of those films, with Guy Pearce’s performance in the antagonistic role shining right along with Adrien Brody’s own lead performance.
Brookstreet Pictures, The Brutalist (2024)
Best Supporting Actress: Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez’s role in Emilia Pérez as the title character’s wife is emotional, honest, and poignant. It is both an honest reflection of the many complications life can hold, as well as of Gomez’s own depth and talent as an actress.
Why Not Productions, Emilia Pérez (2024)
Best Supporting Actress: Zoe Saldaña
There is a trend brewing in the suggested actress nominations and that trend is Emilia Pérez. Zoe Saldaña shines bright alongside her co-actresses as the lawyer who becomes instrumental in many of the journeys our title character takes.
Why Not Productions, Emilia Pérez (2024)
Best Supporting Actress: Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande is a household name, however for many that is because of her music. Most forget that she started her career out as an actress. Her role as Glinda in Wicked may just bring that reminder front and center for everyone with a little nod by the Academy this season.
Best Supporting Actress: Felicity Jones
We’ve already told you that The Brutalist is one of those films that shines because of every single actor in it, and this is further proof. Playing Adrien Brody’s wife, Felicity Jones puts another performance forward that is worthy of a nomination.
Brookstreet Pictures, The Brutalist (2024)
Best Supporting Actress: Isabella Rosselini
Isabella Rosselini plays a pivotal role in the various mechanisms and complications that arise for Ralph Fiennes in Conclave. Playing a nun, she ends up having an important role in challenging the male hierarchy of the religious world.
House Productions, Conclave (2024)
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Wild Robot
The Wild Robot is a timely and heartwarming animated feature adapted from Peter Brown’s trilogy of the same name. Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon) takes the source material to create a beautiful and heartwarming tale.
DreamWorks, The Wild Robot (2024)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Conclave
By this point, we are very familiar with Conclave as it has earned a spot in nearly every category so far. It's also getting whispers of recognition for its screenplay, adapted from a popular novel by Robert Harris.
House Productions, Conclave (2024)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Nickel Boys
Nickel Boys is an honest, engaging, if occasionally difficult, adaptation of a 2019 Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Colson Whitehead. It follows the tale of two boys of color who suffer during their time at a strict reform school.
Plan B Entertainment, Nickel Boys (2024)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Sing Sing
The writers of Sing Sing adapted their screenplay based on the very real Rehabilitation Through Arts program that existed at Sing Sing Maximum Security Prison, creating a fictional representation of the experiences that true inmates may have had.
Best Adapted Screenplay: Emilia Pérez
Director and writer Jacques Audiard drew inspiration from Boris Razon’s 2018 novel Écoute to create a very loose adaptation for his film Emilia Pérez. Audiard and the rest of the writing team used this inspiration to create their unique film.
Why Not Productions, Emilia Pérez (2024)
Best Original Screenplay: A Real Pain
A Real Pain is Jesse Eisenberg’s second feature as a director, starring himself and Kieran Culkin as two cousins who travel to visit their ancestral home in Poland to honor their grandmother. Loosely based on his own family history, Eisenberg has created a humorous and deeply emotional tale.
Topic Studios, A Real Pain (2024)
Best Original Screenplay: Anora
Sean Baker creates a vivid and very specific world for his viewers in Anora, creating an engaging and interesting film that fits perfectly into his already terrific body of work. Anora shows off Baker’s talents and unique perspective perfectly.
Best Original Screenplay: The Brutalist
Written by both the director, Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold, The Brutalist is almost novelistic in its storytelling. While it’s the actors that bring it to life, this screenplay is full of power for them to work off of.
Brookstreet Pictures, The Brutalist (2024)
Best Original Screenplay: September 5
Writing a screenplay based on real-life events can be a delicate balance, however, Tim Fehlbaum and Moritz Binder do it perfectly in September 5. Their original screenplay perfectly captures this moment in time, and the way that it was reported.
BerghausWöbke Filmproduktion, September 5 (2024)
Best Original Screenplay: Babygirl
Babygirl is the second English-language feature from director and writer Halina Reijn, the first being 2022’s Bodies, Bodies, Bodies. This screenplay creates a tense and honest portrayal of society, perspectives and desires.
Best International Film: I’m Still Here
From Brazil, I’m Still Here is a film that centers around a mother of five, who suffers a devastating loss at the height of Brazil’s military dictatorship. Following this, she recreates herself as a lawyer and activist.
Videofilmes, I'm Still Here (2024)
Best International Film: The Girl With The Needle
From Denmark, The Girl with the Needle is, perhaps ironically, a very timely story for American viewers. It's a familiar story throughout history, focusing on a seamstress living in post-World War I Copenhagen, finding herself with child but abandoned by her wealthy lover, leaving her with few options, all of them poor.
Nordisk Film, The Girl with the Needle (2024)
Best International Film: Emilia Pérez
From France, Emilia Pérez certainly is a shoo-in for best international film if it does receive as many nominations as it’s already been predicted to get.
Why Not Productions, Emilia Pérez (2024)
Best International Film: Armand
From Norway, Armand is a tense film, all set in an elementary school. Although it focuses on two children, Armand and Jon, neither are ever present. Instead, we see their tale told through the lens of the adults who are summoned to deal with the accusations the children have made.
Best International Film: The Seed Of The Sacred Fig
From Germany, The Seed of the Sacred Fig is from Mohammad Rasoulof, a writer-director who fled Iran. This is a long three-hour family drama that deals heavily with the legal system found in Iran and the effects it has on the human psyche.
Arte, The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2024)
Best Animated Film: Inside Out 2
Inside Out 2 is the sequel to Disney-Pixar’s popular film Inside Out. This time, we return to Riley’s head and her emotions as she enters “Puberty”, exploring all the additional and complex emotions that come with this progression we all go through.
Walt Disney, Inside Out 2 (2024)
Best Animated Film: Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Wallace & Gromit are a popular film duo whether you’re from England, where they were created, or outside of it. In this particular adventure, Wallace creates a “smart” gnome. Unfortunately, as many fear with technology, the gnome gets a mind of its own, creating some problems they’ll have to solve.
BBC, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024)
Best Animated Film: Memoir Of A Snail
This quirky film with a quirky title follows a gastropod-obsessed misfit touched by loss and longing for her lost twin brother. Though don’t mistake the animation element of this film as child-friendly. This dark and brash film would likely not pass most parents' tests for their children.
Arenamedia, Memoir of a Snail (2024)
Best Animated Film: The Wild Robot
When a robot intended for the city ends up lost and abandoned on a secluded island instead, it bonds with a young gosling, teaching it to fly along with the help of the other animals. It's a bond that becomes all the more significant when the robots wish to make it return.
DreamWorks, The Wild Robot (2024)
Best Animated Film: Piece By Piece
Piece by Piece is the next installment in the very popular LEGO animation world. This time, they are taking on the story of singer Pharrell Williams, documenting his story in LEGO.
Tremolo Productions, Piece by Piece (2024)
What Did We Miss?
There are some films (for example, A Complete Unknown) and actors (Timothee Chalamet) who didn't make our list, and we fully admit we could be wrong! What else did we miss? When the Oscar nominations come out on January 17, 2025, we'll all find out for sure.
