by Nathaniel R
we're in mourning that we won't get to see DUNE this year...
You've probably heard that Dune is no longer a 2020 picture and will now arrive in the final quarter of 2021. This necessitated yet another revision just as we'd finished nearly all of the Oscar charts -- our work is never done! The biggest impact is in the visual categories. These should be interesting to follow this year in the absence of the kind of big budget spectacle films that often dominated visual categories. Does this mean voters will get more creative and search out further afield Production Design possibilities like, say, Shirley, or First Cow or I'm Thinking of Ending Things or more lax and just nominate their favourite Best Picture candidates in every visual category even if those pictures are mostly contained in one location (hi One Night in Miami, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom) or out on the open road in a beaten down van (hi Nomadland)...
Cinematography could also prove to be of particular interest during this atypical Oscar season. Most of Oscar's regulars in that category don't have films this year so the branch could get a brand new fresh blood infusion. The contenders left standing are mostly DPs who've never been nominated before (and some of them should have already like Maryse Alberti, Mandy Walker, or Darius Wolski)
The following charts are all up and updated...
