Reader's Choice: Who SHOULD win the Oscars?

by Nathaniel R

You've read our final predictions and Oscar volleys discussing who might win Sunday night. Meanwhile the TFE readership was encouraged to vote daily on our Oscar chart pages over the past month about who SHOULD win the Oscars.

Here are the results in all categories. Some of this was surprising to us, some expected...

LIVE ACTION SHORT

1. THE LONG GOODBYE 58%
2. THE DRESS 20%
3. ALA KACHUU - TAKE AND RUN 11%
4. PLEASE HOLD 9%
5. ON MY MIND 2%

The only short category with a decisive win. We have a lot of Riz Ahmed fans among readers apparently.

ANIMATED SHORT

1. ROBIN ROBIN 30%
2. BESTIA 26%
3. THE WINDSHIELD WIPER 18%
4. BOX BALLET 14%
5. AFFAIRS OF THE ART 12%

Animated and doc shorts proved very competitive with everyone in the double digits percentile. 

DOCUMENTARY SHORT

1. AUDIBLE 26%
2. WHEN WE WERE BULLIES 23%
3. THREE SONGS FOR BENAZIR 21%
4. QUEEN OF BASKETBALL 20%
5. LEAD ME HOME 10%

The closest race for reader polling in all categories!
Just a 3% difference determined the winner.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1. FLEE 60%
2. SUMMER OF SOUL 32%
3. ASCENSION 4%
4. ATTICA 3%
5. WRITING WITH FIRE 2%

ANIMATED FEATURE

1. FLEE 41%
2. ENCANTO 22%
3. LUCA 18%
4. MITCHELLS VS THE MACHINES 15%
5. RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON 4%

Flee took two of its three categories among readers. Which is 2 more than it will take at the Oscars but one less than it took in the Team Experience Awards ;)

We were surprised to see Mitchells vs the Machines so low in reader polling. We were under the impression that everyone loved that picture!

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

1. DRIVE MY CAR (Japan) 45%
2. WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (Norway) 31%
3. FLEE (Denmark) 11%
4. HAND OF GOD (Italy) 8%
5. LUNANA: A YAK IN THE CLASSROOM (Bhutan) 5%

SOUND

1. DUNE 60%
2. POWER OF THE DOG 16%
3. WEST SIDE STORY 13%
4. NO TIME TO DIE 8%
5. BELFAST 3%

ORIGINAL SONG

1. "NO TIME TO DIE" No Time To Die 37%
2. "DOS ORUGITAS" Encanto 32%
3. "BE ALIVE" King Richard 14%
4. "SOMEHOW YOU DO" Four Good Days 10%
5. "DOWN TO JOY" Belfast 8%

One of only two craft categories where the win was decided by just 5% of the votes.

ORIGINAL SCORE

1. THE POWER OF THE DOG 47%
2. PARALLEL MOTHERS 22%
3. DUNE 20%
4. ENCANTO 11%
5. DON'T LOOK UP 1%

We were surprised to see Dune come in third place here! 

MAKEUP AND HAIR

1. DUNE 34%
2. EYES OF TAMMY FAYE 29%
3. CRUELLA 18%
4. COMING 2 AMERICA 11%
5. HOUSE OF GUCCI 8%

The other craft category where the win was just a 5% difference. 

VISUAL EFFECTS

1. DUNE 79%
2. SHANG-CHI 9%
3. SPIDER-MAN NO WAY HOME 7%
4. NO TIME TO DIE 3%
5. FREE GUY 2%

This honor to Dune was the biggest landslide in reader polling. Nearly 80% of your votes!

FILM EDITING

1. THE POWER OF THE DOG 48%
2. DUNE 27%
3. TICK TICK BOOM! 19%
4. DON'T LOOK UP 4%
5. KING RICHARD 2%

PRODUCTION DESIGN

1. DUNE 40%
2. NIGHTMARE ALLEY 31%
3. THE POWER OF THE DOG 12%
4. TRAGEDY OF MACBETH 10%
5. WEST SIDE STORY 7%

COSTUME DESIGN

1. CRUELLA 44%
2. DUNE 29%
3. NIGHTMARE ALLEY 14%
4. WEST SIDE STORY 9%
5. CYRANO 4%

CINEMATOGRAPHY

1. THE POWER OF THE DOG 47%
2. DUNE 21%
3. TRAGEDY OF MACBETH 18%
4. WEST SIDE STORY 8%
5. NIGHTMARE ALLEY 7%

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1. THE POWER OF THE DOG 43%
2. DRIVE MY CAR 29%
3. THE LOST DAUGHTER 16%
4. [tie] DUNE / CODA 6% each

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1. WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD 43%
2. LICORICE PIZZA 39%
3. BELFAST 12%
4. DON'T LOOK UP 4%
5. KING RICHARD 1%

The closest 'big eight' race with just 4% difference insuring the win. 

SUPPORTING ACTOR

1. KODI SMIT-MCPHEE 55%
2. TROY KOTSUR 34%
3. [tie] JESSE PLEMONS & CIARÁN HINDS 5% each
4. JK SIMMONS 1%

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1. KIRSTEN DUNST 51%
2. ARIANA DEBOSE 20%
3. JESSIE BUCKLEY 15%
4. AUNJANUE ELLIS 8%
5. DAME JUDI DENCH 5%

LEAD ACTOR

1. BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH 52%
2. ANDREW GARFIELD 27%
3. WILL SMITH 14%
4. DENZEL WASHINGTON 5%
5. JAVIER BARDEM 3%

LEAD ACTRESS

1. PENELOPE CRUZ 28%
2. [tie] JESSICA CHASTAIN & KRISTEN STEWART 21% each
3. OLIVIA COLMAN 16%
4. NICOLE KIDMAN 14%

This was the only acting race where every nominee polled in the double digits. Competitive!

DIRECTOR

1. JANE CAMPION 67%
2. RYÛSUKE HAMAGUCHI 14%
3. PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON 9%
4. STEVEN SPIELBERG 7%
5. KENNETH BRANAGH 2%

PICTURE

1. POWER OF THE DOG 50%
2. DRIVE MY CAR 14%
3. WEST SIDE STORY 9%
4. [tie] DUNE and LICORICE PIZZA 6% each
5. BELFAST 5%
6. CODA 4%
7. DON'T LOOK UP 3%
8. [tie] NIGHTMARE ALLEY and KING RICHARD 2% each

In short y'all really wishing for a Power of the Dog near-sweep - it took 9 out of a possible 11 prizes here in reader polling with Dune nabbing 4 craft awards and Flee the only other movie with more than one win! 

Lowest scoring contender in any category proved to be a three way tie with just 1% of the vote: Don't Look up for Original Score, King Richard for Original Screenplay, and JK Simmons for Supporting Actor.

DID YOU VOTE and if you didn't why not? 

Comments

[Tony L]

Drive My Car came in #1 in International Feature (of course) but I love that it came in #2 in all its other categories - as it well should have (if not coming in #1 for them). To me, it was the best film of the year.

[Frank Zappa]

Flee competing against Summer of Soul and Drive My Car just hurts my heart, as does Garfield vs. Cumberbatch (who like Flee are both going to lose tomorrow just to make it worse). #youareallmychildren

[Mr Ripley79]

I don't think site visitors will be too shook at BA being the most voted on category

[Amy Camus]

I've been trying to track down as many "Brutally Honest Anonymous" Oscar ballots as possible, and three results seem to be emerging:

1) CODA will win over The Power of the Dog (a stomach-turning result IMO) but ballot after ballot ranks CODA higher and very many of them go out of their way to say how much they didn't like TPOD.

2) Penelope Cruz may win Best Actress. She's won the votes of a vast majority of these ballots. Jessica Chastain and Olivia Colman are very distant runners up.

3) The Worst Person in the World has a lot of support for Original Screenplay. Even where they vote for other movies, they say they almost voted for it. Indicating stronger support than expected, perhaps? Curiously enough, almost no one says they voted for it for International Film.

As unscientific as these samples are, I think they indicate trends that don't seem to be being picked up by most pundits. The other results were pretty much what you'd expect or so scattered to indicate not much of anything. God, I hope I'm wrong about #1.

[Amy Camus]

Also, Flee seems to be very popular, and voters want to give it SOMETHING. Whether it can get enough votes in any single category is not clear.

[rrrich7]

Well done, my fellow TFE readers!!! So happy to see people vote for Kirsten Dunst. And for Benedict C. Heartily sick of hearing people predicting a win for Will Smith. My opinion of his performance is tepid at best. Also love that Drive My Car may win Best International Feature!

[Marsha Mason]

Speaking of anonymous Oscar ballots, and not that I think it'll happen, but I'm gobsmacked by the love for Andrew Garfield, the respect for Cumberbatch, and the lack of enthusiasm for Will Smith.

[Nate]

This is the public voting that I want.