First Predictions: Music / Sound Categories

by Nathaniel R

The year's surest bet: A 55th Oscar nomination for John Williams scoring DISCLOSURE DAY © Universal

Encourage me to keep going with these charts via comments. Let's talk sound and music. These categories generally stay mysterious until late in the year since post-production is such a heavy part of eligibility and credits for music and sound categories. Sometimes they'll switch out composers after filming has ended! And of course Original Song is notoriously hard to predict. 

One thing that feels certain, though, is that John Williams will receive his 55th nomination for the score to Disclosure Day. John Williams just turned 94 which will mean that he is likely to break two of his own records (again) as the most nominated person ever AND as the oldest person to ever receive an Oscar nomination (any category). He currently holds the latter record for his nomination at 91 for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023). The Academy's music branch never passes up an opportunity to vote for him, even if the film isn't in play anywhere else...

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“Sinners” and “Wicked” lead the Oscar shortlists

by Cláudio Alves

Despite poor reviews WICKED: FOR GOOD is beloved by the industry. | © Universal Pictures

The Oscar shortlists announcement is an occasion that many a pundit anticipates, sometimes fears. Because it’s a day when narratives change, some consolidate, some emerge, while others crumble into nothingness. Three years ago, the shortlists were the first hint of just how big All Quiet on the Western Front was about to become, for example. For the 98th Academy Awards, there is no surprise champion, as Sinners and Wicked: For Good earn the most categories in a year when Casting and Cinematography are also among the shortlisted races. More surprisingly is Sirât’s surge, a cinematography selection full of antithetical picks and a Best International Film race where ten out of fifteen finalists arrive from outside of Europe, a rarity that should be celebrated.

Without further ado, here are the Oscar shortlists with some commentary…

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Eligible Original Songs & Scores for the 98th Oscars

by Nathaniel R

Both of the following massive lists will be narrowed down to fifteen contenders on December 16 when the Academy reveals the shortlists in all the categories that use multiple ballots. But for now all the composers can all imagine golden statues in their future...

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New Oscar Charts: Screenplays, Music, and Visuals

by Nathaniel R

Speeding the April Foolish Oscar chart production up now, with 10 of Oscar's 24 categories posted, in order to finish by, uh... June's end.

• Prediction Index
  (in progress since some categories are still under construction)
• Original & Adapted Screenplay 
• Visuals (all but two posted)
• Sound
• International Film

Ten categories left to publish (we never predict the shorts or documentary categories this early), so we'll try hard to get them all up this week and say more about the, too. They are: Actress, Actor, Animated Feature, Casting, Cinematography, Costume Design, Director, Picture, Supporting Actress, and Supporting Actor. 

Wicked and Sinners currently lead the predicted tallies though that may change with the remaining categories yet to be posted. What's interesting is that they could fill up 80% of the original song category since Wicked (an official musical) has two Original Songs, one for each of its leading ladies, while Sinners (an unofficial musical) has four or five ... though of course only two song nominations are allowed for any film given the current Oscar rules; That rule is kind of a bummer because given the popularity of both Wicked and Sinners we could have finally had a year without the mandatory throwaway Diane Warren nomination! 

Oscar Night in Review: Highs, Lows, and "What Just Happened?" Head Scratching

by Nathaniel R

Conan O'Brien hosts the 97th Academy Awards. Photo © Myung J. Chun for the Los Angeles Times

It was one of the great livery-stableman's most masterly intuitions to have discovered that Americans want to get away from amusement even more quickly than they want to get to it.”
-Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence

Another cinematic year has ended. Another eagerly awaited Oscar night's credits roll over clips of the key moment. Out there in the dark, at home and at Oscar parties, everyone immediately wishes to put it all behind them. I am also that livery-stableman, but shouting "Wait, wait! There are a few things we should talk about before we depart!" So please bear with us, dear reader, as we think aloud at you and with you (should you choose to join in the conversation) and wrap up this cinematic year and twisty awards rollercoaster. We'll try to 'get away from (this) amusement' within a week's time and move on to 2025 (and other years as we do for mini celebrations). That's the goal.

So let's talk Oscar night's highs and lows and wtf moments...

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