

You knew this was coming. With the Academy Awards now in the books, why not look ahead to next year’s potential slate? The Oscars had their say, but now we’re up and running again with pure speculation. Last year I had three of the ultimate nine Best Picture nominees in my initial lineup, as well as Emma Stone in Best Actress for La La Land and actually picking Casey Affleck to win it all in Best Actor for Manchester by the Sea from the start. We’ll see how things go this year, but I have a few guesses to make today. Remember, it’s early. The 90th ceremony is still almost exactly 12 months away. Still, we press on.

It’s all a complete crapshoot at this point, but without anything to go on, there’s no reason not to assume that Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk won’t be a player with the Academy. Odds are, it ultimately won’t be the Best Picture winner, but something has to be a frontrunner now, right? Another safe pick is Darkest Hour, which seems right up Oscar’s alley. Two projects I’m pretty bullish on are Darren Aronofsky’s Mother!, as well as Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut Molly’s Game. It’ll be months until anything begins to emerge, so for now, your guess is as good as mine. Still, these are mine and should be taken with a grain of salt…

Here now is a first crack at year in advance Academy Award predictions:

BEST PICTURE

1. Dunkirk

2. Mother!

3. Darkest Hour

4. Untitled Kathryn Bigelow Detroit Riots Movie

5. Molly’s Game

6. Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Project

7. The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara

8. Downsizing

9. Battle of the Sexes

10. The Current War

Next in line: 11. Triple Frontier 12. Call Me By Your Name 13. The Greatest Showman 14. Mudbound 15. Star Wars: The Last Jedi 16. Mary Madelene 17. Untitled Dick Cheney Biopic 18. Stronger 19. Tully 20. Wind River 21. Thank You For Your Service 22. Wonderstruck 23. Chappaquiddick 24. Wonder Wheel 25. Logan

BEST DIRECTOR

1. Christopher Nolan – Dunkirk

2. Darren Aronofsky – Mother!

3. Kathryn Bigelow – Untitled Kathryn Bigelow Detroit Riots Movie

4. Joe Wright – Darkest Hour

5. Paul Thomas Anderson – Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Project

Next in line: 6. Aaron Sorkin – Molly’s Game 7. Alexander Payne – Downsizing 8. Steven Spielberg – The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara 9. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon – The Current War 10. J.C. Chandor – Triple Frontier

BEST ACTOR

1. Gary Oldman – Darkest Hour

2. Daniel Day-Lewis – Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Project

3. Matt Damon – Downsizing

4. Oscar Isaac – The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara

5. Jake Gyllenhaal – Stronger

Next in line: 6. Hugh Jackman – The Greatest Showman (or Logan) 7. Benedict Cumberbatch – The Current War 8. Jason Clarke – Chappaquiddick 9. Liam Neeson – Felt 10. Jeremy Renner – Wind River

BEST ACTRESS

1. Jessica Chastain – Molly’s Game

2. Jennifer Lawrence – Mother!

3. Rooney Mara – Mary Madelene

4. Charlize Theron – Tully

5. Emma Stone – Battle of the Sexes

Next in line: 6. Kate Winslet – Wonder Wheel 7. Tatiana Maslany – Stronger 8. Kristen Wiig – Downsizing 9. Emma Watson – The Circle 10. Elizabeth Olsen – Wind River

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1. Bruce Dern – Chappaquiddick

2. Kevin Costner – Molly’s Game

3. Mark Rylance – The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara

4. Idris Elba – Molly’s Game

5. Jason Clarke – Mudbound

Next in line: 6. Joaquin Phoenix – Mary Madelene 7. Michael Shannon – The Current War 8. Tom Hanks – The Circle 9. Patrick Stewart – Logan 10. Tom Hardy – Dunkirk

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1. Michelle Pfeiffer – Mother!

2. Lily James – Darkest Hour

3. Kate Mara – Chappaquiddick

4. Juno Temple – Wonder Wheel

5. Katherine Waterston – The Current War

Next in line: 6. Rebecca Ferguson – The Greatest Showman 7. Kirsten Dunst – The Beguiled 8. Mary J. Blige – Mudbound 9. Lesley Manville – Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Project 10. Dafne Keen – Logan

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1. Mother!

2. Downsizing

3. Darkest Hour

4. Untitled Kathryn Bigelow Detroit Riots Movie

5. Dunkirk

Next in line: 6. Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Project 7. Triple Frontier 8. Wonder Wheel 9. Wind River 10. Battle of the Sexes

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1. Molly’s Game

2. The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara

3. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

4. Thank You For Your Service

5. Stronger

Next in line: 6. Mudbound 7. The Beguiled 8. Wonderstruck 9. The Lost City of Z 10. Logan

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

1. Coco

2. The LEGO Batman Movie

3. Cars 3

4. Ferdinand

5. Despicable Me 3

Next in line: 6. The LEGO Ninjago Movie 7. Blazing Samurai 8. Captain Underpants 9. Leap! 10. The Boss Baby

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

1. Dunkirk

2. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

3. Beauty and the Beast

4. Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Project

5. Darkest Hour

Next in line: 6. The Lost City of Z 7. The Beguiled 8. Battle of the Sexes 9. The Current War 10. Blade Runner 2046

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1. Dunkirk

2. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

3. Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Project

4. Mother!

5. Untitled Kathryn Bigelow Detroit Riots Movie

Next in line: 6. Blade Runner 2049 7. Downsizing 8. The Beguiled 9. Triple Frontier 10. Darkest Hour

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

1. Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Project

2. Dunkirk

3. The Beguiled

4. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

5. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

Next in line: 6. Mudbound 7. The Beguiled 8. The Lost City of Z 9. Blade Runner 2046 10. The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara

BEST FILM EDITING

1. Dunkirk

2. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

3. Untitled Kathryn Bigelow Detroit Riots Movie

4. Mother!

5. Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Project

Next in line: 6. Darkest Hour 7. Blade Runner 2046 8. Molly’s Game 9. The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara 10. Downsizing

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

1. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

3. Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Project

Next in line: 4. Logan 5. The Lost City of Z 6. Spider-Man: Homecoming 7. Justice League 8. Thor: Ragnorak

BEST SOUND MIXING

1. Dunkirk

2. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

3. Spider-Man: Homecoming

4. Untitled Kathryn Bigelow Detroit Riots Movie

5. Blade Runner 2046

Next in line: 6. Justice League 7. Kong: Skull Island 8. Thor: Ragnorak 9. War for the Planet of the Apes 10. Alien: Covenant

BEST SOUND EDITING

1. Dunkirk

2. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

3. Untitled Kathryn Bigelow Detroit Riots Movie

4. Spider-Man: Homecoming

5. Blade Runner 2046

Next in line: 6. Justice League 7. Kong: Skull Island 8. Thor: Ragnorak 9. War for the Planet of the Apes 10. Alien: Covenant

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

1. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

2. Dunkirk

3. War for the Planet of the Apes

4. Downsizing

5. Thor: Ragnorak

Next in line: 6. Blade Runner 2046 7. Kong: Skull Island 8. Justice League 9. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets 10. Alien: Covenant

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

1. Dunkirk

2. Mother!

3. Star Wars: The Last Jedi

4. Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Project

5. The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara

Next in line: 6. Blade Runner 2046 7. The Current War 8. Downsizing 9. Darkest Hour 10. The Lost City of Z

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

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BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

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BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FEATURE

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BEST ANIMATED SHORT

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BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

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BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT

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Stay tuned for an update to these way too early predictions most likely at the beginning of next month!