Oscars 2018 - Predictions on who will win big at the 90th Academy Awards

The Oscar nominations were released earlier today, meaning the internet has already taken to Twitter to announce their criticisms, complaints and critiques of those who were selected. This is the Oscars we're talking about, after all.

This year, however, has been a lot less divisive than previous years. The Oscars nominated both Jordan Peele and Greta Gerwig for Best Director — something the Golden Globes failed to do — and managed to avoid any #OscarSoWhite controversy.

Of course, there’s still a few snubs here and there (I’m slightly bitter that The Florida Project only took in one nomination), but now our attention of course turns on to who the winners of said awards are going to be.

Best Picture, honestly, could go one of many ways. The recipient of similar the Best Picture Award in other awards shows has been pretty split, making it hard to peg down who’s going to be taking it home at the Academy.

Nevertheless, we’ve created a list of predictions for those we think are going to win at the Oscars (note that it says “think are going to” and not “think should”).

Best Picture:

This one’s tough. While it’d be super cool if Get Out could somehow snake the trophy, the three front-runners seem to be The Shape of Water, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Lady Bird. Three Billboards swept at the SAG Awards, but Shape of Water was declared winner at the PGA Awards. Ultimately, this one is going to come down to a coin-toss.

Final prediction: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

 

Best Actor:

This one is relatively a no-brainer. While all of the actors nominated are incredibly talented and could have easily won in previous years, Gary Oldman has this one in the bag for his performance as Winston Churchill. No James Franco to be seen on this list, however, which is interesting.

Final prediction: Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour

 

Best Actress:

This one is a bit harder, seeing how incredible every single one of these performances are. Personally, I’d love to see it go to either Sally Hawkins or Margot Robbie, but I’m guessing the Academy will tend to lean towards Frances McDormand or Meryl Streep (because you know how f*cking much they love Meryl Streep).

Final prediction: Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Supporting Actress:

The year of questionable mothers. I think this one is ultimately going to come down to Allison Janney vs. Laurie Metcalf. Everyone else nominated is worthy of being on the list, of course, but Janney and Metcalf practically stole the show in their own respective films.

Final prediction: Allison Janney, I, Tonya

 

Best Supporting Actor:

In a perfect world, and if I was in the charge of handing out the awards, this would go to Willem Dafoe without a moment of hesitation. However, Sam Rockwell has been cleaning up in all awards circuits, and it’s likely he’ll be winning this one too.

Final prediction: Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

 

Best Director:

This might be the toughest one of them all, given that the Academy could easily go any direction on this one. They like honoring new directors, so Peele and Gerwig have a good shot, but del Toro has also been receiving all kinds of praise for The Shape of Water. It’s a tough call, but we’re going to say…

Final prediction: Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig (at least we really, REALLY hope so)

 

Best Animated Feature Film:

Another no-brainer. While Loving Vincent would be an incredible upset we’d love to see, the Academy loves their Pixar movies. The real question here is how The Boss Baby ended up on the list. Boss Baby gets a nominated but The LEGO movie didn’t? Mkay.

Final prediction: Coco

 

Best Original Screenplay:

It’s great to see The Big Sick getting some love in this category, as well as Lady Bird, but this is the one that Get Out should have no problem winning. I mean, the way that script balanced both social commentary and horror is too spot on not to recognize.

Final prediction: Get Out

 

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Logan scored a nomination in there, so that’s pretty cool. Also hats off to Molly’s Game and Mudbound for their work. Prior to the James Franco headlines, I would have said this one easily goes to The Disaster Artist but now it’s all relatively up in the air. I think it’s still going to come down to The Disaster Artist or Call Me by Your Name, but it’s going to be close.

Final prediction: Call me by Your Name

 

Original Song:

Remember last year when the Oscars didn’t nominate Sing Street for this category? Yeah, we’re still not over that either. Anyways, this one’s most likely going to The Greatest Showman.

Final prediction: “This is Me,” The Greatest Showman

 

Best Foreign Language Film:

Ah, now we’re get into some of the categories I’m less familiar with. I’m still waiting for a lot of these movies to screen in theaters near me, but I’ve heard a lot of incredible things about Loveless, so I’m going with that.

Final prediction: Loveless

 

Best Documentary Short Subject:

Again, haven’t seen all of these yet, even though they all look really interesting. Just off a whim, I’m going to say...

Final prediction: Heroin(e)

 

Best Documentary Feature:

All of these look — and probably are — really interesting. However, Strong Island is the one I keep hearing mentioned again and again, making me all the more intrigued to see it.

Final prediction: Strong Island

 

Best Production Design:

It can be hard to always know the difference between production design, cinematography and visual effects, but The Shape of Water will likely be taking this one — seeing how the whole setting to that movie is absolutely gorgeous.

Final prediction: The Shape of Water

 

Best Cinematography:

I’m literally leading a riot in the streets if Roger Deakins doesn’t win this one. He’s been snubbed for too long and Blade Runner 2049 is too goddamn beautiful for anyone else to take this award. Sorry, Guillermo, The Shape of Water is beautiful and all, but this is Deakins’ year.

Final prediction: Blade Runner 2049

 

Best Costume Design:

I mean, the movie that is literally about fashion and clothes has to be the one who wins this one, right? I’m mainly curious how Beauty and The Beast managed to sneak on here. I liked the movie fine, but I definitely didn’t hear it screaming ‘Oscars’ when I was watching it. But, hey, at least it’s not the Oscar-winning Suicide Squad.

Final prediction: Phantom Thread

 

Best Sound Editing:

I’m always really bad at predicting the two sound awards, but I’m going to go with my gut on this one. And yes, I’m choosing the same winner for both of them, because I’m pretty sure that’s how it usually plays out.

Final prediction: Dunkirk

 

Best Sound Mixing:

See the paragraph above, I’m done repeating myself.

Final prediction: Dunkirk

 

Best Animated Short Film:

Wait, WHERE’S OLAF’S FROZEN ADVENTURE?!?! Oh yeah, it was included because it was a twenty-minute bore we were all forced to sit through. Lou was really sweet and heartwarming though, so I’m going with that.

Final prediction: Lou

 

Best Original Score:

It comes down to Phantom Thread vs. The Shape of Water on this one, but I’m going to give the slight edge to Shape of Water just because there’s a chance it might end up cleaning all of these awards.

Final prediction: The Shape of Water

 

Best Visual Effects:

Eh, I could see it going to either Blade Runner 2049, Star Wars: The Last Jedi or War for the Planet of the Apes, but I’m giving the slight edge to Blade Runner 2049 just because I’m guessing more Academy voters saw that movie than any of the other nominees and therefore voted for that.

Final prediction: Blade Runner 2049

 

Best Film Editing:

While Dunkirk serves as a great runner-up, Baby Driver earns this one hands down. The car chases mixed with the musical numbers is some of the best editing I’ve ever seen in a film, period.

Final prediction: Baby Driver

 

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:

A little surprised I, Tonya didn’t make the list because I was really impressed how they made the characters look older in the mockumentary scenes, but this one is pretty easy to predict. The fact that you couldn’t even recognize Gary Oldman as the one underneath all that makeup says enough in itself.

Final prediction: Darkest Hour

 

Best Live Action Short:

Again, still need to catch up on some of these, but The Eleven O’Clock seems to be getting a lot of praise and looks like a relatively safe bet so…

Final prediction: The Eleven O’Clock

 

Tune into the Oscars on March 4, and check out all of our coverage on the awards until then. Also, let us know in the comments below who you think is going to win this year.