BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Dead Certs
The Favourite
Green Book
Roma
Vice
Probable Contenders
Eighth Grade
Possible Spoilers
First Reformed
Sorry to Bother You
This is always a bit of a wildcard category and is often used as an opportunity to reward weirder material that won’t get anywhere near Best Picture, like Spike Jonze’s terrific Her and last year’s Get Out. With that in mind, I think it’s the perfect vehicle for rewarding Yorgos Lanthimos’s barmy royal comedy The Favourite, even though it could just as easily be the very safe pick of Green Book. In terms of nominees, the one I’d really like to see is Boots Riley’s jam-packed satire Sorry to Bother You, just as recognition for the power of ambition.
PREDICTED WINNER – The Favourite
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Dead Certs
BlacKkKlansman
A Star is Born
Probable Contenders
Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Crazy Rich Asians
If Beale Street Could Talk
Possible Spoilers
Black Panther
First Man
Widows
There are a tonne of viable contenders for this award, including some of the big beasts in the Best Picture race. I’d love this to be an opportunity for the excellent crime thriller Widows to get some recognition, but it doesn’t seem likely that it will sneak its way into the field. In terms of a winner, it’s hard to look past the behemoth of A Star is Born.
PREDICTED WINNER – A Star is Born
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Dead Certs
The Incredibles 2
Isle of Dogs
Ralph Breaks the Internet
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Probable Contenders
Mirai
Possible Spoilers
Early Man
The Grinch
This one is usually a pretty easy call in any year when there’s a Pixar nominee. From its 11 nominations to date, it has only lost twice. That would seem to make The Incredibles 2 the obvious choice to nab this year’s award, but it’s a film that hasn’t received much excitement since its initial very successful box office run. Everyone saw it and then promptly forgot everything they had seen. That’s a fate that has definitely not befallen Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which has provoked nothing but excitement and feels like a genuinely inventive use of the medium that, crucially, everyone likes.
PREDICTED WINNER – Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FEATURE
Dead Certs
Cold War
Roma
Shoplifters
Probable Contenders
Burning
Capernaum
Possible Spoilers
Birds of Passage
The Guilty
This is, theoretically, the easiest award of the whole ceremony to predict. Anything other than a Cuaron win will be an enormous surprise, and a major dent to Roma‘s chances of winning Best Picture later in the night.
PREDICTED WINNER – Roma
The nominations for the Oscars 2019 will be revealed on 22nd January, with the full Academy Awards ceremony set to take place at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles on 24th February.
Tom Beasley is a freelance film journalist and wrestling fan. Follow him on Twitter via @TomJBeasley for movie opinions, wrestling stuff and puns.