[This edition of the Contender Countdown was originally published in The Breakdown newsletter on Monday, Nov 11. Get all of The Playlist’s Oscar rankings including Best Picture, Best Actress, and more in The Breakdown first. Subscribe here.]

A week before Thanksgiving we will know. By that point, all the films that are potential Best Picture contenders will have screened for AMPAS, guild, and the media (assuming we still have any influence).

Continue reading ‘Nosferatu’ Steps Out From The Oscars Shadows [Contender Countdown] at The Playlist.

What a weird and strange Best Picture race that has been thrust upon us. The major studios’ selections are slim, every potential winner has major question marks, and by the time nomination voting comes around, enough contenders may have fallen off that unexpected titles from earlier in the year rise to make the field of 10. If there is one thing we know for sure, it’s that Sean Baker’s “Anora,” Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Perez,” and Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist” are your safest nomination bets.

Continue reading Best Picture Oscars 2025 Predictions & Contenders at The Playlist.

There was a moment during the Cannes Film Festival when a veteran awards consultant remarked to this pundit about how weird the 2025 Oscar season would be. Having been in this game much too long myself, I have heard this line before every season gets rolling too often to count. Usually, by the time the festival trifecta of Venice, Telluride, and Toronto have unfurled, there are at least a few strong Best Picture frontrunners to quell those fears.

Continue reading Contender Countdown: An Unsettled Best Picture Race Rolls Along at The Playlist.

Just a few months ago, as the clean-up crew broke down the set for the 2024 Academy Awards we pondered about the future. How could you not? History was right around the corner. Were we entering a new awards season where Warner Bros. would be the first studio in over forty years to earn three Best Picture nominees in one year? They had “Dune, Part II,” the follow-up to 2021’s “Dune.” They had “Furiosa,” the follow-up to 2015’s “Mad Max: Fury Road” and this fall “Joker: Folie à Deux,” the follow-up to 2019’s “Joker,” will arrive in theaters.

Continue reading Halfway to Oscar 2025: What Movies Are In Play For Best Picture? at The Playlist.

“Barbenheimer” is officially over. While Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” may have outdueled its release date mate by a little under $500 million at the worldwide box office, Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” has taken the most coveted award of them all, the Oscar for Best Picture. The Universal Pictures release ended the 96th Academy Awards with 7 Oscars overall including Best Director (Nolan), Best Actor (Cillian Murphy), Supporting Actor (Robert Downey, Jr.

Continue reading ‘Oppenheimer’ Wins The 2024 Oscar For Best Picture at The Playlist.

On Thursday night, Oscar season was in full swing and Hollywood was, dare we say, busy. Among the numerous events and screenings was a press and industry reception for “The Holdovers” in Century City. Todd Haynes’ “May December” had its formal Los Angeles premiere at the Academy Museum. And, in a rare return to the Samuel Golden Theater on Wilshire (the Academy Museum is the current screening hot spot), Blitz Bazawule’s movie adaptation of the “The Color Purple” musical had its first public screening.

Continue reading Danielle Brooks & Taraji P. Henson Are ‘The Color Purple’s’ Best Shots At Oscar Glory at The Playlist.

As news broke that SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP had come to an agreement and Hollywood would finally be heading back to work again, Harris Dickinson and Zac Efron were walking the red carpet of the premiere of their latest film, “The Iron Claw,” in Dallas. As an A24 release, “Iron Claw” was able to sign an interim agreement with SAG so the pair, along with their co-stars Jeremy Allen White and Staney Simons, have been some of the few actors able to promote their films.

Continue reading ‘The Iron Claw’ Jumps Into The Best Picture Ring As SAG Unleashes The Actors at The Playlist.

There may be few actors walking red carpets or pounding the award season pavement at post-screening receptions, but the 2024 Oscar season is (almost) in full effect. Guild members that can attend screenings are filling seats and directors and (now) writers are enjoying a spotlight like never before. And in the midst of this yearly chaos, there is a sense of unease. Like every season this decade, more and more obstacles are affecting the proceedings (even if they are currently a justified actor’s strike).

Continue reading 18 Big Questions For The 2024 Oscars Season at The Playlist.

In some years, the Best Picture race finds just two or three films vying for the last slot. In other years, there is a potential laundry list of movies trying to make the cut. 2024 looks like it will be somewhat (and an emphasis on “somewhat”) closer to the latter. The one thing we know for sure is that the “Barbeheimer” duo of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” are pretty safe Best Picture nominee bets.

Continue reading Best Picture Oscars 2024 Predictions And Contenders at The Playlist.

And just like that, we’re back. Yes, award season is in full swing, and as for much of this decade, we’ve got a crisis on our hands. The WGA and SAG are still on strike, looking for a fair deal from the studios, while the DGA, who came to an agreement in June, are having their members walk red carpets and conduct Q&As by their lonesome. But, in the midst of this, the fall festival season is carrying on, and some fantastic movies have debuted for the industry and the public alike.

Continue reading ‘Oppenheimer’ & ‘Poor Things’ Are Your 2024 Best Picture Frontrunners… For Now [Contender Countdown] at The Playlist.

It’s crowning achievement almost inevitable for weeks, “Everything Everywhere All At Once” was named Best Picture at the 95th Academy Awards. Directed, written and produced by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, who also twon Oscars earlier in the telecast, the film also makes history as A24 Films second Best Picture winner in just 12 years. James Wong was also a central producer on the film.

READ MORE: “Everything Everywhere All At Once” dominates the 2023 Film Independent Spirit Awards

Overalll, the multiverse dramedy earned 11 Academy Award nominations overall and took home six Oscars including Best Picture, Directing, Original Screenplay, Editing (Paul Rogers), Supporting Actor (Key Huy Quan) and a historic Best Actress win for Michelle Yeoh.

Continue reading ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ Becomes A24’s Second Best Picture Winner at The Playlist.

It’s been a little over 48 hours since the Oscar nominations have been announced and we’re sort of wondering, is anyone outside of the nominees themselves actually excited about this year’s ceremony? Sure, hardcore fans of “Everything Everywhere All At Once” are thrilled the critically acclaimed indie hit is on the cusp of winning Best Picture (we’ll get to that in a minute), but the buzz overall seems, tepid? Maybe it was because everyone was still getting vaxed and semi-stuck at home in 2021, but even the “Nomadland”/“Mank”/“Promising Young Woman”/“Minari” year had more heat?

Continue reading ‘Everything Everywhere’ Takes Best Picture Lead But Where’s The Oscars Excitement? at The Playlist.

This is a very big week in Oscar-land and in the race for the coveted Academy Award for Best Picture. No, it’s not because the Golden Globes return on Tuesday or that the Critics’ Choice Awards are Sunday. Honestly, whatever influence those telecasts ever had as a marketing opportunity may have been lost forever in the pandemic. What’s much more important is the trifecta of PGA Awards, SAG Awards, and DGA Awards nominations that drop by Friday.

Continue reading What’s Hot, What’s Not In A Tight Best Picture Race [Contender Countdown] at The Playlist.

They thought “Titanic” was a disaster. “Avatar” was an expensive mess that would never make a profit. And when the films were finally screened, the naysayers were utterly wrong. If Hollywood history has taught us anything it’s to never, ever, ever bet against James Cameron. We’re limited in what can report that isn’t constituted as a review for his latest epic, “Avatar: The Way of Water,” but after screenings on two continents yesterday it’s clear he hasn’t lost his legendary touch.

Continue reading ‘Avatar: The Way Of Water’ Is Ready To Dive Into The Best Picture Race at The Playlist.

Two months after its TIFF world premiere, Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical drama “The Fablemans” finally had a glitzy debut in Los Angeles. It was an AFI Fest gala, and, of course, the director and co-writer were there, as was likely Best Actress nominee Michelle Williams and potential Supporting Actor player Judd Hirsch, among others. But despite a paparazzi-filled red carpet and a chic after-party, the film’s real arrival occurred 24 hours earlier, at the first official Academy members screening in Beverly Hills.

Continue reading ‘The Fablemans’ Finally Lands in LA As Best Picture Buzz Grows [Contender Countdown] at The Playlist.

If you told someone a year ago that a sequel to a 36-year-old action movie would not only become the biggest blockbuster of the year, but also a surefire Best Picture nominee they would have likely said you were crazy. 12 months later, Joseph Kosinski’s “Top Gun: Maverick” (or maybe that should be framed as Tom Cruise‘s “Top Gun: Maverick”) has thrown out all the (recent) rules on what a Best Picture contender can be.

Continue reading Best Picture Oscars 2023 Predictions & Contenders at The Playlist.

After a long and predictably fraught journey, Oscar season finally came to an end tonight in a wild ceremony hosted by Regina Hall, Wanda Sikes, and Amy Schumer. In an effort to attract more viewers and make more time for “entertainment,” as Oscar producer Will Packer put it, the show cut eight categories from the main broadcast. Jumbling things further, those eight categories and their speeches were then edited into the live broadcast in brief intervals, making one wonder what the point was, given the show actually ran longer than last year.

Continue reading Oscars 2022: ‘CODA’ Wins Best Picture, ‘Dune’ Takes 6 Awards [Full Winners List] at The Playlist.

As Academy members drive through Los Angeles under an onslaught of FYC banners they are only days away from voting on the nominees for the 93rd Academy Awards. And while the Golden Globes delivered the lowest-rated telecast in 13 years, they did provide something of a public relations boost to a number of contenders. Moreover, if you believe the mantra “you win Best Picture in phase one,” no positive publicity is bad publicity (even when it’s coming from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association).

Continue reading ‘Nomadland’ & ‘Minari’ Get Globes PR Boost In Best Picture Race [Contender Countdown] at The Playlist.

As America deals with the aftermath of a mob insurrection at the capital and a record number of COVID cases, the world continues to move forward in the best way it can. And that means, yes, for whatever it’s worth the extended 2021 Oscar season continues. Over the next seven weeks, there will be six new Best Picture contenders that will attempt to sway the opinions of AMPAS members before the February 28th deadline. Assuming voters haven’t already settled on their favorites over the holiday break and what’s turning out to be an extended COVID shooting shut down in LA.

Continue reading New Year, New Best Picture Players In 2021 Oscar Race [Contender Countdown] at The Playlist.

“Nomadland,” “Minari” and “Trial of the Chicago 7” are your Best Picture frontrunners. “One Night in Miami,” “The Father” and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” are likely safe. “Mank,” “Soul,” “Judas and the Black Messiah” and “Promising Young Woman” are still fighting to secure a nomination. “Da 5 Bloods” and “News of the World” still have a shot. [Updated Feb. 17]

TEN IN THE MIX

“Nomadland”
“Minari”
“Mank”
“The Trial of the Chicago 7”
“One Night In Miami”
“The Father”
“Soul”
“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
“Judas and the Black Messiah”
“Promising Young Woman”

ALMOST THERE

“Da 5 Bloods”
“News of the World”
“First Cow”

Continue reading Oscars 2021: Best Picture Contenders & Predictions at The Playlist.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences loves to make noise at the end of the summer. Two years ago, they announced the intent to create a Popular Film category for the Oscars that died in a public and industry backlash. This year, they have announced new inclusion standards for Best Best Picture beginning with the 96th Academy Awards in 2024. And, like many of the AMPAS’ best efforts, they haven’t exactly nailed down all the details beforehand.

Continue reading Oscars Announces Major Diversity Requirements Starting In 2024 at The Playlist.

In a surprise announcement this morning, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed the first part of its “Academy Aperture 2025.”  A phased initiative the organization hopes will “advance inclusion in the entertainment industry and increase representation within its membership and the greater film community.”  The first phase of the initiative outlines specific goals for the Oscars and Academy governance, membership, and workplace culture. The big surprise among the new guidelines?

Continue reading Oscars Commits To Diversity & 10 Best Picture Nominees at The Playlist.

There have certainly been surprises at the end of the annual Oscar telecast’s the past decade. “Green Book” wasn’t necessarily a given to win versus “Roma.”  “Moonlight” was a joyful surprise over what was believed was an ineveitable winner In “La La Land.”  And some believed “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” could absolutely overtake “The Shape of Water.” In terms of competitive races for weeks on end, however, there were really only two true races after the nominations were announced during that span: “12 Years A Slave” vs.

Continue reading A Best Picture Race For The Ages? at The Playlist.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed the nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards bright and early Monday with the Oscars telecast less than a month away.  As always, some lucky nominees saw their dreams fulfilled while even more will have to wait for another day.

READ MORE: Bong Joon Ho Delivers A Demented, Uproarious Class-Conscious Satire With ‘Parasite’ [Review]

Todd Phillips and “Joker” led the pack with 11 nominations, beating the record for the most nominations ever for a comic-book movie, adding to its previous record of being the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, now a follow up is all but guaranteed.

Continue reading Oscars 2020 – Joker Leads The Pack With 11 Nominations at The Playlist.

The opening day reviews have been rapturous and the early box office strong. From an awards perspective, that’s exactly what Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women” needed. In fact, its Oscar hopes may hinge on it.

The Sony Pictures release kicked off its campaign with strong initial screenings at the end of October. Many, including this pundit, thought it was more than a likely Best Picture nominee. Adapted Screenplay was a given and stars Saorise Ronan and Florence Pugh were pretty safe acting nominees in the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress fields, respectively.

Continue reading Is ‘Little Women’ Making A Best Picture Comeback? [Contender Countdown] at The Playlist.