As the sun sets on the 97th Academy Awards and Anora sits at the top of the mountain as this year’s Best Picture winner, it’s never too early to look at the cinematic hourglass and what’s on the horizon for potential awards players for the 98th Academy Awards. While release schedules and festival debuts will ultimately shape the look of the final awards contenders, several high-profile projects, acclaimed award winning filmmakers, and anticipated performances have already captured early Oscar buzz. Here’s a look at my year in advance predictions for Best Picture for the 98th Academy Awards.
- One Battle For Another (Paul Thomas Anderson): Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Regina Hall, Sean Penn, Alana Haim, Teyana Taylor, Wood Harris, and Benicio del Toro
- The Ballad of a Small Player (Edward Berger) starring Colin Farrell, Tilda Swinton and Fala Chen
- Hamnet (Chloe Zhao) starring Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Joe Alwyn, Emily Watson, Jacobi Jupe and Jack Shallo
- The Last Disturbance of Madeline Hynde (Kenneth Branagh) starring Jodie Comer, Patricia Arquette, Michael Sheen, Tom Bateman and Vicky McClure
- Jay Kelly ( Noah Baumbach) starring George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Riley Keough and Billy Crudup
- Materialists (Celine Song) starring Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal
- Wicked: For Good (Jon M. Chu) starring Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Marissa Bode, Michelle Yeoh, and Jeff Goldblum
- Avatar: Fire and Ash (James Cameron) starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Giovanni Ribisi, Dileep Rao, Matt Gerald, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Jemaine Clement, Britain Dalton, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Jack Champion, Bailey Bass, Filip Geljo, Duane Evans, Jr., David Thewlis and Oona Chaplin
- Frankenstein (Guillermo Del Toro): starring Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Lars Mikkelsen, David Bradley, Christian Convery, Charles Dance, Felix Kammerer, and Christoph Waltz
- After The Hunt (Luca Guadagnino) starring Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Chloë Sevigny
While these are my year in advance predictions, the fluidity of the race always comes into play. There are surely titles we’ve yet to hear about that will make its way into the conversation by years end and titles such as The Smashing Machine, Marty Supreme, Bugonia, and Nouvelle Vague on the way, who’s to say where the final 10 will ultimately land.
