And just like that, another year goes by and we have a completely brand new Oscar race. On Wednesday morning, we will learn of the Oscar nominations. The day when we learn of the contenders for the Best Picture and the ‘final five’ for all the other categories. There have been a lot of surprises and shockers with the other awards shows and their nomination announcements. Funny how their shockers get dwarfed by the shocks and snubs of the Academy Award nominations. Some people are fearing another surprise nomination like Andrea Riseborough’s last year. If you remember that, the nomination was so surprising and shocking, the AMPAS even held an inquiry about it and its campaigning. What can I say? The more the Academy starts cracking down on unfair campaigning strategies, the more creative campaigners get in achieving ‘new ways.’

This year’s Oscar awards will be awarded on Sunday, March 10th. That should give a good forty days between the nominations and wins. In the meantime, here are my predictions for this year’s Academy Award nominations:

BEST PICTURE
American Fiction
Anatomy Of Al Fall
Barbie
The Holdovers
Killers Of The Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Saltburn
The Zone Of Interest

BEST DIRECTOR
Bradley Cooper – Maestro
Greta Gerwig – Barbie
Yorgos Lanthimos – Poor Things
Christopher Nolan – Oppenheimer
Martin Scorsese – Killers Of The Flower Moon

BEST ACTOR
Bradley Cooper – Maestro
Colman Domingo – Rustin
Paul Giamatti – The Holdovers
Barry Keoghan – Saltburn
Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer

BEST ACTRESS
Lily Gladstone – Killers Of The Flower Moon
Sandra Huller – Anatomy Of A Fall
Carey Mulligan – Maestro
Margot Robbie – Barbie
Emma Stone – Poor Things

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Sterling K. Brown – American Fiction
Robert de Niro – Killers Of The Flower Moon
Robert Downey Jr. – Oppenheimer
Ryan Gosling – Barbie
Mark Ruffalo – Poor Things

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Emily Blunt – Oppenheimer
Danielle Brooks – The Color Purple
Jodie Foster – Nyad
Rosamund Pike – Saltburn
Da’Vine Joyce Randolph – The Holdovers

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Sammy Burch – May December
Bradley Cooper and Josh Singer – Maestro
David Hemingson – The Holdovers
Celine Song – Past Lives
Justine Triet and Arthur Harari – Anatomy Of A Fall 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach – Barbie
Andrew Haigh – All Of Us Strangers
Cord Jefferson – American Fiction
Christopher Nolan – Oppenheimer
Eric Roth, Martin Scorsese and David Grann – Killers Of The Flower Moon

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The Boy And The Heron
Elemental
Ernest and Celestine: A Trip To Gibberitia
Nimona
SpiderMan: Across The SpiderVerse

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Matthew Libatique – Maestro
Hoyte van Hoytema – Oppenheimer
Rodrigo Prieto – Killers Of The Flower Moon
Robbie Ryan – Poor Things
Linus Sandgren – Saltburn

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Jacqueline Durran – Barbie
Ellen Mirojnick – Oppenheimer
Holly Waddington – Poor Things
Jacqueline West – Killers Of The Flower Moon
Janty Yates and David Crossman – Napoleon

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
American Symphony
Beyond Utopia
The Eternal Memory
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
20 Days In Mariupol

BEST FILM EDITING
Nick Houy – Barbie
Jennifer Lame – Oppenheimer
Yorgos Mavropsaridis – Poor Things
Thelma Schoonmaker – Killers Of The Flower Moon
Michelle Tesoro – Maestro

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
Fallen Leaves – Finland
Society Of The Snow – Spain
The Taste Of Things – France
20 Days In Mariupol – Ukraine
The Zone Of Interest – United Kingdom

BEST MAKEUP and HAIRSTYLING
Golda
Killers Of The Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Ludwig Goransson – Oppenheimer
Daniel Pemberton – SpiderMan: Across The SpiderVerse
Robbie Robertson – Killers Of The Flower Moon
Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt – Barbie
John Williams – Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“The Fire Inside” – Flamin’ Hot
“I’m Just Ken” – Barbie
“It Never Went Away” – American Symphony
“Road To Freedom” – Rustin
“What Was I Made For?” – Barbie

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Asteroid City
Barbie
Killers Of The Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

BEST SOUND
Barbie
Ferrari
Killers Of The Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
The Creator
Guardians Of The Galaxy – Volume 3
Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny
Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part One
SpiderMan: Across The SpiderVerse

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Eeva
Letter To A Pig
Once Upon A Studio
Pete
WAR IS OVER! Inspired By The Music of John And Yoko

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
The ABC’s Of Book Banning
The Barber Of Little Rock
Deciding Vote
The Last Repair Shop
Last Song From Kabul

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT
The After
The Anne Frank Gift Shop
The Shepherd
Strange Way Of Life
The Wonder Story of Henry Sugar

Just like I did in past years, I not only did predictions for the nominees but also possible upsetters in most of the categories. Those who’ve tracked Oscar nominations over the years will be very familiar with upsetters. So here are my picks for the potential upsetters:

BEST PICTURE
The Color Purple
May December
Past Lives

BEST DIRECTOR
Jonathan Glazer – The Zone Of Interest
Alexander Payne – The Holdovers

BEST ACTOR
Jeffrey Wright – American Fiction
Leonardo DiCaprio – Killers Of The Flower Moon

BEST ACTRESS
Fantasia Barrino – The Color Purple
Annette Bening – Nyad

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Willem Dafoe – Poor Things
Charles Melton – May December

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz – Ferrari
America Ferrara – Barbie

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Alex Convery – Air

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Jonathan Glazer and Martin Amis – The Zone Of Interest
Tony McNamara – Poor Things

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Super Mario Brothers Movie
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Rodrigo Prieto – Barbie

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Lindy Hemming – Wonka
Francine Jamison-Tanchuk – The Color Purple

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Bobi Wine: The People’s President

BEST FILM EDITING
Laurent Senecal – Anatomy Of A Fall

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
Io Capitano – Italy
The Teacher’s Lounge – Germany

BEST MAKEUP and HAIRSTYLING
Napoleon

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Jerskin Fendrix – Poor Things

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Dance The Night” – Barbie
“Superpower (I)” – The Color Purple

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Saltburn

BEST SOUND
Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part One
Napoleon

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Napoleon
Poor Things

Those are my predictions for the nominations for the 2023 Academy Awards. The nominees will be revealed the morning of Tuesday the 23rd. Makes who wonder what will create more social media action? The ones that got nominated or the ones that got snubbed? Stay toond!