It’s finally coming tomorrow, but it would be wrong to be impatient for them. The Oscar nominations were originally planned to be announced on Friday, January 17th, but the wildfires in the various areas of Los Angeles changed everything. At first, the AMPAS Academy changed the date to Sunday January 19th and then to Thursday January 23rd. That’s the thing. It is a troubling time but the show must go on.

Once again for making predictions, I will make ten predictions for Best Pictures nominees, five predictions for the other categories and a set of possible upsetters.

So here I go with my predictions:

BEST PICTURE
Anora
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Dune: Part 2
Emilia Perez
A Real Pain
Sing Sing
The Substance
Wicked

BEST DIRECTOR
Jacques Audiard – Emilia Perez
Sean Baker – Anora
Edward Berger – Conclave
Brady Corbet – The Brutalist
Denis Villeneuve – Dune: Part 2

BEST ACTOR
Adrien Brody – The Brutalist
Timothee Chalamet – A Complete Unknown
Colman Domingo – Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes – Conclave
Sebastian Stan – The Apprentice

BEST ACTRESS
Pamela Anderson – The Last Showgirl
Cynthia Erivo – Wicked
Karla Sofia Gascon – Emilia Perez
Mikey Madison – Anora
Demi Moore – The Substance

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Yura Borisov – Anora
Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain
Edward Norton – A Complete Unknown
Jeremy Strong – The Apprentice
Denzel Washington – Gladiator II

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jamie Lee Curtis – The Last Showgirl
Ariana Grande – Wicked
Felicity Jones – The Brutalist
Issabella Rossellini – Conclave
Zoe Saldana – Emilia Perez

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Sean Baker – Anora
Brady Corbet & Mona Fastvold – The Brutalist
Jesse Eisenberg – A Real Pain
Coralee Fargeat – The Substance
Payal Kapadia – All We Imagine As Light

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Jacques Audiard – Emilia Perez
Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar – Sing Sing
Winnie Holzman & Dana Fox – Wicked
James Mangold & Jay Cocks – A Complete Unknown
Peter Straughan – Conclave

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Flow
Inside Out 2
Memoirs Of A Snail
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Jarin Blaschke – Nosferatu
Alice Brooks – Wicked
Lol Crawley – The Brutalist
Stephane Fontaine – Conclave
Greg Fraser – Dune: Part 2

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Lisy Christl – Conclave
Linda Muir – Nosferatu
Massimo Cantini Parrini – Maria
Paul Tazewell – Wicked
Jacqueline West – Dune Part 2

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Black Box Diaries
Daughters
No Other Land
Soundtrack For A Coup d’Etat
Sugarcane

BEST FILM EDITING
Sean Baker – Anora
Nick Emerson – Conclave
Myron Kerstein – Wicked
Joe Walker – Dune Part 2
Juliette Welfling – Emilia Perez

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
Emilia Perez – France
Flow – Latvia
The Girl With The Needle – Denmark
I’m Still Here – Brazil
The Seed Of The Sacred Fig – Germany

BEST MAKEUP and HAIRSTYLING
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Emilia Perez
Nosferatu
The Substance
Wicked

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Volker Bertelamm – Conclave
Daniel Blumberg – The Brutalist
Clement Ducol & Camille – Emilia Perez
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross – Challengers
Hans Zimmer – Blitz

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“El Mai” – Emilia Perez
“Kiss The Sky” – The Wild Robot
“Mi Camino” – Emilia Perez
“Never Too Late” – Elton John: Never Too Late
“Winter Coat” – Blitz

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Brutalist
Conclave
Gladiator II
Nosferatu
Wicked

BEST SOUND
A Complete Unknown
Deadpool & Wolverine
Dune Part 2
Gladiator II
Wicked

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Dune Part 2
Gladiator II
Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes
Twisters
Wicked

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
A Bear Named Wojtek
Beautiful Men
A Crab In The Pool
Me
Yuck!

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
I Am Ready, Warden
Incident
Makayla’s Voice: A Letter To The World
Once Upon A Time In Ukraine
The Only Girl In The Orchestra

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT
The Compatriot
Dovecote
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent
The Masterpiece
An Orange From Jaffa

As I do year after year, I also add in my predictions for possible upsetters to my predictions in most of the categories. There’s often one in each category and even a real shocker form out of nowhere. So here are my picks for the potential upsetters:

BEST PICTURE
Challengers
Nickel Boys
September 5

BEST DIRECTOR
Coralie Fargeat – The Substance
James Mangold – A Complete Unknown

BEST ACTOR
Daniel Craig – Queer
Hugh Grant – The Heretic

BEST ACTRESS
Angelina Jolie – Maria
Fernanda Torres – I’m Still Here

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Jonathan Bailey – Wicked
Guy Pearce – The Brutalist

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Monica Barbaro – A Complete Unknown
Selena Gomez – Emilia Perez

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Alex Garland – Civil War
Justin Kuritzkes – Challengers

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Ramemm Ross & Joslyn Barnes – Nickel Boys
TDenis Villeneuve & Jon Spaihts – Dune: Part 2

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Moana 2
That Christmas

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Paul Guilhaume – Emilia Perez
Phedon Papamichael – A Complete Unknown

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Arianne Phillips – A Complete Unknown
Janty Yates & Jade Crossman – Gladiator II

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Porcelain War
Will & Harper

BEST FILM EDITING
Marco Costa – Challengers
David Jansco – The Brutalist

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
Universal Language – Canada
Vermiglio – Italy

BEST MAKEUP and HAIRSTYLING
Dune: Part 2

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Kris Bowers – The Wild Robot

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Compress – Repress” – Challengers
“Harper and Will Go West” – Harper and Will

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
A Complete Unknown
Dune: Part 2

BEST SOUND
Emilia Perez

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Better Man
Twisters

Those are my predictions for the nominations for the 2024 Academy Awards. The nominees will be revealed tomorrow morning. Also despite the nominations date moved six days later, the Awards will still be held Sunday, March 2nd. It will be a big question of what they’ll keep in and what they’ll exclude in lieu of the wildfire aftermath. Even a question if they shorten it. We’ll see.