FINAL OSCAR NOMINATION PREDICTIONS – 2020 ACADEMY AWARDS

​Well, ladies and gentlemen, the day is finally upon us. Tomorrow marks the day that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will unveil their nominations for the 92nd Annual Academy Awards (aka the 2020 Oscars), celebrating the best in movies with the biggest awards show dedicated to their craft and content. We’ve already seen some major changes take place since my last update; Taron Egerton has moved into the Best Actor category after a Golden Globe win and SAG nomination, Lupita Nyong’o has moved into Best Actress with a SAG nomination to back her up, Bombshell is a no-show in all but three categories now, Downton Abbey drops out the race completely, Universal Studios cancelled their own For Your Consideration campaign for Cats, and in a twist most of us didn’t anticipate, 1917 has taken the Golden Globe for Best Picture Drama right out from under The Irishman’s nose (Sam Mendes, who co-wrote and directed the WWI piece, also won Best Director). This is one of the most competitive Oscar races in quite some time; any number of great films are deserving of recognition in each category, but there are only 5 spots to go around for each category except Best Picture (which has 10 slots but rarely, if ever, fills all of them). With all that in mind, I’m gonna put my stake in the ground now, and declare these to be my definitive picks for the films and people the Academy will choose to nominate in 2020. (You can follow along to see if I’m right by joining me on Instagram – @JakeJonesSWR – tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. EST as I live-stream my reaction to the official announcement.) Now, without further ado, here are my final Oscar nomination predictions! (Disclaimer: Wildcard selections are possible nominees, but do not count as definitive picks. If one of those gets in, it does not count as me getting that nominee correct. Only those listed below category names and above wildcard selections count as my definitive picks.)

Best Picture:

• 1917
• Ford v Ferrari
• The Irishman
• Jojo Rabbit
• Joker
• Little Women
• Marriage Story
• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
• Parasite

       Wildcard(s):

• The Farewell
• Knives Out

Best Director:

• Bong Joon Ho, Parasite
• Sam Mendes, 1917
• Martin Scorsese, The Irishman
• Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
• Taika Waititi, Jojo Rabbit

       Wildcard(s):

• Greta Gerwig (Little Women)
• Todd Phillips (Joker)

Best Actor:

• Christian Bale, Ford v Ferrari
• Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
• Adam Driver, Marriage Story
• Taron Egerton, Rocketman
• Joaquin Phoenix, Joker

       Wildcard(s):

• Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory)
• Jonathan Pryce (The Two Popes)
• Adam Sandler (Uncut Gems)

Best Actress:

• Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story
• Lupita Nyong’o, Us
• Saoirse Ronan, Little Women
• Charlize Theron, Bombshell
• Renée Zellweger, Judy

       Wildcard(s):

• Awkwafina (The Farewell)
• Cynthia Erivo (Harriet)

Best Supporting Actor:

• Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
• Anthony Hopkins, The Two Popes
• Al Pacino, The Irishman
• Joe Pesci, The Irishman
• Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

       Wildcard(s):

• Jamie Foxx (Just Mercy)
• Song Kang Ho (Parasite)

Best Supporting Actress:

• Laura Dern, Marriage Story
• Jennifer Lopez, Hustlers
• Florence Pugh, Little Women
• Margot Robbie, Bombshell
• Zhao Shuzhen, The Farewell

       Wildcard(s):

• Scarlett Johansson (Jojo Rabbit)
• Nicole Kidman (Bombshell)

Best Animated Feature:

• Frozen II
• How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
• I Lost My Body
• Missing Link
• Toy Story 4

       Wildcard(s):

• Abominable

Best International Feature Film:

• Atlantics (Senegal)
• Beanpole (Russia)
• Les Misérables (France)
• Pain and Glory (Spain)
• Parasite (South Korea)

       Wildcard(s):

• Corpus Christi (Poland)

• Monos (Colombia)
• Those Who Remained (Hungary)

Best Documentary Feature:

• American Factory
• Apollo 11
• The Cave
• For Sama
• Honeyland

       Wildcard(s):

• Knock Down the House
• One Child Nation

Best Cinematography:

• Roger Deakins, 1917
• Phedon Papamichael, Ford v Ferrari
• Rodrigo Prieto, The Irishman
• Lawrence Sher, Joker
• Robert Richardson, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

       Wildcard(s):

• Jarin Blaschke (The Lighthouse)

Best Film Editing:

• Lee Smith, 1917
• Thelma Schoonmaker, The Irishman
• Andrew Buckland, Michael McCusker, and Dirk Westervelt, Ford v Ferrari
• Fred Raskin, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
• Jinmo Yang, Parasite

       Wildcard(s):

• Jeff Groth (Joker)
• Nick Houy (Little Women)
• Jennifer Lame (Marriage Story)

Best Production Design:

• Dennis Gassner, 1917
• Bob Shaw, The Irishman
• Mark Friedberg, Joker
• Barbara Ling, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
• Ha-jun Lee, Parasite

       Wildcard(s):

• Donal Woods (Downton Abbey)
• Ra Vincent (Jojo Rabbit)

Best Costume Design:

• Ruth E. Carter, Dolemite Is My Name
• Sandy Powell and Christopher Peterson, The Irishman
• Jacqueline Durran, Little Women (2019)
• Arianne Phillips, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
• Julian Day, Rocketman

       Wildcard(s):

• Anna Robbins (Downton Abbey)
• Mark Bridges (Joker)

Best Makeup & Hairstyling:

• Bombshell
• Dolemite Is My Name
• Rocketman

       Wildcard(s):

• Joker
• Judy

Best Original Score:

• Thomas Newman, 1917
• Michael Giacchino, Jojo Rabbit
• Hildur Guðnadóttir, Joker
• Alexandre Desplat, Little Women (2019)
• Randy Newman, Marriage Story

       Wildcard(s):

• Michael Abels (Us)

Best Original Song:

• “Into The Unknown,” Frozen II
• “Stand Up,” Harriet
• “Spirit,” The Lion King (2019)
• “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again,” Rocketman
• “Glasgow (No Place Like Home),” Wild Rose

       Wildcard(s):

• “Speechless” (Aladdin)
• “I’m Standing With You” (Breakthrough)

Best Adapted Screenplay:

• Steve Zaillian, The Irishman
• Taika Waititi, Jojo Rabbit
• Todd Phillips and Scott Silver, Joker
• Greta Gerwig, Little Women (2019)
• Anthony McCarten, The Two Popes

       Wildcard(s):

• Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood)

Best Original Screenplay:

• Lulu Wang, The Farewell
• Rian Johnson, Knives Out
• Noah Baumbach, Marriage Story
• Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
• Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin Won, Parasite

       Wildcard(s):

• Susanna Fogel, Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, and Katie Silberman (Booksmart)
• Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, and Jason Keller (Ford v Ferrari)

Best Visual Effects:

• Alita: Battle Angel
• Avengers: Endgame
• The Irishman
• The Lion King (2019)
• Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

       Wildcard(s):

• Gemini Man
• Terminator: Dark Fate

Best Sound Mixing:

• 1917
• Ford v Ferrari
• Joker
• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
• Rocketman

       Wildcard(s):

• The Irishman
• Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Best Sound Editing:

• 1917
• Ford v. Ferrari
• Joker  
• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
• Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

       Wildcard(s):

• The Irishman

Best Live-Action Short:

• Brotherhood
• Little Hands
• Miller & Son
• The Neighbors’ Window
• Refugee

       Wildcard(s):

• The Christmas Gift
• Nefta Football Club

Best Animated Short:

• Hair Love
• Kitbull
• Mind my Mind
• The Physics of Sorrow
• Sister

       Wildcard(s):

• Dcera (Daughter)
• Uncle Thomas: Accounting for the Days

Best Documentary Short:

• Fire in Paradise
• Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl)
• In the Absence
• The Nightcrawlers
• St. Louis Superman

       Wildcard(s):

• Life Overtakes Me
• Walk, Run, Cha-Cha

And those are my predictions for the 92nd Annual Academy Award Nominations! What are your predictions for the Oscar nominations this year? Any nominees you can see sneaking in at the last second? Which wildcards could you see snagging a spot? Let me know in the comments section below. Thanks for reading, and be sure to join me tomorrow at 8 a.m. EST on Instagram (@JakeJonesSWR) for my live reactions to the Oscar nominations as they are announced!
 
- The Friendly Film Fan