Final 2022 Oscar Nomination Predictions

DISCLAIMER: The Friendly Film Fan reserves the right to edit these predictions up to the moment the nominations begin on Feb 8. After that, the ballot will be locked.

​Hello, all, and welcome back to The Friendly Film Fan! As you’ve no doubt read over the past few days, Oscar nominations take place on Tuesday, February 8 at 8:18 a.m. EST. As such, the time has come to finalize my Oscar nomination predictions for 2022. It has certainly been a journey getting here, with some films not finalizing their releases until the last minute, some candidates being moved to 2023, some being ridiculously hard to see for those interested in this sort of thing, and some of these nominees still not having released in U.S. theaters nationwide due to continuously shifting release dates (looking at you, Cyrano). That said, the lineups have looked mostly the same for the past couple of months, and while that does provide some predictability one wants to have when making a predictions list, it also renders the various races a little bit boring in the macro sense. With all the Guild awards plus the BAFTAs out of the way, all that’s left to do is for the Academy to shock us with a few surprises, piss us off with some ridiculous snubs, and hopefully, celebrate the year in film without a bunch of people online complaining that they’re “too political” (as if movies and indeed the Oscars have never been political) or that they’re lacking in taste for not nominating the four movies those people chose to watch this year (Spider-Man is not getting in Best Picture – No Way it does). However it goes, reactions – including my own LIVE reaction on The Friendly Film Fan’s Instagram – will abound. All that said, here are my final predictions for the nominations at the 94th Annual Academy Awards!

Best Picture:

• Belfast
• CODA
• Don’t Look Up
• Drive My Car
  
• Dune
• King Richard
• Licorice Pizza
• The Power of the Dog
• tick, tick...Boom!
  
• West Side Story

Wildcard(s):

• Being the Ricardos
  
• The Lost Daughter
• Nightmare Alley

Best Director:

• Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car
• Denis Villeneuve, Dune
• Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza
• Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
• Steven Spielberg, West Side Story

Wildcard(s):

• Kenneth Branagh, Belfast
• Julia Ducournau, Titane
• Guillermo Del Toro, Nightmare Alley

Best Actress:

• Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye
• Lady Gaga, House of Gucci
• Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
• Alana Haim, Licorice Pizza
  
• Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos

Wildcard(s):

• Penélope Cruz, Parallel Mothers
• Jennifer Hudson, Respect
• Kristen Stewart, Spencer
  

Best Actor:

• Javier Bardem, Being the Ricardos
• Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog
• Andrew Garfield, tick, tick…Boom!
• Will Smith, King Richard
• Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of Macbeth

Wildcard(s):

• Nicolas Cage, Pig
• Leonardo DiCaprio, Don’t Look Up
• Peter Dinklage, Cyrano

Best Supporting Actress:

• Caitríona Balfe, Belfast
• Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
• Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog
• Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard
• Ruth Negga, Passing

Wildcard(s):

• Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter
• Ann Dowd, Mass
• Marlee Matlin, CODA

Best Supporting Actor:

• Bradley Cooper, Licorice Pizza
• Ciarán Hinds, Belfast
• Troy Kotsur, CODA
• Jared Leto, House of Gucci
• Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog

Wildcard(s):

• Ben Affleck, The Tender Bar
• Mike Faist, West Side Story
• Jesse Plemons, The Power of the Dog

Best Animated Feature:

• Encanto
• Flee
• Luca
• The Mitchells vs. the Machines
• Raya and the Last Dragon

Wildcard(s):

• Belle
• My Sunny Maad
• Sing 2

Best International Feature Film:

• Drive My Car (Japan)
• Flee (Denmark)
• The Hand of God (Italy)
• A Hero (Iran)
• The Worst Person in the World (Norway)

Wildcard(s):

• Compartment No. 6 (Finland)
• Prayers for the Stolen (Mexico)
• Playground (Belgium)

Best Documentary Feature:

• Ascension
• Flee
• Procession
• The Rescue
• Summer of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

Wildcard(s):

• Attica
• In the Same Breath
• Julia

Best Cinematography:

• Haris Zambarloukos, Belfast
• Greig Fraser, Dune
• Dan Laustsen, Nightmare Alley
• Ari Wegner, The Power of the Dog
• Bruno Delbonnel, The Tragedy of Macbeth

Wildcard(s):

• Andrew Droz Palermo, The Green Knight
• Linus Sandgren, No Time to Die
• Janusz Kaminski, West Side Story

Best Film Editing:

• Úna Ní Dhonghaíle, Belfast
• Hank Corwin, Don’t Look Up
• Joe Walker, Dune
• Andy Jurgensen, Licorice Pizza
• Peter Sciberras, The Power of the Dog

Wildcard(s):

• Andrew Weisblum, The French Dispatch
• Pamela Martin, King Richard
• Sarah Broshar and Michael Kahn, West Side Story

Best Production Design:

• Patrice Vermette, Dune
• Adam Stockhausen, The French Dispatch
• Tamara Deverell, Nightmare Alley
• Stefan Dechant, The Tragedy of Macbeth
• Adam Stockhausen, West Side Story

Wildcard(s):

• Fiona Crombie, Cruella
• Arthur Max, The Last Duel
• Grant Major, The Power of the Dog

Best Costume Design:

• Jenny Beavan, Cruella
• Jacqueline West and Bob Morgan, Dune
• Janty Yates, House of Gucci
• Jacqueline Durran, Spencer
• Paul Tazewell, West Side Story

Wildcard(s):

• Massimo Cantini Parrini, Cyrano
• Milena Canonero, The French Dispatch
• Luis Sequeira, Nightmare Alley

Best Makeup & Hairstyling:

• Coming 2 America
• Cruella
• Dune
• The Eyes of Tammy Faye
• House of Gucci

Wildcard(s):

• Cyrano
• The Suicide Squad
• West Side Story

Best Original Score:

• Nicholas Britell, Don’t Look Up
• Hans Zimmer, Dune
• Alexandre Desplat, The French Dispatch
• Alberto Iglesias, Parallel Mothers
• Jonny Greenwood, The Power of the Dog

Wildcard(s):

• Daniel Pemberton, Being the Ricardos
• Germaine Franco, Encanto
• Carter Burwell, The Tragedy of Macbeth

Best Original Song:

• “Be Alive,” King Richard
• “Dos Orguitas,” Encanto
• “Down to Joy,” Belfast
• “Just Look Up,” Don’t Look Up
• “No Time to Die,” No Time to Die

Wildcard(s):

• “So May We Start,” Annette
• “Guns Go Bang,” The Harder They Fall
• “Here I Am (Singing My Way Home),” Respect

Best Adapted Screenplay:

• Siân Heder, CODA
• Denis Villeneuve, Dune
• Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car
• Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter
• Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog

Wildcard(s):

• Kim Morgan and Guillermo Del Toro, Nightmare Alley
• Joel Coen, The Tragedy of Macbeth
• Tony Kushner, West Side Story

Best Original Screenplay:

• Aaron Sorkin, Being the Ricardos
• Kenneth Branagh, Belfast
• Adam McKay, Don’t Look Up
• Zach Baylin, King Richard
• Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza

Wildcard(s):

• Mike Mills, C’mon C’mon
• Wes Anderson, The French Dispatch
• Pedro Almodóvar, Parallel Mothers

Best Visual Effects:

• Dune
• Eternals
• Godzilla vs. Kong
• The Matrix Resurrections
• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Wildcard(s):

• Free Guy
• No Time to Die
• Spider-Man: No Way Home

Best Sound:

• Belfast
• Dune
• No Time to Die
• The Power of the Dog
• West Side Story

Wildcard(s):

• The Matrix Resurrections
• Spider-Man: No Way Home
• tick, tick…Boom!

Best Live-Action Short:

• Censor of Dreams
• Frimas
• The Long Goodbye
• Tala’vision
• When the Sun Sets

Wildcard(s):

• The Criminals
• Les Grandes Claques
• You’re Dead Helen

Best Animated Short:

• Only a Child
• Robin Robin
• Step Into the River
• Us Again
• The Windshield Wiper

Wildcard(s):

• Mum Is Pouring Rain
• The Musician
• Namoo

Best Documentary Short:

• Coded: The Hidden Love of J. C. Leyendecker
• The Queen of Basketball
• Terror Contagion
• Three Songs for Benazir
• When We Were Bullies

Wildcard(s):

• Audible
• Camp Confidential: America’s Secret Nazis
• Day of Rage ​

And those are my final predictions for the 2022 Oscar Nominations! What do you think of these predictions? What are your guesses for these nomination categories? Let me know in the comments section below. Thanks for reading!
 
- The Friendly Film Fan