22 May Late May Oscar Predictions 2024
The Cannes Film Festival is currently underway and the biggest story has been the raves for Martin Scorsese’s newest “Killers of the Flower Moon”. It’s already been called by many one of the maestro’s best and even though it can’t win anything at Cannes (it’s playing out-of-competition), it’s now pretty much guaranteed to be a top five Best Picture contender in this coming year. Scorsese, actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, Robert DeNiro, composer Robbie Robertson, and the cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto have all been singled out by multiple reviews and will receive attention throughout the season. But ‘Killers’ was not the film that received the best notices of the festival so far, that would be ‘Under the Skin’ and ‘Sexy Beast’ director Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest”. As of this piece’s writing, Glazer’s newest holds a phenomenal 98 on review aggregator Metacritic on 11 reviews. While that score is unlikely to hold as more reviews flood in, it’s an incredibly promising sign for the film. While directed by the British Glazer, the film is in German and follows the family of a Nazi commander stationed at Auschwitz. It very likely will become distributor A24’s main push instead of Celine Song’s similarly-acclaimed “Past Lives”.
After Cannes, the next major film festival on the calendar is Venice, which historically has many more Best Picture contenders on its slate. While the films playing at Venice have not been announced as of yet, we have received a small taste of what will be premiering on the Lido. According to a Variety article, Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” and Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” are essentially locks to play at Venice, while Michael Mann’s “Ferrari”, Emerald Fennell’s “Saltburn”, and Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro” are all different degrees of likely to appear on the slate.
Outside of the festivals, the trailer for Warner Bros. newest iteration of ‘The Color Purple” has been released and it looks great. Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two” and “The Color Purple” will be Warner Bros.’ two biggest pushes this year, and with an awards-friendly Christmas release date the studio clearly anticipates big things for the Blitz Bazawule picture.
BEST PICTURE
Killers of the Flower Moon (Apple TV+)
Oppenheimer (Universal)
The Color Purple (Warner Bros.)
Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros.)
The Zone of Interest (A24)
Saltburn (Amazon)
Poor Things (Searchlight)
Maestro (Netflix)
How Do You Live? (Studio Ghibli)
Rustin (Netflix)
Could Jump In: Past Lives (A24), Napoleon (Apple TV+), Lee (Sky), The Bikeriders (20th Century), The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Netflix), Ferrari (STX), Shirley (Netflix), Next Goal Wins (Searchlight), The Killer (Netflix), Monster (Toho), Asteroid City (Focus), May December (Sky Cinema), A Thousand and One (Focus), The Holdovers (Focus), The Piano Lesson (Netflix), Barbie (Warner Bros.), Wonka (Warner Bros.), Strangers (Searchlight), , One Life (See-Saw)
Longer Shots: Nyad (Netflix), Leave the World Behind (Netflix), The Actor (Netflix), Challengers (MGM), The Zone of Interest (A24), The Iron Claw (A24), About Dry Grasses (Atmo), Beau is Afraid (A24), Limonov: The Ballad of Eddie (Vision), Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret (Lionsgate), Spider-Man: Across the Universe (Sony), Firebrand (MBK), Magazine Dreams (Searchlight), The Bastard (Magnolia), Io Capitano (01), Memory (MUBI), The Perfumed Hill, The New Boy (CAA/UTA), The Book of Clarence (Legendary), La Chimera (NEON)
BEST DIRECTOR
Martin Scorsese – Killers of the Flower Moon
Blitz Bazawule – The Color Purple
Jonathan Glazer – The Zone of Interest
Emerald Fennell – Saltburn
Hayao Miyazaki – How Do You Live?
Could Jump In: Yorgos Lanthimos – Poor Things, Christopher Nolan – Oppenheimer, Denis Villeneuve – Dune: Part Two, Celine Song – Past Lives, Ridley Scott – Napoleon, Jeff Nichols – The Bikeriders, Ellen Kuras – Lee, Michael Mann – Ferrari, David Fincher – The Killer, Greta Gerwig – Barbie, Ari Aster – Beau is Afraid, Wes Anderson – The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, Todd Haynes – May December, George C. Wolfe – Rustin, Nuri Bilge Ceylan – About Dry Grasses
BEST ACTOR
Colman Domingo – Rustin
Bradley Cooper – Maestro
Leonardo DiCaprio – Killers of the Flower Moon
Michael Fassbender – The Killer
Adam Driver – Ferrari
Could Jump In: Paul Giamatti – The Holdovers, Barry Keoghan – Saltburn, Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer, Austin Butler – The Bikeriders, Benedict Cumberbatch – The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, Anthony Hopkins – One Life, Joaquin Phoenix – Beau is Afraid, Andre Holland – The Actor, Christian Friedel – The Zone of Interest, Song Kang-Ho – Cobweb, Andrew Scott – Strangers, Timothee Chalamet – Wonka
BEST ACTRESS
Kate Winslet – Lee
Annette Bening – Nyad
Natalie Portman – May December
Sandra Huller – The Zone of Interest
Carey Mulligan – Maestro
Could Jump In: Regina King – Shirley, Greta Lee – Past Lives Fantasia Barrino – The Color Purple, Emma Stone – Poor Things, Saoirse Ronan – The Outrun, Zendaya – Challengers, Margot Robbie – Barbie, Vanessa Kirby – Napoleon, Teyana Taylor – A Thousand and One, Alicia Vikander – Firebrand, Jessica Chastain – Memory, Sakura Ando – Monster
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Robert De Niro – Killers of the Flower Moon
Tom Hardy – The Bikeriders
Colman Domingo – The Color Purple
Jesse Plemons – Killers of the Flower Moon
John Magaro – Past Lives
Could Jump In: Willem Dafoe – Poor Things, Samuel L. Jackson – The Piano Lesson, Glynn Turman or Jeffrey Wright – Rustin, Louis Gossett Jr. – The Color Purple, Richard E. Grant – Saltburn, Lakeith Stanfield – The Book of Clarence, Andy Samberg – Lee, Paul Mescal – Strangers, Josh O’Connor or Mike Faist – Challengers, Peter Sarsgaard – Memory, Jude Law – Firebrand, Mahershala Ali – Leave the World Behind
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Taraji P. Henson – The Color Purple
Lily Gladstone – Killers of the Flower Moon
Danielle Brooks – The Color Purple,
Rosamund Pike – Saltburn
Julianne Moore – May December
Could Jump In: Jodie Foster – Nyad, Tilda Swinton – The Killer, Jodie Comer – The Bikeriders Penelope Cruz – Ferrari, Audra McDonald – Rustin, Claire Foy – Strangers, Margaret Qualley – Poor Things, Carey Mulligan – Saltburn, Helena Bonham Carter – One Life
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Saltburn
Drive-Away Dolls
Rustin
May December
Past Lives
Could Jump In: Maestro, Asteroid City, The Holdovers, Beau is Afraid, Monster
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Killers of the Flower Moon
Poor Things
The Bikeriders
How Do You Live?
The Zone of Interest
Could Jump In: The Color Purple, Oppenheimer, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, Strangers, Lee, Dune: Part Two
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
How Do You Live?
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Elemental
Wish
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Could Jump In: Migration, Suzume
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Poor Things
Dune: Part Two
Saltburn
Oppenheimer
Napoleon
Could Jump In: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, Killers of the Flower Moon, The Color Purple, The Zone of Interest, Wonka,
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Dune: Part Two
Killers of the Flower Moon
Saltburn
Poor Things
Napoleon
Could Jump In: Oppenheimer, The Color Purple, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, Maestro, The Killer, The Zone of Interest
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Dune: Part Two
Poor Things
Saltburn
The Color Purple
Barbie
Could Jump In: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, Napoleon, Wonka, Blitz, Lee
BEST FILM EDITING
Dune: Part Two
Killers of the Flower Moon
The Killer
Ferrari
Oppenheimer
Could Jump In: The Color Purple, Napoleon, Blitz, Maestro, Poor Things
BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
Maestro
Barbie
Dune: Part Two
Poor Things
Wonka
Could Jump In: The Color Purple, Ferrari, Napoleon, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, The Bikeriders
BEST SOUND
Dune: Part Two
Oppenheimer
Ferrari
The Color Purple
Maestro
Could Jump In: Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Wonka, The Marvels. Barbie
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Dune: Part Two
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Oppenheimer
Wonka
Could Jump In: Barbie, The Little Mermaid, The Marvels, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Blue Beetle
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Dune: Part Two
How Do You Live?
Oppenheimer
The Killer
Asteroid City
Could Jump In: Elemental, The Zone of Interest, Barbie, Challengers, Lee, Killers of the Flower Moon