The 2023 Award Season Column: The First Oscar Predictions – 31 October 2022

With the film festivals starting to wrap up, narratives are being formed and campaigns have begun for next year’s award season. There have been many major developments throughout the year already, from the delays of several big contenders to the shocking reactions to some of this year’s selection of films. Therefore, now is the perfect time to get started on making your predictions and to see where the narrative goes for this year’s Oscar race.

I plan to post my Oscar predictions for InSession Film every fortnight at a minimum, and further posts will delve deeper in select films and categories. There will be deep analysis into all of the big precursors this year, keeping an eye on the surprises and snubs which may impact the final outcome at the Oscars on March 12th 2023. For now though, I just want to keep this introductory post simple and sweet and tell you what I am currently predicting to be nominated at this year’s Academy Awards. Here are my current predictions.

BEST PICTURE

1. The Fablemans
2. Babylon
3. Women Talking
4. The Banshees of Inisherin
5. Everything Everywhere All At Once
6. The Whale
7. Top Gun: Maverick
8. TÁR
9. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
10. She Said

BEST DIRECTOR

1. Damien Chazelle, Babylon
2. Steven Spielberg, The Fablemans
3. Sarah Polley, Women Talking
4. Park Chan-wook, Decision to Leave
5. Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin

BEST LEAD ACTRESS

1. Margot Robbie, Babylon
2. Cate Blanchett, TÁR
3. Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All At Once
4. Olivia Colman, Empire of Light
5. Danielle Deadwyler, Till

BEST LEAD ACTOR

1. Brendan Fraser, The Whale
2. Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin
3. Austin Butler, Elvis
4. Hugh Jackman, The Son
5. Diego Calva, Babylon

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1. Jessie Buckley, Women Talking
2. Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin
3. Hong Chau, The Whale
4. Claire Foy, Women Talking
5. Carey Mulligan, She Said

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1. Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin
2. Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All At Once
3. Paul Dano, The Fablemans
4. Ben Whishaw, Women Talking
5. Judd Hirsch, The Fablemans

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1. The Banshees of Inisherin
2. The Fablemans
3. Everything Everywhere All At Once
4. Babylon
5. Triangle of Sadness

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1. Women Talking
2. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Story
3. The Whale
4. She Said
5. All Quiet on the Western Front

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1. Babylon
2. Empire of Light
3. Bardo
4. Avatar: The Way of Water
5. The Fablemans

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

1. Babylon
2. Elvis
3. The Fablemans
4. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
5. The Woman King

BEST EDITING

1. Top Gun: Maverick
2. Babylon
3. Everything Everywhere All At Once
4. The Fablemans
5. Triangle of Sadness

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

1. The Whale
2. Elvis
3. The Batman
4. Babylon
5. Everything Everywhere All At Once

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

1. Babylon
2. The Fablemans
3. Avatar: The Way of Water
4. Elvis
5. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

BEST SOUND

1. Top Gun: Maverick
2. Avatar: The Way of Water
3. The Batman
4. Babylon
5. Elvis

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

1. Avatar: The Way of Water
2. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
3. The Batman
4. Everything Everywhere All At Once
5. Top Gun: Maverick

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

1. The Fablemans
2. Babylon
3. The Batman
4. TÁR
5. Women Talking

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

1. “Lift Me Up”, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
2. “Hold My Hand”, Top Gun: Maverick
3. “Nobody Like U”, Turning Red
4. “New Body Rhuma”, White Noise
5. “Applause”, Tell It Like A Woman

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

1. Decision to Leave (Korea)
2. All Quiet on the Western Front (Germany)
3. Bardo (Mexico)
4. Holy Spider (Denmark)
5. Klondike (Ukraine)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

1. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
2. Strange World
3. My Father’s Dragon
4. Turning Red
5. The Bad Guys

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1. Navalny
2. Fire of Love
3. All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
4. Descendant
5. Sr.

What do you make of my initial predictions? Is there any other film I should be keeping an eye on right now? Let me know your thoughts and they may be taken into consideration when I post my next prediction update later on in the year. In the meantime, make sure to keep an eye out for my next Award Season column when I will delve deeper into some of these categories and the bigger contenders of the year.