Early Oscars Predictions For 2023 Movies
Though the 96th Academy Awards® won’t get underway until March 10, 2024, it is never too early to start making our predictions for all the big honors like Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor/Actress, and the nearly two dozen other categories. It is hard to say what upcoming big-screen titles will find their way into those prized categories, as we are still awaiting more releases, but there are some 2023 movies that seem like a shoe-in at this admittedly early point in the game.
That being said, we wanted to get started in putting together a guide to our early Oscars® predictions that will hopefully come true when the 2024 Academy Awards takes place next spring.
Over the years, there have only been three animated films nominated for Best Picture – BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, UP, and TOY STORY 3 – and none of those were able to secure a victory. But that could all change if the producers of the inventive, heartfelt, and multi-dimensional SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE claim the top prize at the Oscars. And there’s reason to believe that this could finally happen.
With its story about Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) finding his place in the multiverse, a combination of vastly different animation styles, and tremendous performances from its cast, it’s quite easy to see why the thrill ride is receiving so much Oscars buzz, not only when it comes to Best Animated Feature but also Best Picture, which it could very well win.
Celine Song’s semi-autobiographical romantic drama, PAST LIVES, is one of those sneaky movies that could come along and surprise everyone at the Academy Awards, but there are two categories where Song’s directorial debut stands the best chance of taking home some hardware: Best Actress (Greta Lee) and Best Cinematography for Shabier Kirchner.
Lee’s performance as Nora Moon, a Korean woman who immigrated to Canada as a young girl and later connects with her childhood crush, is one of the best of the year, and is filled with great depth and humanity. Kirchner’s camera work, especially in the film’s low-light settings, makes each shot look like a still-life painting.
If there’s a movie that has the best chance of taking home most, if not all, of the major Academy Awards, it has to be OPPENHEIMER, Christopher Nolan’s epic biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) and the creation of the Atomic bomb. One of the most successful movies of the year, and the darker half of the “BarbenHeimer” craze, Nolan’s three-hour drama is more than deserving of taking home Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Murphy), Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr.), and an assortment of technical awards.
The biggest movie of the year by a long shot, Greta Gerwig’s BARBIE, is one of those once-in-a-decade theatrical releases that took hold of practically every aspect of life in the Summer 2023. The imaginative, transfixing, and incredibly pink film following Barbie (Margot Robbie) as she enters the real world was all anyone could talk about before, during, and after its release, and for good reason.
In an ideal world, Gerwig would finally get an Oscar in the Best Director category, and that very well may happen. However, there’s a very good chance the LADY BIRD and LITTLE WOMEN writer takes home the trophy for Best Original Screenplay come March 2024.
Nearly 20 years after the release of SIDEWAYS, director Alexander Payne and actor Paul Giamatti are finally getting back together for THE HOLDOVERS, a new dramedy about a cranky teacher, a rebellious student, and a school cook who form an unlikely bond after being forced to spend the holidays at a prestigious New England prep school.
THE HOLDOVERS has the potential to find a a spot in most of the major categories like Best Picture and Best Director, but there’s a very good chance it takes home at least two: Best Original Screenplay for David Hemingson and Best Actor in a Lead Role for Paul Giamatti and his portrayal Paul Hunham, a performance that we got to see when we checked out the movie at the Toronto International Film Festival this year, and looks like his best work in years.
THE HOLDOVERS opens October 27
It wasn’t all that long ago that EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE came around and took the world, and Oscars, by storm, and now another A24 surrealist comedy is coming around with a lot of promise. We had the opportunity to screen Kristoffer Borgli’s DREAM SCENARIO at TIFF. The movie follows Paul Matthews (Nicolas Cage), a seemingly normal college professor who mysteriously begins showing up in everyone’s dreams, turning him into an unexpected celebrity overnight.
Now, DREAM SCENARIO could come along and sweep all the major categories, but if there’s a prediction to be made it’s that Cage will take home his second Academy Award nearly 30 years after being honored for his performance in LEAVING LAS VEGAS.
DREAM SCENARIO opens November 10
Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki took home the Best Animated Feature Oscar for his beloved 2001 fantasy film, SPIRITED AWAY, and more than 20 years later, the acclaimed director, animator, and co-founder of Studio Ghibli could very well earn his second Academy Award for his much talked about 2023 feature film, THE BOY AND THE HERON. The long-awaited anime movie follows a young boy as he is transported to a magical world upon searching for his dead mother.
There’s reason to believe that THE BOY AND THE HERON, with the trademark Studio Ghibli style and sensibilities, is named Best Animated Feature. Also, it could become only the third animated film to be nominated for Best International Feature.
THE BOY AND THE HERON opens December 8
Yorgos Lanthimos’ POOR THINGS looks like if you took elements of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” and combined them with surrealism and absurdist comedy to create a unique cinematic experience. The movie centers on a young Victorian woman named Bella (Emma Stone) as she is brought back to life and embarks upon a journey of self-discovery as she attempts to make sense of the madness.
The distinct style and tone of POOR THINGS, as well its supporting cast including Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe, makes this a movie to watch in the Best Picture, Best Director, and acting categories, especially Best Actress for Stone.
POOR THINGS opens December 8
Cord Jefferson, a writer best known for his work on shows like “Succession,” “Master of None,” and “Watchmen,” makes his feature film directorial debut with the upcoming satirical dramedy, AMERICAN FICTION. The movie sees Jeffrey Wright take on the role of a struggling academic and writer whose life is thrown into chaos after his novel, written under a pseudonym, becomes an overnight sensation.
Though it has yet to premiere in front of general audiences -- we have it listed among the highly anticipated films that showcase African American excellence on the big screen -- AMERICAN FICTION received the People’s Choice Award at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, which should help it in a number of different categories including Best Adapted Screenplay. It would be great to see Jefferson take home Best Director or Best Picture for his freshman effort, but being recognized for his adaptation of Percival Everett’s “Erasure” seems like more likely.
AMERICAN FICTION opens December 15
Make sure to keep checking back as highly-anticipated 2023 movies at AMC Theatres locations nationwide and enter the conversation of early Oscars predictions.
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