The red carpet, the fashion, the acceptance speeches and little gold men — the 2019 Academy Awards® are upon us. Will Christian Bale nab a statue for his latest jaw-dropping transformation? Can BLACK PANTHER, the first superhero movie nominated for Best Picture, become the first superhero movie to win Best Picture?

This year’s race is packed with excellent movies and performers, making it difficult to anticipate who will take home the gold. We do have some pretty decent ideas, however. Read on for our predictions for who will win big at the 2019 Academy Awards.

Best Actor

[Credit: 20th Century Fox]

And the nominees are … Bradley Cooper for his turn as an alcoholic singer in A STAR IS BORN (which he also directed); Rami Malek for his portrayal of iconic Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY; a nearly unrecognizable Christian Bale as former vice president Dick Cheney in VICE; Willem Dafoe as the artist Vincent Van Gogh in AT ETERNITY’S GATE; and Viggo Mortensen as a tough-talking bouncer-for-hire in GREEN BOOK.

Cooper and Bale gave acclaimed performances, but Malek is the clear front-runner and favorite. There’s little doubt that he’ll follow his recent Golden Globe win with an Oscar®. In the Best Supporting Actor category, Mahershala Ali is a lock for GREEN BOOK.

Best Actress

[Credit: Fox Searchlight Pictures]

And the nominees are … Glenn Close for her stunning performance in THE WIFE; Olivia Colman as a petulant but lonely queen in THE FAVOURITE; Melissa McCarthy for her performance as a novelist-turned-forger in CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?; Lady Gaga for her soulful film debut in A STAR IS BORN; and newcomer Yalitza Aparicio for her revelatory performance in ROMA.

Gaga and Colman are basically neck-and-neck in this race, and though Colman certainly deserves the Oscar, it probably won’t go to either of them. Close, who also recently won the Golden Globe for her performance in THE WIFE, is likely to take home the Oscar. As for Best Supporting Actress, Regina King will probably win for her emotional turn in IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK.

Best Director

[Credit: Focus Features]

And the nominees are … Alfonso Cuarón for ROMA, Spike Lee for BLACKKKLANSMAN (above), Pawel Pawlikowski for COLD WAR, Yorgos Lanthimos for THE FAVOURITE, and Adam McKay for VICE.

It’s impressive that not one, but two foreign-language films managed to earn nominations for Best Picture, but of the two, ROMA is the big front-runner this year. Cuarón, who previously won Best Director in 2014 for the astonishing space epic GRAVITY, is primed to take home another Oscar in 2019 for his Mexico-set love letter to his family’s maid.

Best Song

[Credit: Warner Bros.]

And the nominees are … “Shallow” by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper (A STAR IS BORN); “All the Stars” by Kendrick Lamar and SZA (BLACK PANTHER); “I’ll Fight” by Jennifer Hudson (RBG); “The Place Where Lost Things Go” by Emily Blunt (MARY POPPINS RETURNS); and “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” by Tim Blake Nelson and Willie Watson (THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS).

While “All the Stars” has a decent chance, it’ll be nearly impossible to top Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s ballad from A STAR IS BORN.

Best Picture

[Credit: Marvel Studios]

And the nominees are … BLACK PANTHER (above), ROMA, A STAR IS BORN, BLACKKKLANSMAN, THE FAVOURITE, BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY, GREEN BOOK and VICE. The Academy has been heavily criticized for an overwhelming lack of nominees of color, so it’s fantastic to see Spike Lee’s racially charged dramady and Ryan Coogler’s phenomenal Marvel entry on this list of nominees.

And while seeing either of those movies win Best Picture would be absolutely thrilling, the chances are high that ROMA will be adding yet another award to its growing collection.

The Oscars will be awarded on February 24 — we’ll have more on the awards then!