​By Will Mavity 

When making Oscar predictions for Best Animated Feature year in advance, it never hurts to bet on Disney and/or Pixar. After all, Disney has been behind sixteen of the category's winners since the beginning of the category in 2001. Still, some were skeptical that Disney would enjoy the cakewalk to Oscar victory this year that it often does in this category. In 2018, "Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse" defeated both Pixar's "Incredibles 2" and Disney Animation's "Ralph Breaks The Internet." Many thought that Sony's "Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse" might be able to recapture the first film's magic and give Disney/Pixar a run for their money at the Oscars again this year. But recently, Sony has since delayed the "Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse" to 2023, thus taking it out of Oscar competition this year. Even this absence doesn't necessarily guarantee that all is smooth sailing for Disney/Pixar this year, as 2022 is shaping up to be a strong year for animated films from multiple studios.

By Eve O'Dea 

In an interview with The New Yorker, director Robert Eggers recounted a reaction from a test screening audience member of his latest film "The Northman," who wrote: "You need to have a master's degree in Viking history to understand, like, anything in this movie." The film's final product, which was released internationally on April 22nd, went under significant re-working to make it more accessible to popular audiences. Still, like Eggers' last two films, "The Witch" and "The Lighthouse," "The Northman" is steeped in a rich historical basis and gifts audiences with an experience of total immersion. Eggers and his team conducted extensive research and preparation to bring this medieval, nordic world into existence to enable such accuracy. Will such meticulous effort be recognized come awards season?

By Zoe Rose Bryant ​

At the 94th Academy Awards, "The Power of the Dog's" Jane Campion made history in two significant ways. Not only was she the first woman nominated twice for Best Director (despite Kathryn Bigelow and Greta Gerwig coming close in 2012 and 2019 with "Zero Dark Thirty" and "Little Women" respectively), but her eventual win represented the first time that women had won Best Director back-to-back, following Chloé Zhao, who won for "Nomadland." Now, many Oscar pundits are asking the same question: might we be headed towards a third female Best Director winner in three years? At the time of this writing, the field is currently filling up with several acclaimed male auteurs (Steven Spielberg for "The Fabelmans," Martin Scorsese for "Killers of the Flower Moon," Damien Chazelle for "Babylon," and James Cameron for "Avatar 2"). Still, the ladies are putting up quite a fight as well. Below, in alphabetical order, we outline ten female filmmakers we believe could follow in Jane Campion's footsteps this awards season to earn a Best Director nomination (and maybe even secure that statue).

By Zoe Rose Bryant 

It's the age-old question for awards pundits: how soon is too soon to start discussing next year's Oscars after the conclusion of last year's ceremony? You could ask a million different pundits and get a million different answers. Still, this particular pundit subscribes to the belief that you simply have to let the films tell the story - don't try and guide the race, but follow it instead. When a film debuts with near-universal adoration and all-encompassing euphoric buzz, that's a title that can't be counted out for awards attention, regardless of what time of the year it premiered and what genre it's categorized as. Time and time again, this has been the case. However, for most statistical accuracy, let's just look at the past decade: despite debuting in May or even February, films like 2014's "The Grand Budapest Hotel," 2015's "Mad Max: Fury Road," 2017's "Get Out," and 2018's "Black Panther" endured all the way until the winter of the following year, bolstered by an industry-wide appreciation of audacious craftwork, a connection with the cultural zeitgeist, or both. It isn't every year that a Q1 or Q2 smash hit critical/commercial sensation lands a spot in the Best Picture lineup, but there are always some strong contenders that linger from the start of the year, and as history shows, they can't be ignored.

By Daniel Howat 

As one Oscar season ends, another begins. We're three months into 2022, so it's time for our way-too-early Oscar predictions for 2022. It's never too soon to dive into the potential contenders for the year and analyze how they might factor into the race. Of course, being nearly a full year until the Oscars, think of this more as a guide of films to keep an eye on rather than legitimate predictions. Still, it's always fun to see how close we could get this far out. Check out our early 2021 predictions here.

Before listing my official predictions, please take a look at the dozens of contenders we're keeping an eye on as we journey toward the 95th Academy Awards. Remember that plenty of films are not yet on our radar this far out. For instance, I anticipate at least one non-English language film in the eventual Best Picture lineup, but it's more challenging to know what those contenders are at this point. The same goes for smaller independent films from newer filmmakers that will hopefully break out at the fall festivals. Still, there are several films from established filmmakers competing for awards this year, and these are just some of the films we'll anticipate along the way.

By Matt Neglia

​It's finally here. The 94th Academy Awards will be held this Sunday on ABC. I'm sorry my series of Predicting The Winners Of The 94th Academy Awards articles could not go up in time this year. I've been busier than I've ever been in my entire life, both with the site and my personal life, and writing such in-depth analysis is such a time commitment. For my full thoughts on all 23 categories, I highly urge you to listen to our over 4-hour-long podcast we released on Sunday discussing our final predictions with my brilliant team. For now, this will be a general summary of my final predictions. So let's dive in!

By Will Mavity & Matt Neglia 

Oscar voting is officially over for the 94th Academy Awards, and now we are just waiting for the awards to be handed out this Sunday. Matt and I spoke to several Academy voters about what they are voting for and why.
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Here is what 8 of them have to say...

By Robert Dougherty 

​With one fell swoop cast by the Producers Guild of America, "The Power of the Dog" lost its Best Picture lead that it had built since September 2021 all in one night. Now with just days to recover before the Oscars on March 27th, all the momentum and all the storybook Cinderella narratives are in "CODA's" favor, despite its historic disadvantages elsewhere. Yet despite having just three Oscar nominations, no DGA nomination, and almost no Best Picture wins of any kind until this final stretch, "CODA" has now turned "The Power of the Dog" into the last-minute underdog of this race. However, if "CODA" could really win Best Picture in a way that nothing else has in modern history, then "The Power of the Dog" winning after a PGA loss on a preferential ballot doesn't seem so unbelievable. In fact, there is much more recent precedent for a Best Picture winner to rebound from a PGA loss, even if it hasn't happened that often in this era.

By Mitchell Horwood 

​The phrase "Licorice Pizza" refers to the name of a defunct record store chain that existed in the 70s era of Southern California. But it's also the title of Paul Thomas Anderson's newest offbeat, witty, and vaguely seductive movie, nominated for three Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. Like the chain, this retro time capsule is a valentine to an era frequently remembered by the "corrupt" values of sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, and the restlessness of youth looking for life in all the wrong places. In this regard, it's both a love letter to Paul Thomas Anderson's past and his most personal film yet.

By Cody Dericks 

Just when people started to complain about this year's Oscar race being boring, the Producers Guild Awards decided to shake things up this past weekend. After dominating the season by winning Best Picture at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and Critics Choice Awards, Oscar nomination leader "The Power Of The Dog" hit a major stumbling block by losing the PGA to the indie sensation "CODA." The PGAs have historically been one of the more accurate predictors of Oscar success, so surely this means "CODA" has Best Picture in the bag, right? Not so fast.

By Lauren LaMagna 

​The time has come: Oscar voting for the 94th Academy Awards is in full swing. As we speak, members of the Academy are filling in their ballots and ultimately deciding who will be taking home the golden statue on March 27th. At this point in the race, there are frontrunners, underdogs, and tight races. There are even some locks. But, nothing is 100% certain until the final envelope is read. This year, there are loads of fantastic films nominated for an array of awards. One of those films is "The Worst Person In The World," which is nominated in two categories – Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature Film.

By Tom O'Brien 

When it comes to Oscar prognostications, I'm basically a stats guy. I rely heavily on the endless parade of pre-Oscar precursor awards that usually point in the direction of the eventual Oscar winner. But there's one category this year where the statistics and the favorite don't quite add up for me: Best Animated Feature.

By Amy Smith 

Last year, the Best Picture lineup and eventual winner "Nomadland" highlighted the strengths of filmmaking during the pandemic era. Not only did the themes of films such as "Nomadland" relate to the isolation and loneliness that people went through during that year, but the films that were nominated mainly were independent films filled with personal stories. In a standard Oscar year, you would not see the likes of "Sound of Metal" or "Minari" cracking the Best Picture lineup. However, with theaters reopening in 2021, this is the year to honor the blockbuster and celebrate the cinematic experience. While some may say that it was the return of franchise films like James Bond's "No Time to Die" and the MCU's "Spider-Man: No Way Home" that got people back to the big screen, it can be argued that it is Best Picture contender "Dune" that celebrates the art of going to the movies and spending nearly three hours immersed in intense storytelling and spectacular visuals.

By Eve O'Dea 
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Kenneth Branagh's "Belfast" has, seemingly from the moment it premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in September, been adorned with the epithet of "crowd-pleaser." While that might be an inherently positive description, the moniker leaves a nasty taste in the mouths of some film-snobs (sometimes even my own), especially when said crowd-pleaser dares to creep towards a potential Best Picture win. Take, for example, Sam Mendes' "1917," a feat of cinematic excellence that masterfully illustrated a touching, inspiring story of resilience which performed well at the box-office and was a critical hit, had its reputation marred by the chance of it winning Best Picture over Bong-Joon ho's groundbreaking "Parasite." Its reputation, however, quickly bounced back once it lost the Best Picture prize to the history-making South Korean film, but imagine if it had won, though? How would history view its win? Right now, there is a film that is deemed as "the chosen one" for this year's Best Picture prize by critics, and anything else that might come close to snatching the award away from it will face a high level of backlash and scrutiny (as we're seeing with the late surge for "CODA" amongst its recent industry wins). Especially if it's seen as a "crowd-pleaser," which "Belfast" unashamedly is.

By Cody Dericks 

How lucky are we? The Best Actress category has been a wild ride for the second year in a row. After several years where all four acting categories were seemingly locked up by Oscar night (namely, 2014, 2017, and 2019), these past two years have been refreshingly chaotic and undeniably fun for actress-lovers. And unlike last year when (with respect to Vanessa Kirby) all four viable contenders picked up at least one major televised award, this year's crop of nominees has so many inconsistencies and confusing absences from specific awards bodies that it's genuinely challenging to feel completely confident in any prediction.

By Daniel Howat 

With less than two weeks until the 94th Academy Awards, many races feel pretty easy to predict in the wake of the DGA, Critics Choice, and BAFTA award winners. As more and more of the precursors wrap up and just a handful more to go, only a few select categories pose a significant challenge for awards predictors. This weekend gave us a very clear picture of the direction many races are headed. Critics' Choice lined up with SAG in all four acting categories, and BAFTA lined up with three of those four. Upsets seem quite unlikely in acting, but other categories became much murkier over the weekend. Let's break down the five most challenging categories left to predict: Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Picture.

By Robert Dougherty 

​In an Oscar season now mostly decided all around with two weeks to spare, and with almost nothing else left to talk and rant over besides the Oscar telecast, our last option for another talking point is whether "CODA" can pull off the most unprecedented Best Picture win of our time. ​For the last few weeks and for the next two weeks ahead, the case against "CODA" to rally over "The Power Of The Dog" has and will be its lack of any other nominations besides Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay. However, if the first 95 percent of Oscar night plays out like the BAFTAs just did, then "The Power Of The Dog" will suddenly join "CODA" as a potential Best Picture winner that would defy modern history.

By Amy Smith 

​​Yesterday was the 2022 BAFTAs, and while the show was pre-recorded, there was still an awards ceremony telecasted in the UK. With last year's ceremony lining up almost exactly to the Oscar line-up, many award pundits were glued to their phones, waiting in anticipation for each winner to be announced online. This year has been more chaotic than average regarding the precursors, with the Golden Globes not having a telecast and the Critic's Choice Awards and BAFTAs occurring on the same night, so perhaps more people will be defaulting this year to the BAFTA winners than having done so previously. Now, let's break down what exactly happened on the British land.

By Ryan O'Toole 

The Best Actress race is the most chaotic category in recent memory. With all nominees being shut out at the BAFTAs and with the presumed frontrunner, Nicole Kidman, losing at SAG to Jessica Chastain, there's still no clear winner. That being said, Kidman and Chastain appear to be in the lead heading towards Oscar night, with Olivia Colman behind them and Kristen Stewart and Penélope Cruz on the outside looking in. However, if the Oscars were a meritocracy, the entire race would be flipped on its head. Of the five nominees, Penélope Cruz gave the best performance and should win the Oscar.

By Tom O'Brien 

​Among Oscar aficionados, many of the loudest cheers heard during the announcement for this year's Academy Award nominations were likely for the news that Ryusuke Hamaguchi's beloved "Drive My Car" earned not only an expected Oscar nomination for Best International Feature Film, but it had unexpectedly broken through with three more biggies as well: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, and, the most coveted, Best Picture of the Year. ​The journey from the streets of Hiroshima to the red carpet of the Dolby Theater has been an unlikely one for the 179-minute film, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in July. Its rise as a surprising Oscar powerhouse can be attributed to several factors -- stellar reviews, a careful theatrical rollout, and a sharp FYC campaign from Janus Films. But perhaps the key to the initial awards success is one factor that has gone largely unnoticed and underappreciated: the overwhelming support of the nation's film critics groups.

By Robert Dougherty 
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All of the intrigue for the acting races at the Oscars is on Best Actress, due to its own massive chaos and the distinct lack of chaos in Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress. Somewhere in between is Best Supporting Actor, although that will change on March 13th if either Troy Kotsur ("CODA") or Kodi Smit-McPhee ("The Power Of The Dog") wins at both the Critics Choice Awards and BAFTA that day. In particular, Kotsur winning both after taking SAG will surely all but wrap up the race for him then and there. But if there's a split that day, the Best Supporting Actor field will be something it hasn't been in six years on Oscar night – undecided at the wire.

By Robert Dougherty 

​There are four weeks left to go this Oscar season, with the SAG Awards marking the beginning of the final stretch. With the PGA, WGA, DGA, Critics Choice, and BAFTA awards all lying ahead the next three weeks, this is where a lot of the major Oscar races will be decided, long before the envelopes are actually read on March 27th. However, there's a case to be made that a lot of them are primarily set in stone already. Not only that, we may now have SAG to thank for keeping some level of suspense left in any major categories.

By Daniel Howat 
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As one of the best precursors for the Academy Awards, this year's SAG Awards helped give some much-needed clarity to the Oscar race. There were unexpected joys, continued steamrollers, and a phenomenal celebration of acting. The Screen Actors Guild Film Awards could significantly affect the Oscar race, whose final voting doesn't open for nearly three more weeks. Let's break down all five categories and their counterparts at the Academy Awards.

By Robert Dougherty 
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Aaron Sorkin is known for many things, and very few of them are loved by all. But the one thing Sorkin lovers and even some haters can agree on is that his hyper-verbal, hyper preachy scripts have been a feast for actors over the last 30 years. "Being the Ricardos" is now an Academy-sanctioned example with Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, and J.K. Simmons all nominated for Oscars, even though the Sorkin script they performed was snubbed and the film missed out on Best Picture. All the awards buzz for a Sorkin project this season now rides on Kidman, as the Golden Globe winner can bring order to a chaotic Best Actress race by winning SAG on February 27th. If she does, not only will she be one crucial step closer towards a second career Oscar win, she will be one step away from becoming the first Oscar-winning performer for a Sorkin movie.

By Matt Neglia 
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"The Power Of The Dog" has garnered a leading 12 Oscar nominations for the 94th Academy Awards. One of those finally brought Kirsten Dunst her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Rose, the widowed inn owner who falls in love with George Burbank (Jesse Plemons - Dunst's real-life partner) and brings her son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) with her to live on the Burbank ranch, much to the annoyance of George's brother Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch). All four actors were nominated for Academy Awards for their outstanding work on Jane Campion's film, but Dunst's nomination might be the most special of them all. Working in the industry since she was three years old, the nomination has been a long time coming after many years of stellar and unforgettable performances on both the big screen and television.

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alexander Payne conducted an interview with Kirsten Dunst about her performance in "The Power Of The Dog," which you can check out exclusively below.