2017 Oscars: 91 Original Songs Vie for the Academy Award

Erik Anderson December 13, 2016

[divider style=”solid” top=”20″ bottom=”20″]

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 91 songs from eligible feature-length motion pictures released in 2016 are in contention for nominations in the Original Song category for the 89th Academy Awards^®.

While most films played it smart by only submitting two or three entries (only two songs can be nominated from a single film), some went a bit overboard with four, such as What Happened Last Night. Best Picture frontrunner La La Land has three eligible songs, two of which (“Audition” and “City of Stars”) are top picks to be nominated. Lots of songs from documentaries are represented here including tunes from 13TH, Audrie & Daisy, The Eagle Huntress, Miss Sharon Jones! and Before the Flood. All songs nominated by the Golden Globes yesterday are on the list.

After the debacle in this category of the rescinded nomination for “Alone, Yet Not Alone” from the film of the same name, we’re always on the lookout for possible contenders who end up being pretenders. Nothing is jumping out right now but we’re keeping a close eye.

Check out what the Gold Rush Gang is predicting for Original Song here. Note: predictions precede the announcement of the official list. Songs not eligible will be removed this week.

The original songs, along with the motion picture in which each song is featured, are listed below in alphabetical order by film title and song title:

“Just Like Fire” from “Alice through the Looking Glass”
“Rise” from “American Wrestler: The Wizard”
“Friends” from “The Angry Birds Movie”
“Flicker” from “Audrie & Daisy”
“Seconds” from “Autumn Lights”
“A Minute To Breathe” from “Before the Flood”
“Glory (Let There Be Peace)” from “Believe”
“Mother’s Theme” from “Believe”
“Somewhere” from “Believe”
“The Only Way Out” from “Ben-Hur”
“Still Falling For You” from “Bridget Jones’s Baby”
“F That” from “The Bronze”
“Torch Pt. 2” from “Citizen Soldier”
“Drift And Fall Again” from “Criminal”
“Take Me Down” from “Deepwater Horizon”
“Land Of All” from “Desierto”
“Sad But True (Dreamland Theme)” from “Dreamland”
“Angel By The Wings” from “The Eagle Huntress”
“Blind Pig” from “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
“One Frame At A Time” from “Floyd Norman: An Animated Life”
“I’m Crying” from “Free State of Jones”
“Gold” from “Gold”
“Champion” from “Hands of Stone”
“Dance Rascal, Dance” from “Hello, My Name Is Doris”
“I See A Victory” from “Hidden Figures”
“Runnin” from “Hidden Figures”
“Sixty Charisma Scented Blackbirds” from “How to Let Go of the World and Love All the Things Climate
Can’t Change”
“My Superstar” from “Ice Age: Collision Course”
“Seeing You Around” from “Ithaca”
“The Empty Chair” from “Jim: The James Foley Story”
“Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” from “La La Land”
“City Of Stars” from “La La Land”
“Start A Fire” from “La La Land”
“Cateura Vamos A Soñar (We Will Dream)” from “Landfill Harmonic”
“Better Love” from “The Legend of Tarzan”
“Never Give Up” from “Lion”
“Equation” from “The Little Prince”
“Turnaround” from “The Little Prince”
“Moonshine” from “Live By Night”
“Loving” from “Loving”
“Hurry Home” from “Max Rose”
“Gone 2015” from “Miles Ahead”
“Wish That You Were Here” from “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children”
“I’m Still Here” from “Miss Sharon Jones!”
“How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana”
“We Know The Way” from “Moana”
“Even More Mine” from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2”
“Waving Goodbye” from “The Neon Demon”
“I’m Back” from “Never Surrender”
“Find My Victory” from “Olympic Pride, American Prejudice”
“On Ghost Ridge” from “100 Years: One Woman’s Fight for Justice”
“Ordinary World” from “Ordinary World”
“Devil’s Girl” from “Outlaws and Angels”
“Levitate” from “Passengers”
“Ginga” from “Pelé: Birth of a Legend”
“Nobody Knows” from “Pete’s Dragon”
“Something Wild” from “Pete’s Dragon”
“Dancing With Your Shadow” from “Po”
“I’m So Humble” from “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping”
“Stay Here” from “Presenting Princess Shaw”
“Celebrate Life” from “Queen Mimi”
“Back To Life” from “Queen of Katwe”
“Let The Games Begin” from “Race”
“Think About It” from “The Red Pill”
“The Rules Don’t Apply” from “Rules Don’t Apply”
“The Great Beyond” from “Sausage Party”
“Faith” from “Sing”
“Set It All Free” from “Sing”
“Drive It Like You Stole It” from “Sing Street”
“Go Now” from “Sing Street”
“The Veil” from “Snowden”
“Hymn” from “Snowtime!”
“Kiss Me Goodnight” from “Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four”
“Holdin’ Out” from “Storks”
“Heathens” from “Suicide Squad”
“Flying Home” from “Sully”
“Montage” from “Swiss Army Man”
“Petit Metier” from “They Will Have to Kill Us First – Malian Music in Exile”
“Letter To The Free” from “13th”
“Down With Mary” from “Too Late”
“Can’t Stop The Feeling” from “Trolls”
“Get Back Up Again” from “Trolls”
“Smile” from “The Uncondemned”
“We Will Rise” from “Veeram-Macbeth”
“LA Venus” from “We Are X”
“New Dogs, Old Tricks” from “What Happened Last Night”
“Runnin’ Runnin'” from “What Happened Last Night”
“What’s Happening Today” from “What Happened Last Night”
“Who I Am” from “What Happened Last Night”
“The Ballad Of Wiener-Dog” from “Wiener-Dog”
“Try Everything” from “Zootopia”

During the nominations process, all voting members of the Music Branch will receive a Reminder List of works submitted in the category and a compilation of the song clips. Members will be asked to watch the clips and then vote in the order of their preference for not more than five achievements in the category. The five achievements receiving the highest number of votes will become the nominations for final voting for the award. A maximum of two songs may be nominated from any one film.

To be eligible, a song must consist of words and music, both of which are original and written specifically for the film. A clearly audible, intelligible, substantive rendition of both lyric and melody must be used in the body of the film or as the first music cue in the end credits.

Nominations for the 89th Oscars^® will be announced on Tuesday, January 24, 2017.

The 89th Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 26, 2017, at the Dolby Theatre^® at Hollywood & Highland Center^®in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

# # #

ABOUT THE ACADEMY
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a global community of more than 7,000 of the most accomplished artists, filmmakers and executives working in film. In addition to celebrating and recognizing excellence in filmmaking through the Oscars, the Academy supports a wide range of initiatives to promote the art and science of the movies, including public programming, educational outreach and the upcoming Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, which is under construction in Los Angeles.

Author
Recent Posts

Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.