2017 Oscar Predictions: BEST PICTURE (April)

The only major change from last month’s polls is the official date for Ben Affleck’s 1930s crime drama Live By Night being pushed to October 2017. That allows for the films outside of the top 5 (which is unchanged) to move up a bit. Lion moves into the top 10 on the strength of the announcement from The Weinstein Company that it’s getting that studio’s coveted Thanksgiving slot. Historically this is the launching pad for what will be their #1 film for awards season. Michael Keaton’s McDonald’s movie The Founder originally had that date but was bumped back to August, not a good sign for that film.

The announcement of the films in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival in less than two weeks could change this list dramatically next month. Loving is set to debut there while Silence is not going to. If any of the other films in our top 15 end up on that list you can bet their stock will rise in this race. Or maybe something just outside like The Light Between Oceans or The Zookeeper’s Wife gets a slot and finds themselves out of the ‘Other Contenders’ section and on next month’s predictions.

Here are the April 2016 BEST PICTURE Oscar Predictions (click image to enlarge). You can follow the Oscar predictions from The Gold Rush Gang right here.

• 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), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) 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.

Latest posts by Erik Anderson (see all)

• 2026 Critics Choice Awards Land Early January 2026 Date - April 25, 2025
• Adam Sandler in ‘Happy Gilmore 2,’ ‘KPop Demon Hunters,’ Double Tyler Perry Headed to Netflix This Summer - April 25, 2025
• 2025 Outer Critics Circle Award Nominations: ‘Death Becomes Her’ Leads with 12 - April 25, 2025