2018 Oscar Predictions: BEST PICTURE – The Shape of Water Leads
The first round of Best Picture Oscar winner predictions for the 90th Academy Awards are in and the Gold Rush Gang sees The Shape of Water taking the crown as of today. The film has the Producers Guild and Art Directors guild awards right now, with many more to roll out in February, including the Directors Guild and Writers Guild. But it’s no cakewalk for The Shape of Water, which missed the still-crucial SAG Cast nomination in December. And what of the film’s plagiarism accusations? Will those, well, hold any water?
Our 2nd place, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, did not miss – it won. It also won Actress and Supporting Actor, showing strong support from the largest branch in the Academy. But, with voting on winners not even starting until February 20th, can the film’s backlash take hold and keep it from winning? Between that and Martin McDonagh missing that Director nomination, the film is hobbled quite a bit.
Elsewhere, Get Out and Lady Bird also both have obstacles if they want to push past the top two. No Golden Globe Director or BAFTA film nominations will make it difficult, especially when something like Phantom Thread came in and over-performed on Oscar nomination morning.
Here are the Best Picture winner predictions from the Gold Rush Gang as of Monday, January 29, 2018.
| BEST PICTURE | ERIK ANDERSON |
BRYAN BONAFEDE | GREG HOWARD | EVAN KOST |
JASON OSIASON | KENNETH POLISHCHUK |
DENIZCAN SÜRÜCÜ | RICHARD ANTHONY |
ŞÜKRÜ SÖĞÜT | MATT DINN | TOTAL POINTS |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Shape of Water (Fox Searchlight) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 90 | |
| 2 | Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri (Fox Searchlight) | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 78 | |
| 3 | Lady Bird (A24) | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 71 | |
| 4 | Get Out (Universal) | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 67 | |
| 5 | Dunkirk (Warner Bros) | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 54 | |
| 6 | Phantom Thread (Focus Features) | 6 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 44 | |
| 7 | Call Me By Your Name (Sony Pictures Classics) | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 35 | |
| 8 | Darkest Hour (Focus Features) | 8 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 26 | |
| 9 | The Post (20th Century Fox) | 9 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 21 |
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.
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