2018 Oscar Predictions: ORIGINAL SCORE, VISUAL EFFECTS, ANIMATED FEATURE (October)

Erik Anderson October 6, 2017

No major changes in Original Score, Visual Effects or Animated Feature this month but Original Score does see some movement. The Shape of Water has closed in on Dunkirk and is now just a single point from the top spot.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Coco and Phantom Thread all rise while The Greatest Showman, Blade Runner 2049, mother! and Detroit go down. So much remains to be seen about The Greatest Showman. If it ends up being a major player it will definitely be a top 5 contender as its composers, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, just won the Original Score (and Song) Oscars for La La Land this year and then the Tony for Dear Evan Hansen this summer. Blade Runner 2049 continues to be a question – will the score be eligible? We know that Oscar winner Hans Zimmer has taken over completely for two-time Oscar nominee Jóhann Jóhannsson after creative differences with director Denis Villeneuve but we’ll have to wait until the Academy’s official eligibility list to be sure.

These are the official 2018 Oscar Predictions in Original Score, Animated Feature and Visual Effects for October from the Gold Rush Gang. Keep an eye on all of the Gold Rush Gang’s 2018 Oscar predictions updated LIVE throughout the month.

Green – moves up from last month
Red – moves down from last month
Blue – debut/new entry

	ORIGINAL SCORE	ERIK ANDERSON	BRYAN BONAFEDE	GREG HOWARD	EVAN KOST	JASON OSIASON	KENNETH POLISHCHUK	DENIZCAN SÜRÜCÜ	RICHARD ANTHONY	ŞÜKRÜ SÖĞÜT	MATT DINN	TOTAL POINTS

1	Dunkirk	2	2	2	2	4	1	1	2	1	1	92
2	The Shape of Water	1	1	1	4	1	2	3	1	3	2	91
3	The Post	3	3	3	1	2	3	2	3	2	3	85
4	Darkest Hour	5	4	4	5	5	5	4	4	4	4	66
5	Wonderstruck	4	8	7	3	3	4	5	5	5	6	60

6	Star Wars: The Last Jedi	8	6	5	9	10	6	6	6	6	7	41
7	Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri	10	5			6	7		7		5	26
8	Coco	7	9	10	10	8	8	10	9	9	8	22
9	Phantom Thread		7	8	7	7	9			10	9	20
10	The Greatest Showman	6		6				9	8	8		18
11	Blade Runner 2049	9			8		10	7	10	7		15
12	mother!			9	6							7
13	Detroit							8				3
13	War for the Planet of the Apes					9					10	3
15	Victoria and Abdul		10			10						2

OTHER CONTENDERS
All the Money in the World
The Current War
Downsizing
Ferdinand
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Last Flag Flying
Mudbound
Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
Roman J. Israel, Esq.

	VISUAL EFFECTS	ERIK ANDERSON	BRYAN BONAFEDE	GREG HOWARD	EVAN KOST	JASON OSIASON	KENNETH POLISHCHUK	DENIZCAN SÜRÜCÜ	RICHARD ANTHONY	ŞÜKRÜ SÖĞÜT	MATT DINN	TOTAL POINTS
1	Blade Runner 2049	1	1	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	97
2	War for the Planet of the Apes	2	2	2	2	3	2	2	3	2	1	89
3	Star Wars: The Last Jedi	3	3	1	3	4	3	3	2	3	3	82
4	Dunkirk	5	5	6	4	6	4	7	4	5	5	59
5	Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2	7	4	5	6	5	7	4	5	6	4	57

6	The Shape of Water	10	6	4	5	2	5	5	7	4	6	56
7	Beauty and the Beast (2017)	6	7	7	7	10	6	6	10	7	7	37
8	Thor: Ragnarok	4	9	9	10		8	9	9	10	8	23
9	Kong: Skull Island	9	8	10	8		9	8		8	9	19
10	Wonder Woman	8	10	8	9		10		6	9	10	18
11	Transformers: The Last Knight					7		10				5
12	Okja					8						3
12	Spider-Man: Homecoming								8			3
14	mother!					9						2

OTHER CONTENDERS
Alien: Covenant
Colossal
The Dark Tower
Downsizing
The Fate of the Furious
Geostorm
Ghost in the Shell
The Great Wall
The Greatest Showman
John Wick: Chapter 2
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
Justice League
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
Kingsman: The Golden Circle
Logan
The Mummy (2017)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
Power Rangers
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

6 Reasons Why This Year’s Animated Feature Race Is the Most Unpredictable In Years

	ANIMATED FEATURE	ERIK ANDERSON	BRYAN BONAFEDE	GREG HOWARD	EVAN KOST	JASON OSIASON	KENNETH POLISHCHUK	DENIZCAN SÜRÜCÜ	RICHARD ANTHONY	ŞÜKRÜ SÖĞÜT	MATT DINN	TOTAL POINTS
1	Coco	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	100
2	Breadwinner, The	2	2	4	2	5	2	2	2	2	4	83
3	The Lego Batman Movie	3		2	5			3	5	3	2	54
4	The Boss Baby	5	5	5	4	2	4	5			5	53
5	Mary and the Witch’s Flower		3	3		4		6	4	4	3	50

6	Ferdinand	4	4		3		3	4	3			45
7	My Little Pony: The Movie					5		7				10
8	The Lego Ninjago Movie						5	8				9
9	In This Corner of the World									5		6

Animated Feature Oscar Race – Which Indie Films Can Go All the Way?

OTHER CONTENDERS
Animal Crackers
The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales
Birdboy: The Forgotten Children
Blazing Samurai
Captain Underpants
Cars 3
Despicable Me 3
The Emoji Movie
The Girl Without Hands
Loving Vincent
Lu Over the Wall
Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature
Rock Dog
Smurfs: The Lost Village
The Son of Bigfoot
The Star
A Stork’s Journey

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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.