2019 Oscar Predictions: ADAPTED and ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY (October)
The top 4 of If Beale Street Could Talk, BlacKkKlansman, Can You Ever Forgive Me? and Boy Erased hold tight this month as Widows creeps back up and A Star Is Born finds a closer spot in the top 10.
Beautiful Boy falls out of the top 5 for the first time, despite the film’s strong festival run but it’s far from out. The allure of the screenplay coming from two books, both a child and parent perspective of drug addiction, could prove a very strong one for writers.
A pair of indies trying hard to break into the top categories, Leave No Trace and Wildlife, move into the Next Up section in a category that is very fluid.
The month’s sole debut, The Mule from Clint Eastwood, is inspired by a news article but it’s unclear how the Academy will view the screenplay. Even if the Writers Guild of America says it’s Original it could still land in Adapted (as Moonlight did two years ago).
Here are my 2019 Oscar predictions in Adapted Screenplay for October 15, 2018.
Green – moves up; Red – moves down; Blue – chart debut
1. If Beale Street Could Talk (Annapurna)
2. BlacKkKlansman (Focus Features)
3. Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Fox Searchlight)
4. Boy Erased (Focus Features)
5. Widows (20th Century Fox)
6. A Star Is Born (Warner Bros)
7. Black Panther (Disney)
8. Beautiful Boy (Amazon)
9. First Man (Universal)
10. The Old Man & the Gun (Fox Searchlight)
NEXT UP
Crazy Rich Asians (Warner Bros)
The Incredibles 2 (Disney)
Leave No Trace (Bleecker Street)
The Mule (Warner Bros)
Wildlife (IFC Films)
OTHER CONTENDERS
Bird Box (Netflix)
Disobedience (Bleecker Street)
Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot (Amazon)
The Front Runner (Sony Pictures)
Mary Poppins Returns (Disney)
Mary Queen of Scots (Focus Features)
The Sisters Brothers (Annapurna)
Welcome to Marwen (Universal)
The Wife (Sony Classics)
2019 Oscar Predictions update LIVE
Virtually everything holds steady in Original Screenplay this month with the exceptions of Eighth Grade graduating to the top 10 as Peterloo moves off to Spring and Cold War into the Next Up section.
The Mule shows up here as well as in Adapted depending on how the Academy views the film’s origin.
Here are my 2019 Oscar predictions in Original Screenplay for October 15, 2018.
Green – moves up; Red – moves down; Blue – chart debut
1. ROMA (Netflix)
2. The Favourite (Fox Searchlight)
3. Vice (Annapurna)
4. Green Book (Universal)
5. First Reformed (A24)
6. A Quiet Place (Paramount)
7. Destroyer (Annapurna)
8. Sorry to Bother You (Annapurna)
9. Hereditary (A24)
10. Eighth Grade (A24)
NEXT UP
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Netflix)
Capharnaüm (Sony Classics)
Cold War (Amazon)
On the Basis of Sex (Focus Features)
Tully (Focus Features)
OTHER CONTENDERS
Bad Times at the El Royale (20th Century Fox)
Ben is Back (Roadside Attractions)
Blindspotting (Lionsgate)
Bohemian Rhapsody (20th Century Fox)
Hearts Beat Loud (Stage 6 Films/Gunpowder & Sky)
Mid90s (A24)
The Mule (Warner Bros)
2019 Oscar Predictions update LIVE
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.
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