2020 Oscar Predictions: The Shortlists

Erik Anderson December 15, 2019

The Oscar shortlists are coming tomorrow (Monday, December 16) and who doesn’t love an early Christmas present? Individual branches will give us nine categories with which our Oscar predictions will have a much more definable base from which to draw from. There will be surprises, there will be snubs, and even some distractions.

Below are my shortlist predictions for seven categories in alphabetical order: 15 for Original Score, Original Song and Documentary Feature; 10 for Makeup & Hairstyling, Visual Effects, Animated Feature, and International Feature Film.

ORIGINAL SCORE

1917 (Thomas Newman) – Universal
Avengers: Endgame (Alan Silvestri) – Disney
The Farewell (Alex Weston) – A24
Ford v. Ferrari (Marco Beltrami) – 20th Century Fox
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (John Powell) – Dreamworks
I Lost My Body (Dan Levy) – Netflix
Jojo Rabbit (Michael Giacchino) – Fox Searchlight
Joker (Hildur Guðnadóttir) – Warner Bros
The King (Nicholas Britell) – Netflix
Little Women (Alexandre Desplat) – Sony/Columbia
Marriage Story (Randy Newman) – Netflix
Parasite (Jung Jae-il) – Neon
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (John Williams) – Disney
Us (Michael Abed) – Universal
Waves (Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross) – A24

Spoilers: Pain and Glory (Alberto Iglesias); The Song of Names (Howard Shore)

ORIGINAL SONG

Aladdin – “Speechless” (Disney)
Always Be My Maybe – “I Punched Keanu Reeves” (Netflix)
The Black Godfather – “Letter to My Godfather” (Netflix)
Breakthrough – “I’m Standing with You” (20th Century Fox)
Cats – “Beautiful Ghosts” (Universal)
Frozen II – “Into the Unknown” (Disney)
Harriet – “Stand Up” (Focus Features)
The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part – “Catchy Song” (Warner Bros)
The Lion King – “Never Too Late” (Disney)
The Lion King – “Spirit” (Disney)
Missing Link – “Do-Dilly-Do (A Friend Like You)” (Annapurna)
Motherless Brooklyn – “Daily Battles” (Warner Bros)
Rocketman – “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” (Paramount)
Toy Story 4 – “I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” (Disney/Pixar)
Wild Rose – “Glasgow (No Place Like Home)” (Neon)

MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

1917 (Universal)
The Aeronauts (Amazon)
Bombshell (Lionsgate)
Dolemite Is My Name (Netflix)
Downton Abbey (Focus Features)
The Irishman (Netflix)
Joker (Warner Bros)
Judy (Roadside Attractions)
Little Women (Sony/Columbia)
Rocketman (Paramount)

Spoilers: Hustlers (STX Entertainment), Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Sony/Columbia) Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (Disney)

VISUAL EFFECTS

1917 (Universal
Ad Astra (20th Century Fox)
The Aeronauts (Amazon)
Alita: Battle Angel (20th Century Fox)
Avengers: Endgame (Disney)
Cats (Universal)
Ford v Ferrari (20th Century Fox)
The Irishman (Netflix)
The Lion King (Disney)
Spider-Man: Far From Home (Sony)
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (Disney)

Spoiler: Dumbo (Disney), Gemini Man (Paramount)

ANIMATED FEATURE

The Addams Family (MGM)
Frozen II (Disney)
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (Dreamworks)
I Lost My Body (Netflix)
Klaus (Netflix)
Missing Link (LAIKA/Annapurna/UAR)
Spies in Disguise (Sony)
The Swallow of Kabul
Toy Story 4 (Disney/Pixar)
Weathering With You (GKIDS)

Spoiler: Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles (GKIDS), The Secret Life of Pets 2 (Illumination/Universal)

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Advocate (Film Movement)
American Factory (Netflix)
Apollo 11 (Neon)
The Cave (National Geographic)
Diego Maradona (HBO)
The Edge of Democracy (Netflix)
For Sama (PBS)
Gaza (Filmoption International)
The Great Hack (Netflix)
Hail Satan? (Magnolia Pictures)
Honeyland (Neon)
The Kingmaker (Showtime)
Maiden (Sony Classics)
One Child Nation (Amazon)
Sea of Shadows (National Geographic)

Spoilers: Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (Magnolia Pictures), The Biggest Little Farm (Neon), Midnight Family (1091 Media)

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

Brazil – Invisible Life (Karim Aïnouz) – Amazon
Colombia – Monos (Alejandro Landes)
France – Les Misérables (Ladj Ly) – Amazon
Germany – System Crasher (Nora Fingscheidt)
Italy – The Traitor (Marco Bellocchio) – Sony Classics
Russia – Beanpole (Kantemir Balagov)
Senegal – Atlantics (Mati Diop) – Netflix
South Korea – Parasite (Bong Joon-ho) – Neon
Spain – Pain and Glory (Pedro Almodóvar) – Sony Classics
Sweden – And Then We Danced (Levan Akin) – Music Box Film

Spoilers: Norway – Out Stealing Horses (Hans Petter Moland) – Magnolia Pictures; Poland – Corpus Christi (Jan Komasa) – Film Movement

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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.