2021 Oscar Predictions: ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY (January)
Promising Young Woman now stands as the leader for critics’ awards in original screenplay, with an even bigger lead when you add groups that don’t separate adapted and original. It moves up this month and starts crowding The Trial of the Chicago 7 for the top spot.
Minari has also been performing well in screenplay categories with critics and is enjoying a late January surge across the board. It re-enters the top 5. That means drops, for now, for Mank, Da 5 Bloods, Never Rarely Sometimes Always and Soul. For the latter two, it’s going to be a real fight to get back into and stay in the top 5. NRSA has also done well with critics’ screenplay wins (it nabbed NYFCC and a Spirit nom yesterday) but Soul has yet to make a dent.
Malcolm & Marie is the sole new entry into the top 10. It’s an iffy prospect but the film’s barrage of attacks on film critics and criticism may strike a chord with some in the writers branch.
Green – moves up; Red – moves down; Blue – new entry this month
1. The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix)
Aaron Sorkin
2. Promising Young Woman (Focus Features)
Emerald Fennell
3. Mank (Netflix)
Jack Fincher
4. Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)
Danny Bilson, Paul De Meo, Kevin Willmott, Spike Lee
5. Minari (A24)
Lee Isaac Chung
6. Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Focus Features)
Eliza Hittman
7. Soul (Pixar)
Pete Docter, Mike Jones, Kemp Powers
8. Sound of Metal (Amazon Studios)
Abraham Marder, Darius Marder (screenplay), Derek Cianfrance (story by)
9. Judas and the Black Messiah (Warner Bros)
Will Berson and Shaka King (screenplay), Keith Lucas and Kenny Lucas (story by)
10. Malcolm & Marie (Netflix)
Sam Levinson
Other Contenders (alphabetical)
Ammonite (Neon)
Francis Lee
The Assistant (Bleecker Street)
Kitty Green
The Forty-Year-Old Version (Netflix)
Radha Blank
Kajillionaire (Focus Features)
Miranda July
Let Them All Talk (HBO Max)
Deborah Eisenberg
Miss Juneteenth (Vertical Entertainment)
Channing Godfrey Peoples
The Nest (IFC Films)
Sean Durkin
On the Rocks (A24/Apple TV+)
Sofia Coppola
Palm Springs (Hulu/Neon)
Andy Siara
Supernova (Bleecker Street)
Harry Mcqueen
Wolfwalkers (Apple TV+/Cartoon Saloon)
Jericca Cleland, Will Collins, Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart
Malcolm & Marie image: Dominic Miller / Netflix
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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