2021 Oscar Predictions: PRODUCTION DESIGN (February)

Many moves up this month, with News of the World peaking at #2 and Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey re-entering the top 10 after its strong showing in the Oscar shortlists.

But, of the 12 critics organizations to give out a production design award, every single one of them has given it to Mank. All of ’em. No one else has won. No film or performance in any other category can say that.

Here are my ranked 2021 Oscar predictions in Production Design for February.

Green – moves up ↑; Red – moves down ↓; Blue – new entry this month +; Black – no change ↔

1. Mank ↔ (Netflix) – BAFTA longlist, BFCA

Donald Graham Burt (production designer), Jan Pascale (set decorator)

2. News of the World ↑ (Universal Pictures) – BAFTA longlist, BFCA
David Crank (production designer), Elizabeth Keenan (set decorator)

3. The Personal History of David Copperfield ↔ (Searchlight Pictures) – BFCA
Cristina Casali (production designer), Charlotte Dirickx (set decorator)

4. Tenet ↑ (Warner Bros) – BAFTA longlist, BFCA
Nathan Crowley (production designer), Kathy Lucas (set decorator)

5. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom ↑ (Netflix) – BAFTA longlist, BFCA

Mark Ricker (production designer), Karen O’Hara and Diana Stoughton (set decorators)

6. The Midnight Sky ↑ (Netflix) – BAFTA longlist
Jim Bissell (production designer), John Bush (set decorator)

7. Emma. ↑ (Focus Features) – BAFTA longlist, BFCA

Kave Quinn (production designer), Stella Fox (set decorations)

8. The Trial of the Chicago 7 ↑ (Netflix) – BAFTA longlist
Shane Valentino (production designer), Andrew Baseman (set decorator)

9. Mulan ↓ (Walt Disney Pictures)
Grant Major (production designer), Anne Kuljian (set decorator)

10. Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey ↑ (Netflix)
Gavin Bocquet (production designer), Rob Cameron (set decorator)

Other Contenders 

Ammonite (Neon) – BAFTA longlist
Sarah Finlay (production designer), Sophie Hervieu (set decorator)

Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)
Wynn Thomas (production designer), Jeanette Scott (set decorator)

The Father + (Sony Pictures Classics)
Peter Francis (production designer), Cathy Featherstone (set decorator)

Judas and the Black Messiah (Warner Bros)

Sam Lisenco (production designer), Rebecca Brown (set decorator)

One Night in Miami… + (Amazon Studios)
Page Buckner (production designer), Janessa Hitsman (set decorator)

The Prom (Netflix)

Jamie Walker McCall (production designer), Gene Serdena (set decorator)

Rebecca (Netflix) – BAFTA longlist
Sarah Greenwood (production designer), Katie Spencer (set decorator)

The United States vs. Billie Holiday ↓ (Paramount Pictures)

Daniel T. Dorrance (production designer), Pascale Deschênes (set decorator)

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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), 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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