2021 Oscar Predictions: SOUND (January)

War is hell.

It’s also a prime Sound Oscar contender zone. Even with the newly merged sound categories, war films and films with lots of gunfire are still likely to find themselves in contention for the sound Oscar. While there is no shortage to firepower in films like Tenet and Da 5 Bloods, there is a film that could be the 13 Hours of this year in The Outpost. Granted, that film had four-time Oscar winner Gary Summers and 17-time nominee Greg Russell supporting it (Russell’s nomination was ultimately rescinded for violating campaign regulations) and branches love who they love. The Outpost doesn’t have anywhere near that pedigree (not a single Oscar nomination among its five sound designers) but it could happen.

Here are my ranked 2021 Oscar predictions in Sound for January.

Green – moves up; Red – moves down; Blue – new entry this month

1. The Midnight Sky (Netflix)
Randy Thom, Dan Hiland, Todd Beckett, Danny Hambrook, Bjorn Schroeder

2. Soul (Pixar)
Coya Elliott, Ren Klyce, David Parker, Vince Caro

3. Sound of Metal (Amazon Studios)
Phillip Bladh, Nicolas Becker, Jaime Baksht, Michelle Couttolenc, Carlos Cortés, Carolina Santana

4. Tenet (Warner Bros)
Richard King, Mark Larry, Kevin O’Connell, Gary A. Rizzo

5. Mank (Netflix)
Ren Klyce, Jeremy Molod, David Parker, Nathan Nance, Drew Kunin

6. Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)
Philip Stockton, Paul Hsu, José Antonio García

7. News of the World (Universal Pictures)
John Pritchett, Mike Prestwood Smith, William Miller, Oliver Tarney, Michael Fentum 

8. The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix)
Renee Tondelli, Dan Kenyon, Julian Slater, Michael Babcock, Thomas Varga

9. The Outpost (Screen Media Films)
Emil Evtimov, Kris Casavant, Gord Hillier, Robert Fernandez, Ryan Nowak

10. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix)
Skip Lievsay, Paul Urmson, Dane Lonsdale

Other Contenders (alphabetical by film)

Bad Boys for Life (Columbia Pictures)
Nominees TBD

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (Warner Bros)
Nominees TBD

Cherry (Apple TV Plus)
Mark Binder, Donald Flick, Michael Gilbert

Greyhound (Apple TV+)
Odin Benitez, Jason King, Christian P. Minkler, Michael Minkler, Jeff Sawyer

The Invisible Man (Universal Pictures)
Paul “Salty” Brincat, Will Files, P.K. Hooker

Judas and the Black Messiah (Warner Bros)
Marlowe Taylor, Rich Bologna, Skip Lievsay

Mulan (Walt Disney Pictures)
Anna Behlmer, Jonathan Borland, Pascal Garneau, Scott Guitteau

Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures)
Sergio Diaz, Zach Seivers, M. Wolf Snyder

One Night in Miami (Amazon Studios)
Paul Ledford, Andy Hay, Bryan Parker, Xiao’ou Olivia Zhang, Duncan McRae

The Prom (Netflix)
Gary Megregian, David Giammarco, Mark Paterson, Steven A. Morrow

The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Paramount Pictures)
Josh Berger, Robert Hein

Wonder Woman 1984 (Warner Bros/HBO Max)
Peter J. Devlin, Richard King, Jimmy Boyle, Gary A. Rizzo, Gilbert Lake