2021 Oscar Predictions: SOUND (September)
courtesy of Warner Bros
With the announcement that Sound Editing and Sound Mixing would revert to a single category for the first time since 1982, it was met with mixed reactions, with sound specialists in both fields offering their thoughts. Some were on board with the unifying decision while others saw the two fields as requiring uniquely specific skills that should have remained separated. The number of Oscar nominees will remain the same; up to six statuettes may be awarded. Eligible recipients may include one production sound mixer, two supervising sound editors and three rerecording mixers. It also marks the first time a category has been removed from the Oscars since Original Dramatic Score and Original Musical or Comedy Score merged in 1999 to become simply Original Score.
With the ever-changing release schedules (I was literally re-editing this week’s predictions due to Disney’s moving major Oscar players off this season’s map), listing predictions right now almost seems in vain. With a categories like Sound or Visual Effects, those tent pole releases didn’t happen this year, and might not still. The fate of MGM/UA’s No Time to Die and Warner Bros’ Dune hang in the balance, which opens the door to a few films that might not have been top contenders to take their place if they also move off the calendar.
At the moment, Columbia Pictures’ Bad Boys for Life is the highest grossing film at the box office this year. Voters will be looking for visible hits to represent the sound category and we could also see the return of animated films here, which used to dominate the sound categories. Disney/Pixar’s Soul is at the top of that list. Amazon’s Sound of Metal is literally all about sound and might find a spot. Even with 20th Century’s West Side Story gone we’ll still a musical in Netflix’s The Prom plus three major music biopics for voters to listen to: MGM/UA’s Respect, Netflix’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Paramount’s The United States vs. Billie Holiday. While musicals had been easy nominations for sound mixing, sound editing was far more elusive until recently when 2016’s La La Land earned nominations in both and 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody actually won both, a first for a film of its kind, beating out traditional action fare that usually wins this award.
Here are my ranked 2021 Oscar predictions in Sound for September.
1. Soul (Pixar)
Nominees TBD
2. Tenet (Warner Bros)
Nominees TBD
3. Dune (Warner Bros) [moved to October 2021]Nominees TBD
4. Sound of Metal (Amazon Studios)
Nominees TBD
5. Mank (Netflix)
Nominees TBD
Other Contenders
Bad Boys for Life (Columbia Pictures)
Nominees TBD
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (Warner Bros)
Nominees TBD
Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)
Nominees TBD
The Invisible Man (Universal Pictures)
Nominees TBD
Judas and the Black Messiah (Warner Bros)
Nominees TBD
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix)
Nominees TBD
Mulan (Walt Disney Pictures)
Nominees TBD
News of the World (Universal Pictures)
Nominees TBD
No Time to Die (MGM/UA)
Nominees TBD
The Prom (Netflix)
Nominees TBD
Respect (MGM/UA)
Nominees TBD
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix)
Nominees TBD
The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Paramount Pictures)
Nominees TBD
Wonder Woman 1984 (Warner Bros)
Nominees TBD
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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