2021 Oscar Predictions: VISUAL EFFECTS (October)
THE MIDNIGHT SKY (courtesy of Netflix)
Dune is gone. Wonder Woman 1984 is definitely going to pack its magic lasso and move to 2021 so I’m preemptively dropping it now. That’s going to make for a very different looking visual effects category than we’ve seen before, allowing films with strong supporting visual effects to rise instead of being dominated by CGI-heavy blockbusters (although we do still have Birds of Prey in the mix).
This may be a chance for an animated film like Soul or Over the Moon to get in, as 2016’s Kubo and the Two Strings did, and animated films often make the shortlist.
Here are my ranked 2021 Oscar predictions in Visual Effects for October.
Green – moves up; Red – moves down; Blue – new entry this month
1. Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (Warner Bros)
Nominees TBD
2. Mulan (Disney+)
Nominees TBD
3. The Midnight Sky (Netflix)
Nominees TBD
4. Greyhound (Apple TV+)
Nominees TBD
5. Sonic the Hedgehog (Paramount Pictures)
Nominees TBD
Other Contenders
The Call of the Wild (20th Century Studios)
Nominees TBD
Cinderella (Sony Pictures)
Nominees TBD
Death on the Nile (20th Century Studios)
Nominees TBD
Doolittle (Universal Pictures)
Nominees TBD
Free Guy (20th Century Studios)
Nominees TBD
The Invisible Man (Universal Pictures)
Nominees TBD
The New Mutants (20th Century Studios)
Nominees TBD
Over the Moon (Netflix)
Nominees TBD
Soul (Pixar)
Nominees TBD
Tenet (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.
- 2025 Oscar Predictions: BEST ACTRESS (November) - November 20, 2024
- ‘Sugarcane,’ ‘Soundtrack to A Coup d’Etat’ Lead 40th IDA Documentary Awards Nominations - November 20, 2024
- AwardsWatch Partners with Vision Media to Revolutionize the Awards Season Experience - November 20, 2024
2025 Oscar Predictions: BEST ACTRESS (November) 
‘Sugarcane,’ ‘Soundtrack to A Coup d’Etat’ Lead 40th IDA Documentary Awards Nominations 
AwardsWatch Partners with Vision Media to Revolutionize the Awards Season Experience 
Interview: ‘The Substance’ Special Makeup Effects Designer Pierre-Olivier Persin on Transforming Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley into a Funhouse of Horror and Using 4,000 Gallons of Blood