2027 Oscar Predictions: BEST PICTURE and BEST DIRECTOR (June)

We’re halfway through the year and the upcoming Oscar season seems poised to be blockbusters vs international favorites, with non-festival studio players Project Hail Mary (Amazon MGM Studios), Obsession (Focus Features), The Odyssey (Universal Pictures) and Dune: Messiah (Warner Bros) leading the charge while Cannes winners Fjord (NEON), La bola negra (Netflix), Fatherland and Minotaur (both MUBI) all angling for a spot. Then there’s Digger (Warner Bros); which doesn’t seem to exist in either of those places unless it’s a surprisingly big hit.

While the blockbusters feel pretty good right now (although I’m still not sold on Obsession being a real player… yet), only Fjord and La bola negra feel safe as the international picks. Both NEON and Netflix are too good at this to not think so. MUBI, on the other hand, has less of a track record to build on, having only secured one major above the line contender in 2024’s The Substance.

Potential fall festival players poised to stake a claim to a top 10 spot are Searchlight Pictures’ Wild Horse Nine, from Martin McDonagh, who’s proven his films are Oscar favorites this last decade, the newest adaptation of Sense and Sensibility (Focus Features) from indie director Georgia Oakley and Behemoth! (Searchlight Pictures) from Oscar nominee Tony Gilroy.

But there’s still so many films and directors who could be on equal footing come fall, like Jesse Eisenberg’s musical comedy The Debut, which looks to have performances from Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti that could go all the way. Being Heumann, the long-awaited feature directorial return from Sian Heder of 2021 Best Picture winner CODA and starring Mark Ruffalo is in the mix. As is the maybe less-awaited sequel to the Oscar-winning The Social Network that was directed by David Fincher, The Social Reckoning from Aaron Sorkin. With an entirely new cast, including Jeremy Strong taking over the reins of playing Mark Zuckerberg from Jessie Eisenberg, this sequel could go a few ways.

Speaking of Fincher, he has the (as of now) Untitled Cliff Booth Movie with Brad Pitt returning to his Oscar-winning role from Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. Quentin Tarantino, who wrote and directed the latter, returns but only as the film’s screenwriter. But no one is really quite sure what Netflix’s plans are for the film other than a release date; an exclusive two week run on IMAX on November 25 and then hitting the streamer on December 23. This date was selected after Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of the classic Narnia books was moved off the 2026 calendar and will open in February 2027. But will Cliff Booth hit Venice or AFI or any festival at all? The streamer is quiet on that right now but we’ll know more next month when the Venice Film Festival announces their lineup on July 23.

Here are my very early 2027 Oscar nomination predictions in Best Picture and Best Director for June.

BEST PICTURE

Next up: All of a Sudden (NEON) ⬇, Being Heumann (Apple Original Films), Coward (MUBI), The Debut (A24), Michael (Lionsgate), Minotaur (MUBI), Obsession (Focus Features) ⬆, Paper Tiger (NEON), Saturn Return (Netflix), A Place in Hell (NEON) ⬆, The Social Reckoning (Sony Pictures/Columbia), ⬇ Untitled Cliff Booth Movie (Netflix)

2027? Cry to Heaven (TBD), A Long Winter (TBD), Seance of a Wet Afternoon (TBD), Sweetsick (Searchlight Pictures)

All of a Sudden (NEON)

Backrooms (A24)

Behemoth! (Searchlight Pictures)

Being Heumann (Apple Original Films)

The Beloved (TBD)

The Birthday Party (TBD)

Bitter Christmas (Sony Pictures Classics)

The Black Ball (TBD)

Bunker (TBD)

Coward (TBD)

Cry to Heaven (TBD)

The Debut (A24)

The Devil Wears Prada 2 (20th Century Studios)

Digger (Warner Bros)

Disclosure Day (Universal Pictures)

The Dog Stars (20th Century Studios)

Dune: Messiah (Warner Bros)

The Echo Chamber (TBD)

Fatherland (MUBI)

Fight for 84 (Netflix)

Fjord (NEON)

The Great Beyond (Warner Bros)

Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! (Sony Pictures Classics)

Hope (NEON)

Hot Spot (Focus Features)

I Play Rocky (Amazon MGM Studios)

I Swear (Sony Pictures Classics)

Jack of Spades (TBD)

Josephine (Summerian Films)

The Last Disturbance of Madeline Hynde (TBD)

A Long Winter (TBD)

Michael (Lionsgate)

Minesis (TBD)

Minotaur (MUBI)

The Most Intimate Betrayal (Netflix)

Obsession (Warner Bros)

The Odyssey (Universal Pictures)

Paper Tiger (NEON)

Parallel Tales (TBD)

A Place in Hell (NEON)

Photograph 51 (TBD)

Possible Love (Netflix)

Project Hail Mary (Amazon MGM Studios)

Queen at Sea (Greenwich Entertainment)

The Rays and Shadows (TBD)

Rose (MUBI)

Saturn Return (Netflix)

Seance of a Wet Afternoon (TBD)

Sense and Sensibility (Focus Features)

The Social Reckoning (Sony Pictures/Columbia)

Sweetsick (Searchlight Pictures)

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (MUBI)

Tender Loving Care (Bleecker Street)

Tenzing (Apple Original Films)

The Unknown (NEON)

Untitled Cliff Booth Movie (Netflix)

Wild Horse Nine (Searchlight Pictures)

BEST DIRECTOR

Next up: Ryusuke Hamaguchi – All of a Sudden (NEON) ⬇, Sian Heder – Being Heumann (Apple Original Films), Lukas Dhont – Coward (MUBI), Joel Coen – Jack of Spades (TBD), Andrey Zvyagintsev – Minotaur (MUBI), Curry Barker – Obsession (Focus Features) NEW, James Gray – Paper Tiger (NEON), Chloe Dumont – A Place in Hell (NEON) ⬆, Greg Kwedar – Saturn Return (Netflix), Aaron Sorkin – The Social Reckoning (Sony Pictures/Columbia) ⬇, David Fincher – Untitled Cliff Booth Movie (Netflix)

2027? Tom Ford – Cry to Heaven (TBD), Andrew Haigh – A Long Winter (TBD), Thomas Alfredson – Seance of a Wet Afternoon (TBD), Alice Birch – Sweetsick (Searchlight Pictures)

Ryusuke Hamaguchi – All of a Sudden (NEON)

Kane Parsons – Backrooms (A24)

Tony Gilroy – Behemoth! (Searchlight Pictures)

Sian Heder – Being Heumann (Apple Original Films)

Rodrigo Sorogoyen – The Beloved (TBD)

Lea Mysius – The Birthday Party (TBD)

Pedro Almodóvar – Bitter Christmas (Sony Pictures Classics)

Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo – La bola negra (Netflix)

Florian Zeller – Bunker (TBD)

Lukas Dhont – Coward (MUBI)

Tom Ford – Cry to Heaven (TBD)

Jesse Eisenberg – The Debut (A24)

Alejandro G. Iñarrítu – Digger (Warner Bros)

Steven Spielberg – Disclosure Day (Universal Pictures)

Ridley Scott – The Dog Stars (20th Century Studios)

Denis Villeneuve – Dune: Messiah (Warner Bros)

Andrea Pallaoro – The Echo Chamber (TBD)

Paweł Pawlikowski – Fatherland (MUBI)

Andres Baiz – Fight for 84 (Netflix)

Cristian Mungiu – Fjord (NEON)

J. J. Abrams – The Great Beyond (Warner Bros)

Na Hong-jin – Hope (NEON)

Peter Farrelly – I Play Rocky (Amazon MGM Studios)

Agnieszka Smoczynska – Hot Spot (Focus Features)

Joel Coen – Jack of Spades (TBD)

Beth de Araujo – Josephine (Summerian Films)

Kenneth Branagh – The Last Disturbance of Madeline Hynde (TBD)

Andrew Haigh – A Long Winter (TBD)

Ira Sachs – The Man I Love (TBD)

Antoine Fuqua – Michael (Lionsgate)

Kaouther Ben Hadia – Minesis (TBD)

Andrey Zvyagintsev – Minotaur (MUBI)

Santiago Mitre – The Most Intimate Betrayal (Netflix)

Curry Barker – Obsession (Focus Features)

Christopher Nolan – The Odyssey (Universal Pictures)

James Gray – Paper Tiger (NEON)

Asghar Farhadi – Parallel Tales (TBD)

Hong Won-ki – Perfect Girl (TBD)

Tom Hooper – Photograph 51 (TBD)

Chloe Dumont – A Place in Hell (NEON)

Lee Chang-dong – Possible Love (Netflix)

Phil Lord & Christopher Miller – Project Hail Mary (Amazon MGM Studios)

Xavier Giannoli – The Rays and Shadows (TBD)

Markus Schleinzer – Rose (MUBI)

Greg Kwedar – Saturn Return (Netflix)

Thomas Alfredson – Seance of a Wet Afternoon (TBD)

Georgia Oakley – Sense and Sensibility (Focus Features)

Hirokazu Kore-eda – Sheep in a Box (NEON)

Aaron Sorkin – The Social Reckoning (Sony Pictures/Columbia)

Alice Birch – Sweetsick (Searchlight Pictures)

Mike Leigh – Tender Loving Care (Bleecker Street)

Jane Schoenbrun – Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (MUBI)

Jennifer Peedom – Tenzing (Apple Original Films)

Arthur Harari – The Unknown (NEON)

David Fincher – Untitled Cliff Booth Movie (Netflix)

Martin McDonagh – Wild Horse Nine (Searchlight Pictures)

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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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