2019 Oscar Predictions: ANIMATED FEATURE, DOCUMENTARY FEATURE, FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM (November)
Bottom: Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (Focus Features), Burning (Well Go USA)
Incredibles 2 holds onto the top spot in Animated Feature but the phenomenal reviews for Ralph Breaks the Internet help bump up that film to #2.
The Academy hasn’t been too kind to sequels in this category, especially to Disney/Pixar but it seems like one of these two could very possibly change that.
A handful of original animated films still pepper the landscape and could take over since it’s still a relatively open race.
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? moves up to #1 this month on the strength of it being the only film to hit the Independent Documentary Association, Cinema Eye Honors and today’s Producers Guild of America finalist list. It also won the Critics’ Choice Documentary Feature award earlier this month. Unless the doc branch of the Academy does the film dirty like they did to last year’s overwhelming frontrunner Jane, Mr. Rogers should find a place on nomination morning.
In Foreign Language Film, Belgium’s Girl moves into the shortlist predictions, bumping Italy’s Dogman. South Korea’s Burning moves up as it could possibly be a committee save.
Shortlists for Documentary Feature and Foreign Language Film will arrive on December 17th.
Here are my 2019 Oscar Predictions in Animated Feature, Documentary Feature and Foreign Language Film (the 9-film shortlist) for November 20, 2018.
ANIMATED FEATURE
Green – moves up; Red – moves down; Blue – chart debut/return
1. Incredibles 2 (Disney)
2. Ralph Breaks the Internet (Disney)
3. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Sony)
4. Isle of Dogs (Fox Searchlight)
5. Mirai (GKids/Fathom Events)
6. Smallfoot (Warner Bros)
7. Lu Over the Wall (GKids)
8. Dr. Suess’s The Grinch (Universal)
9. Early Man (Lionsgate)
10. Teen Titans Go! To the Movies (Warner Bros)
OTHER CONTENDERS
Ana y Bruno (BF Distribution)
Fireworks (GKids)
Have a Nice Day (Strand Releasing)
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (Sony)
The Laws of the Universe – Part 1 (Eleven Arts)
Liz and the Blue Bird (Eleven Arts)
Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms (Eleven Arts)
MFKZ (Gkids)
The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl (Fathom Events)
On Happiness Road (Eurozoom)
Ruben Brandt, Collector (Sony Classics)
Sherlock Gnomes (Paramount)
Sgt. Stubby: American Hero (Fun Academy Motion Pictures)
Tall Tales
Tito and the Birds (Shout! Factory)
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Green – moves up; Red – moves down; Blue – chart debut/return
1. Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (Focus Features)
2. RBG (Magnolia / CNN Films)
3. Hale County This Morning, This Evening (Cinema Guild)
4. Shirkers (Netflix)
5. Minding the Gap (Hulu / Magnolia)
6. Free Solo (NatGeo)
7. Three Identical Strangers (Neon / CNN Films)
8. Dark Money (PBS)
9. On Her Shoulders (Oscilloscope)
10. Crime + Punishment (Hulu / IFC Films)
NEXT UP
The Biggest Little Farm (Neon)
Bisbee ’17 (4th Row Films)
Quincy (Netflix)
Reversing Roe (Netflix)
Science Fair (NatGeo)
The Silence of Others (Cinephil)
OTHER CONTENDERS
American Chaos (Sony Pictures Classics)
Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché
The Bleeding Edge (Netflix)
Fahrenheit 11/9 (State Run Films / Briarcliff Entertainment)
Generation Wealth (Amazon)
Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami (Kino Lorber)
The Great Buster: A Celebration (Cohen Media)
Jane Fonda in Five Acts (HBO)
King in the Wilderness (HBO)
Love, Gilda (Magnolia)
MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A. (Abramorama)
Monrovia, Indiana (Zipporah Films)
McQueen (Bleecker Street)
Of Fathers and Sons (Kino Lorber)
The Oslo Diaries (HBO)
Pope Francis: A Man of His Word (Focus Features)
The Price of Everything (HBO)
Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind (HBO)
Samouni Road
Seeing Allred (Netflix)
The Sentence (HBO)
The Silence of Others
Studio 54 (A&E)
They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead (Netflix)
This Is Home: A Refugee Story
Whitney (Roadside Attractions/Miramax)
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Green – moves up; Red – moves down; Blue – chart debut/return
1. Mexico – ROMA (Netflix)
2. Lebanon – Capharnaüm (Sony Classics)
3. Poland – Cold War (Amazon)
4. Denmark – The Guilty (Magnolia)
5. United Kingdom – I Am Not a Witch (Film Movement)
6. Belgium – Girl (Netflix)
7. Germany – Never Look Away (Sony Classics)
8. Japan – Shoplifters (Magnolia)
9. Sweden – Border (Neon)
NEXT UP
South Korea – Burning (Well Go USA)
Hungary – Sunset (Sony Classics)
Italy – Dogman (Magnolia)
Colombia – Birds of Passage (The Orchard)
Ukraine – Donbass
OTHER CONTENDERS
Egypt – Yomeddine
France – Memoir of War
Iran – No Date, No Signature
Israel – The Cakemaker
Netherlands – The Resistance Banker
Paraguay – The Heiresses (1844 Entertainment)
Romania – “I Do Not Care If We Go Down In History As Barbarians”
South Africa – Sew the Winter to My Skin
Spain – Champions
Turkey – The Wild Pear Tree
Uruguay – A Twelve-Year Night
2019 Oscar Predictions: ADAPTED and ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY (November)
2019 Oscar Predictions: SUPPORTING ACTOR (November)
2019 Oscar Predictions: SUPPORTING ACTRESS (November)
2019 Oscar Predictions: SUPPORTING ACTOR (November)
2019 Oscar Predictions: SUPPORTING ACTRESS (November)
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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