2021 Oscar Predictions: ORIGINAL SCORE (October)

MINARI (Courtesy Sundance Institute)
With delayed tentpoles like Dune from Warner Bros and MGM/UA’s No Time to Die, Emile Mosseri’s elegant score from A24’s Minari pushes him all the way into the top 5 this month.
Here are my ranked 2021 Oscar predictions in Original Score for October.
Green – moves up; Red – moves down; Blue – new entry this month
1. Soul (Pixar)
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (John Batiste, if eligible)
2. Mank (Netflix)
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
3. The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix)
Daniel Pemberton
4. Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)
Terence Blanchard
5. Minari (A24)
Emile Mosseri
Other Contenders
Ammonite (Neon)
Volker Bertelmann and Dustin O’Halloran
Hillbilly Elegy (Netflix)
David Fleming and Hans Zimmer
The Midnight Sky (Netflix)
Alexandre Desplat
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Netflix)
Branford Marsalis
Mulan (Disney+)
Henry Gregson-Williams
News of the World (Universal Pictures)
James Newton Howard
One Night in Miami… (Amazon Studios)
Terence Blanchard
Over the Moon (Netflix)
Steven Price
Respect (MGM/UA)
Kris Bowers
Sound of Metal (Amazon Studios)
Abraham Marder and Nicolas Becker
Tenet (Warner Bros)
Ludwig Göransson
The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Paramount Pictures)
Kris Bowers
- Association of Motion Picture Sound (AMPS) Television and Nonfiction Nominations Announced: ‘Adolescence,’ ‘Black Mirror,’ ‘Slow Horses’ and More - March 20, 2026
- Trailer Watch: ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day,’ ‘Dune: Part Three,’ Disclosure Day,’ ‘Wild Horse Nine’ - March 20, 2026
- Six Join 51st Residence of the Festival de Cannes, including Harry Lighton, Mansi Maheshwari, Oliver McGoldrick - March 20, 2026

Director Watch Podcast Ep. 144 – ‘A Matter of Life and Death (Powell and Pressburger, 1946) with Special Guest Jesse Nussman
Association of Motion Picture Sound (AMPS) Television and Nonfiction Nominations Announced: ‘Adolescence,’ ‘Black Mirror,’ ‘Slow Horses’ and More
Trailer Watch: ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day,’ ‘Dune: Part Three,’ Disclosure Day,’ ‘Wild Horse Nine’
‘Anima’ Review: Sydney Chandler and Takehiro Hira Ground Brian Tetsuro Ivie’s Low-Fi Sci-Fi Road Movie [B+] SXSW