2022 Oscar Predictions: MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING and VISUAL EFFECTS (December)

The Academy came in with their Oscar shortlists yesterday, including Makeup & Hairstyling and Visual Effects and once again No Time to Die showed up on both, potentially making it a formidable contender across the board.

The expected suspects made the Makeup list: Cruella, Dune, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, House of Gucci and Nightmare Alley and that could very well be our Oscar five. But extensive aging work in Coming 2 America and Cyrano as the only film with the type of period piece hair we’re used to seeing in this category could find their way in. And we can’t count out The Suicide Squad, as the ‘original’ not only got nominated but won, although I feel like Jared Leto’s Joker was the lion’s share of that win.

Visual Effects saw no less than four Marvel films make the 10-film shortlist: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (which also earned an Annie nomination), Spider-Man: No Way Home, Eternals and Black Widow. The Academy has had a slightly mixed relationship with Marvel but I expect one or two to make the Oscar five. But it probably won’t matter as the behemoth that is Dune is and should be the overwhelming favorite, as well as possibly the only Best Picture representation unless No Time to Die or Spider-Man can sneak in.

Here are my 2022 Oscar predictions in Makeup & Hairstyling and Visual Effects for December 2021.

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Ten films advanced in the Makeup and Hairstyling category for the 94th Academy Awards. All members of the Academy’s Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch will be invited to view seven-minute excerpts and interviews with the artists from each of the shortlisted films on Sunday, January 30, 2022. Branch members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar consideration.

Green – moves up ↑ Red – moves down ↓ Blue – new/re-entry ♦ Black – no movement ↔

1. Dune (Warner Bros/HBO Max) – CCA ↔
2. The Eyes of Tammy Faye (Searchlight Pictures) – CCA ↔
3. Cruella (Walt Disney) – CCA ↔
4. House of Gucci (MGM/UAR) – CCA ↓
5. Nightmare Alley (Searchlight Pictures) – CCA ↑
6. The Suicide Squad (Warner Bros/HBO Max) ↓
7. Coming 2 America (Amazon Studios) ♦
8. Cyrano (MGM/UAR) ♦
9. West Side Story (20th Century Studios) ♦
10. No Time to Die (MGM/UAR) ♦

VISUAL EFFECTS

Ten films remain in the running in the Visual Effects category for the 94th Academy Awards. The Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee determined the shortlist. All members of the Visual Effects Branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts and interviews with the artists from each of the shortlisted films on Saturday, January 29, 2022. Branch members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar consideration.

Green – moves up ↑ Red – moves down ↓ Blue – new/re-entry ♦ Black – no movement ↔

1. Dune (Warner Bros/HBO Max) – CCA ↔
2. The Matrix Resurrections (Warner Bros/HBO Max) – CCA ↔
3. Godzilla vs. Kong (Warner Bros/HBO Max) ↔
4. Ghostbusters: Afterlife (Sony Pictures) ↑
5. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Walt Disney/Marvel) – CCA, Annie ↑
6. No Time to Die (MGM/UAR) – CCA ↑
7. Spider-Man: No Way Home (Sony Pictures/Marvel) ↔
8. Free Guy (20th Century Studios) ↓
9. Eternals (Walt Disney/Marvel) ↑
10. Black Widow (Walt Disney/Marvel) ↑

Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios

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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), 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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