Frontrunner Friday: Awards season has begun
This week has given us the Gotham Award winners, the National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics Circle.
With wins for ROMA to Green Book to A Star Is Born, and performances from Ethan Hawke to Regina King to Richard E. Grant grabbing early prizes, we’re going to see things move quickly, parts fall into place and others finding themselves with nowhere to fit.
First Reformed and Eighth Grade made surprisingly strong bursts out of the gate, performing very well in this first week, winning prizes from all three awards bodies. With Toni Collette (Hereditary) in tow, A24 all but dominated the Gothams. This was probably the boost the Oscar-winning studio needed to start ramping up its awards campaigns for the three films, which I expect to see happen in earnest now.
Early frontrunner status can be a tricky thing; you’ve got to maintain it without being boring, fighting off other contenders and holding your ground. The coming weeks will bring us the Los Angeles Film Critics Association as well as nominations from the Screen Actors Guild and the Golden Globes.
Buckle up, folks. Everything is about to change.
Here’s your Frontrunner Friday for November 30, 2018.
BEST PICTURE
1. ROMA (Netflix – 11/21 limited theatrical, 12/14 streaming)
2. A Star is Born (Warner Bros – 10/5)
3. If Beale Street Could Talk (Annapurna – 12/14)
4. Black Panther (Disney – 2/16)
5. The Favourite (Fox Searchlight – 11/23)
6. BlacKkKlansman (Focus Features – 8/10)
7. Green Book (Universal – 11/16)
8. Vice (Annapurna – 12/25)
9. First Reformed (A24 – 5/18)
10. First Man (Universal – 10/12)
DIRECTOR
1. Alfonso Cuarón – ROMA (Netflix)
2. Bradley Cooper – A Star Is Born (Warner Bros)
3. Barry Jenkins – If Beale Street Could Talk (Annapurna)
4. Ryan Coogler – Black Panther (Disney)
5. Spike Lee – BlacKkKlansman (Focus Features)
ACTOR
1. Bradley Cooper – A Star Is Born (Warner Bros)
2. Christian Bale – Vice (Annapurna)
3. Ethan Hawke – First Reformed (A24)
4. Viggo Mortensen – Green Book (Universal)
5. Lucas Hedges – Boy Erased (Focus Features)
ACTRESS
1. Glenn Close – The Wife (Sony Classics)
2. Lady Gaga – A Star Is Born (Warner Bros)
3. Olivia Colman – The Favourite (Fox Searchlight)
4. Yalitza Aparicio – ROMA (Netflix)
5. Melissa McCarthy – Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Fox Searchlight)
SUPPORTING ACTOR
1. Richard E. Grant – Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Fox Searchlight)
2. Mahershala Ali – Green Book (Universal)
3. Sam Elliott – A Star Is Born (Warner Bros)
4. Adam Driver – BlacKkKlansman (Focus Features)
5. Timothée Chalamet – Beautiful Boy (Amazon)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
1. Regina King – If Beale Street Could Talk (Annapurna)
2. Amy Adams – Vice (Annapurna)
3. Emma Stone – The Favourite (Fox Searchlight)
4. Rachel Weisz – The Favourite (Fox Searchlight)
5. Nicole Kidman – Boy Erased (Focus Features)
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
1. If Beale Street Could Talk (Annapurna)
2. Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Fox Searchlight)
3. BlacKkKlansman (Focus Features)
4. Black Panther (Disney)
5. A Star Is Born (Warner Bros)
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
1. First Reformed (A24)
2. The Favourite (Fox Searchlight)
3. ROMA (Netflix)
4. Vice (Annapurna)
5. Eighth Grade (A24)
FILM EDITING
1. ROMA (Netflix)
2. First Man (Universal)
3. A Star is Born (Warner Bros)
4. The Favourite (Fox Searchlight)
5. If Beale Street Could Talk (Annapurna)
CINEMATOGRAPHY
1. ROMA (Netflix)
2. If Beale Street Could Talk (Annapurna)
3. First Man (Universal)
4. A Star is Born (Warner Bros)
5. Cold War (Amazon)
PRODUCTION DESIGN
1. The Favourite (Fox Searchlight)
2. First Man (Universal)
3. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (Disney)
4. Mary Poppins Returns (Disney)
5. Black Panther (Disney)
COSTUME DESIGN
1. The Favourite (Fox Searchlight)
2. Mary Poppins Returns (Disney)
3. Black Panther (Disney)
4. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (Warner Bros)
5. Mary Queen of Scots (Focus Features)
ORIGINAL SCORE
1. If Beale Street Could Talk (Annapurna)
2. First Man (Universal)
3. Mary Poppins Returns (Disney)
4. Widows (20th Century Fox)
5. Black Panther (Disney)
ORIGINAL SONG
1. A Star Is Born, “Shallow” (Warner Bros)
2. Black Panther, “All the Stars” (Disney)
3. Mary Poppins Returns, “The Place Where Lost Things Go” (Disney)
4. Boy Erased, “Revelation” (Focus Features)
5. RBG, “I’ll Fight” (Magnolia)
SOUND EDITING
1. First Man (Universal)
2. ROMA (Netflix)
3. Black Panther (Disney)
4. Mary Poppins Returns (Disney)
5. A Quiet Place (Paramount)
SOUND MIXING
1. A Star Is Born (Warner Bros)
2. First Man (Universal)
3. Black Panther (Disney)
4. ROMA (Netflix)
5. Mary Poppins Returns (Disney)
MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
1. The Favourite (Fox Searchlight)
2. Border (Neon)
3. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (Disney)
VISUAL EFFECTS
1. Black Panther (Disney)
2. Mary Poppins Returns (Disney)
3. Ready Player One (Warner Bros)
4. Avengers: Infinity War (Disney)
5. Bumblebee (Paramount)
ANIMATED FEATURE
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)
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
1. Mexico – ROMA (Netflix)
2. Poland – Cold War (Amazon)
3. Lebanon – Capharnaüm (Sony Classics)
4. Denmark – The Guilty (Magnolia)
5. United Kingdom – I Am Not a Witch (Film Movement)
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
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)
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: FILM EDITING, CINEMATOGRAPHY, COSTUME DESIGN, PRODUCTION DESIGN (December) - December 18, 2024
- 2025 Oscar Predictions: MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING, ORIGINAL SCORE, ORIGINAL SONG, SOUND, VISUAL EFFECTS (December) - December 18, 2024
- 2024 Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association (DFWFCA) Winners: ‘Anora’ Top Film, Director, Actress - December 18, 2024
2025 Oscar Predictions: FILM EDITING, CINEMATOGRAPHY, COSTUME DESIGN, PRODUCTION DESIGN (December) 
2025 Oscar Predictions: MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING, ORIGINAL SCORE, ORIGINAL SONG, SOUND, VISUAL EFFECTS (December) 
Interview: Director Robert Eggers (‘Nosferatu’) on the Consequences of Temptation, Training Hundreds of Rats, and Playing with Vampire Lore 
Interview: Guy Pearce on the Beauty and Violence of ‘The Brutalist’ and Van Buren’s Call to His Therapist