Gold Rush Gang: FINAL Oscar Predictions

Erik Anderson February 26, 2014

The time has come, for you to lip sy…wait, wrong show. This is it, the final stretch before the Oscars on Sunday and with it the FINAL winner predictions from the Gold Rush Gang. What a tumultuous season it’s been. While most of our pundints agree that 12 Years a Slave will prevail in Best Picture as it did with BFCA, Golden Globes and BAFTA. But it’s not without a bit of reservation as those Best Picture wins seemed narrowly out of grasp each time as the film saw defeat in so many categories leading up to the big one. It appears that will likely happen again as only Adapted Screenplay and Supporting Actress appear to be the film’s only other real chances. And with this year, even those categories are volatile, especially Supporting Actress.

Rarely has an acting category been this close as it is between 12YAS‘s Lupita Nyong’o (coming in with BFCA and SAG wins) and American Hustle‘s Jennifer Lawrence (with the Golden Globe and BAFTA). Each have things for and against a potential win; Nyong’o has been everywhere, on every red carpet, looking amazing and giving fantastic speeches. Lawrence, having just won Lead Actress last year, has been almost nowhere. While she was finishing up filming right in the middle of the prime Oscar campaigning it almost feels as if she’s purposely not campaigning, as if it would appear in poor taste since her win is so fresh. Her nomination this year put her in the record books and a win would as well. Thank goodness it comes so early in the show, as it could telegraph a lot for us viewers.

In the screenplay categories, 12 Years a Slave should be able to win Adapted but it even lost the BAFTA to Philomena so that’s not for sure. In Original the race is between American Hustle and Her and it’s going to be a nail-biter. If Lawrence loses Supporting Actress this might be the only place to reward the film and Russell has to have a tremendous amount of actor support, having directed a history-making 11 acting nominations (and three wins) with his last three films. A good stat to keep in mind is that no film has won the SAG ensemble award and missed out on a top 8 category Oscar in 16 years (The Full Monty was the last).

On the tech side, Gravity appears to be able to dominate most categories handily, although it could face some competition from Captain Phillips in Film Editing (where it lost the ACE Eddie to CP) and in the Sound categories as well. But Director, Cinematography and Visual Effects are as locked as you can get this year.

Frozen should nab both of its nominations, in Animated Feature and Original Song, but don’t be too surprised if Grammy winner Pharrell Williams’ current Billboard Hot 100 hit “Happy” snatches it away. In Foreign Language Film, thanks to the expansion of voting to the academy at large, Italy’s The Great Beauty seems to stand the best chance. Same goes for 20 Feet From Stardom in Documentary Feature. A popular hit and now voted on by the entire academy.

You can also listen to the most recent podcast where we discuss the predictions in full.

BEST PICTURE
Gravity – Long, Michael
12 Years a Slave – Erik, Ben, Beth, Cédric, Dennis, Evan, Kenneth, Peter, Richard

BEST DIRECTOR
Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity – Erik, Ben, Beth, Cédric, Dennis, Evan, Kenneth, Michael, Peter, Richard

BEST ACTOR
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street – Cédric
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club – Erik, Ben, Beth, Dennis, Evan, Kenneth, Michael, Peter, Richard

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine – Erik, Ben, Beth, Cédric, Dennis, Evan, Kenneth, Michael, Richard, Peter

jaredletodallas150 — Jared Leto, *Dallas Buyers Club*

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club – Erik, Ben, Beth, Cédric, Dennis, Evan, Kenneth, Long, Michael, Peter, Richard

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle – Erik, Kenneth, Richard
Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave – Ben, Beth, Cédric, Dennis, Evan, Long, Peter

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
12 Years a Slave – Erik, Ben, Beth, Cédric, Dennis, Evan, Kenneth, Long, Michael, Peter, Richard

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
American Hustle – Erik, Evan, Kenneth, Long, Michael, Richard
Her – Ben, Beth, Cédric, Dennis, Peter

BEST FILM EDITING
Captain Phillips – Beth, Dennis, Michael
Gravity – Erik, Ben, Cédric, Evan, Kenneth, Long, Peter, Richard

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Gravity – Erik, Ben, Beth, Cédric, Dennis, Evan, Kenneth, Long, Michael, Peter, Richard

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Great Gatsby – Erik, Ben, Beth, Cédric, Dennis, Evan, Kenneth, Long, Michael, Peter, Richard

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
The Great Gatsby – Ben, Beth, Cédric, Dennis, Evan, Kenneth, Long, Michael, Peter, Richard
12 Years a Slave – Erik

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
Dallas Buyers Club – Erik, Ben, Beth, Cédric, Evan, Kenneth, Long, Michael, Peter, Richard
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa – Dennis

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Frozen – Erik, Ben, Beth, Cédric, Dennis, Evan, Kenneth, Long, Michael, Peter, Richard

The Great Beauty, Italy — *The Great Beauty*, Italy

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Great Beauty – Erik, Ben, Cédric, Kenneth, Long, Michael, Peter, Richard
The Hunt – Dennis, Evan
Omar – Beth

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
The Act of Killing – Ben
20 Feet From Stardom – Erik, Beth, Cédric, Dennis, Evan, Kenneth, Long, Michael, Peter, Richard

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Gravity – Erik, Ben, Beth, Cédric, Evan, Kenneth, Long, Michael, Peter, Richard

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Let It Go,” Frozen – Erik, Ben, Beth, Cédric, Dennis, Evan, Kenneth, Long, Michael, Peter, Richard

BEST SOUND MIXING
Gravity – Erik, Ben, Beth, Cédric, Dennis, Evan, Kenneth, Long, Michael, Peter, Richard

BEST SOUND EDITING
Gravity – Erik, Ben, Beth, Cédric, Dennis, Evan, Kenneth, Long, Michael, Peter, Richard

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Gravity – Erik, Ben, Beth, Cédric, Dennis, Evan, Kenneth, Long, Michael, Peter, Richard

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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.