Hollywood’s heart beats faster as the Academy readies its 98th Awards, promising a season of suspense, drama, and cinematic triumph.
Oscar Nominations Announcement
The film academy, with nearly 10,000 voting members, will soon cast its ballots across more than 20 categories, including a brand-new category for casting excellence. Nominees are set to be announced on Jan. 22, with the ceremony scheduled for March 12.
Likely Contenders
Avatar: Fire and Ash
The third installment in James Cameron’s money-minting science-fiction franchise follows Na’vi couple Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) as they fend off new threats to their family and way of life. The first two films each competed for Best Picture; the latest could complete the trifecta.
Frankenstein
Guillermo del Toro brings Mary Shelley’s timeless Gothic fable to life, with Oscar Isaac as the arrogant surgeon Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as his “Creature.” Del Toro’s acclaimed The Shape of Water won four Oscars in 2018, including Best Picture and Best Director.
Hamnet
Chloé Zhao imagines the lives of William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and his wife Agnes (Jessie Buckley) as they grieve their young son in this tearjerker adapted from a novel by Maggie O’Farrell, who co-wrote the screenplay. Zhao is the second of just three women to win the Best Director Oscar, for 2020’s Nomadland.
It Was Just an Accident
Iranian auteur Jafar Panahi, a political dissident who has repeatedly faced persecution in his home country, earned the top prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for this searing study of revenge and moral responsibility under a repressive government regime. “Accident” is France’s submission for the Best International Feature prize.
Marty Supreme
Josh Safdie’s frenetic 1950s-set picaresque stars Timothée Chalamet as a wildly ambitious ping-pong player, alongside a supporting cast that includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Fran Drescher and Kevin O’Leary, better known as “Mr. Wonderful” from Shark Tank. Chalamet is gunning for a Best Actor trophy.
No Other Choice
South Korean genre master Park Chan-Wook (“Oldboy”) skewers cutthroat corporate culture and late-capitalist malaise in this pitch-black comedic thriller about a laid-off paper company worker (Lee Byung-Hun) who takes increasingly desperate measures to get an edge in the job market.
One Battle After Another
Paul Thomas Anderson’s seriocomic thriller, loosely adapted from Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland, tracks a ragtag group of political revolutionaries, including Leonardo DiCaprio’s burnout single dad, as they face off against an old foe, a ruthless colonel played by Sean Penn. The film has topped year-end best-of lists and is the clear front-runner.
The Secret Agent
Brazil’s Kleber Mendonça Filho revisits the sociopolitical tumult of the 1970s, when his home country was governed by a brutal military dictatorship. In the film, a maverick scientific researcher (Wagner Moura) makes an enemy of a powerful regime-aligned businessman, forcing him to go on the run.
Sentimental Value
Norwegian writer-director Joachim Trier studies the complex ties between parents and children in this layered drama about a celebrated filmmaker (Stellan Skarsgård) struggling to make amends with his estranged daughter (Renate Reinsve), an actress who resents her father’s emotional neglect.
Sinners
Ryan Coogler’s genre-mixing yarn follows twin brothers “Smoke” and “Stack” (Michael B. Jordan) as they confront a supernatural menace at their “juke joint” on the Mississippi Delta circa 1932. The film was a critical and commercial triumph, grossing more than $367 million worldwide and receiving glowing reviews.
Train Dreams
Joel Edgerton anchors this visually majestic drama, which spans 80 years in the life of a taciturn railroad worker scarred by profound loss. Clint Bentley directs a script adapted from a Denis Johnson novella, marveling at the beauty of the American wilderness even as it is radically transformed by industrialization and technological change.
Wicked: For Good
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande bring magic to Thanksgiving weekend with this sequel drawn from the second half of the Broadway smash. Elphaba (Erivo) tries to protect Oz’s besieged animal population from the duplicitous Wizard (Jeff Goldblum), while Glinda (Grande) finds her loyalties divided.
Five Other Contenders
Blue Moon (Richard Linklater’s portrait of lyricist Lorenz Hart), Bugonia (Yorgos Lanthimos’s dark conspiracy satire), Jay Kelly (Noah Baumbach’s show-business dramedy), The Testament of Ann Lee (Mona Fastvold’s biopic of the Shakers founder), and Weapons (Zach Cregger’s suburban horror tale).
Key Takeaways
- The 98th Academy Awards nominees are announced Jan. 22, ceremony on March 12.
- Twelve films lead the field, ranging from Avatar’s sci-fi saga to Wicked’s musical sequel.
- Each contender offers a unique viewing experience, available in theaters now and on streaming platforms such as Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, HBO Max, Peacock, and Peacock.
The countdown to the Oscars has begun, and the industry watches closely as these films vie for the coveted trophies that define cinematic greatness.
