2022/23 Academy Award Predictions

Lane J. Lubell
5 min readMar 11, 2023

Best Picture:

Will Win: Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24)
Could Win: The Banshees of Inisherin (Fox Searchlight)
Should Win: Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24)
Missing: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Disney/Marvel); RRR (Sarigama Cinema)

Best Director:

Will Win: The Daniels — Everything Everywhere All at Once
Could Win: Steven Spielberg — The Fablemans
Should Win: The Daniels — Everything Everywhere ALL AT Once
Missing: Sarah Polley — Women Talking; S.S. Rajamouli — RRR

Best Actor:

Will Win: Austin Butler — Elvis
Could Win: Brendan Fraser — The Whale
Should Win: Austin Butler — Elvis
Missing: Tom Cruise — Top Gun: Maverick; Daniel Craig — Glass Onion

Best Actress:

Will Win: Michelle Yeoh — Everything Everywhere All at Once
Could Win: Cate Blanchett — Tár (extremely likely)
Should Win: Michelle Yeoh — Everything Everywhere All at Once
Missing: Viola Davis — The Woman King; Danielle Deadwyler — Till
WTF: Andrea Riseborough — To Leslie

Best Supporting Actor:

Will Win: Ke Huy Quan — Everything Everywhere All at Once
Could Win: Brendan Gleeson — The Banshees of Inisherin
Should Win: Ke Huy Quan — Everything Everywhere All at Once
Missing: Brad Pitt — Babylon; Paul Dano — The Fablemans; Colin Farrell- The Batman

Supporting Actress:

Will Win: Angela Bassett — Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Could Win: Jamie Lee Curtis — Everything Everywhere All at Once OR Kerry Condon — The Banshees of Inisherin
Should Win: Stephanie Hsu — Everything Everywhere All at Once
Missing: Danai Gurira — Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; Janelle Monae — Glass Onion; Kristen Stewart — Crimes of the Future

Best Original Screenplay:

Will Win: Everything Everywhere All at Once — Written by Dan Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
Could Win: The Banshees of Inisherin — Written by Martin McDonagh (very possible)
Should Win: Everything Everywhere All at Once — Written by Dan Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
Missing: Nope — Written by Jordan Peele; See How They Run — Written by Mark Chappell; The Menu — Written by Seth Reiss and Will Tracy

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Will Win: Women Talking — Screenplay by Sarah Polley; Based on the Novel by Miriam Toews
Could Win: All Quiet on the Western Front Screenplay by Edward Berger and Lesley Patterson & Ian Stokell; Based on the Novel by Erich Maria Remarque
Should Win: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery — Written by Ryan Johnson; Based on Characters from Knives Out by Johnson
Missing: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio — Screen Story by Matthew Robbins and Guillermo del Toro; Screenplay by Patrick McHale and Guillermo del Toro; Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — Story by Ryan Coogler; Screenplay by Joe Robert Cole and Ryan Coogler; Marcel the Shell with Shoes On — Story by Adam Paley, Dean Fleischer-Camp, Elizabeth Holm, and Jenny Slate; Screenplay by Adam Paley, Dean Fleischer-Camp, and Jenny Slate; Based on Chacters and Short Films by Dean Fleischer-Camp & Jenny Slate

Best Cinematography:

Will Win: All Quiet on the Western Front — Rupert Friend
Could Win: Mandy Walker — Elvis
Should Win: Florian Hoffmeister — Tár
Missing: Claudio Miranda — Top Gun: Maverick; Larkin Siepel — Everything Everywhere All at Once; Hoyte Van Hoytema — Nope

Best Costume Design

Will Win: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — Ruth E. Carter
Could Win: Elvis — Catherine Martin
Should Win: Everything Everywhere All at Once — Shirley Kurata
Missing: Glass Onion — Jenny Egan; The Woman King — Gresha Phillips

Best Film Editing:

Will Win: Everything Everywhere All At Once — Paul Rodgers
Could Win: Top Gun: Maverick — Eddie Hamilton
Should Win: Top Gun: Maverick — Eddie Hamilton
Missing: Women Talking — Christopher Donaldson and Roslyn Kalloo; The Menu — Christopher Tellefson; Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness — Bob Murawski and Tia Nolan
WTF: Elvis! That movie was horribly edited! They cut on every line!

Best Make-up and Hairstyling

Will Win: The Whale
Could Win: Elvis (very possible)
Should Win: The Batman
Missing: Crimes of the Future; Thor: Love and Thunder

Best Production Design

Will Win: Babylon
Could Win: Elvis
Should Win: Babylon (but none of these are great)
Missing: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio; Don’t Worry Darling; Thor: Love and Thunder

Best Original Score:

Will Win: Babylon — Justin Hurwitz
Could Win: Volker Bertelmann — All Quiet on the Western Front
Should Win: Babylon- Justin Hurwitz
Missing: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio — Alexandre Desplat; Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — Ludwig Görranson; The Batman — Michael Giacchino

Best Original Song

Will Win:”Naatu Naatu” (RRR) — Music by MM Keeravani; Lyrics by Chandrabose
Could Win: “Lift Me Up” (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) — Music & Lyrics Ryan Coogler, Ludwig Göransson, Rihanna, and Tems (significant posssibility)
Should Win: “Naatu Naatu” or “This Is a Life” (Everything Everywhere All at Once) — Music by David Byrne, Ryan Lott, and Mitski; Lyrics by David Byrne and Ryan Lott
Missing: “Ciao Papa” (Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio) — Music by Alexandre Desplat; Lyrics by Roeban Katz and Guillermo del Toro; “Nobody Like U” (Turning Red) — Music & Lyrics by Billie Eilish

Best Sound:

Will Win: Top Gun: Maverick
Could Win: All Quiet on the Western Front
Should Win: Top Gun: Maverick
Missing: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever; Babylon; Nope

Best VFX:

Will Win: Avatar: The Way of Water
Could Win: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Should Win: Top Gun: Maverick
Missing: Everything Everywhere All at Once; Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness; RRR

Best International Film:

Will Win: All Quiet on the Western Front (Germany; German/French)
Could Win: Close (Belgium; French/Flemish w/ Dutch)
Should Win: Actually: RRR; Of the nominees: Argentina 1985 (Argentina; Spanish)
Missing: RRR (India; Telugu w/ English)* Decision to Leave (South Korea; Korean w/ Mandarin Chinese; MUBI); Return to Seoul (Cambodia; Korean/French w/ English; Sony Pictures Classics)
*: ineligible because India did not select it as their official submission.

Best Animated Film:

Will Win: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (Netflix)
Could Win: Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (A24)
Should Win: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (Netflix)
Missing: My Father’s Dragon (Cartoon Saloon/Netflix); Wendell and Wild (Laika/Netflix); Lightyear (Disney/Pixar)

Best Animated Short Film:

Will Win: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse (UK)
Could Win: My Year of Dicks (USA) OR An Ostrich Told My the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It (AUS)
Should Win: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse (UK)

Best Live-Action Short Film

Will Win: Le Pupille (ITA)
Could Win: An Irish Goodbye (IRE)

Best Documentary Feature:

Will Win: Navalny (HBO)
Could Win: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (Neon)

Best Documentary Short Film:

Will Win: The Elephant Whisperers (IND)
Could Win: How Do You Measure a Year? (USA) OR Stranger at the Gate (USA)
Should Win: Stranger at the Gate (USA) OR The Elephant Whisperers (IND)

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Lane J. Lubell

I am a middle school science teacher, debate coach, filmmaker, & musician. I write about culture. MS Education and BFA in Film & English (Northwestern)