The 90th Academy Awards air on ABC this Sunday night! With only a few days left, I’ll be giving you my final predictions for all the below-the-line categories. Some of them seem to have favorites, others seem to be up in the air. So let’s get on with my predictions, shall we?

Best Production Design:

1. The Shape of Water
2. Blade Runner 2049
3. Darkest Hour
4. Beauty & the Beast
5. Dunkirk
   

One talent that director Guillermo del Toro has always had on display in his films is his unique visuals. It is especially shown with the world-building in The Shape of Water, a period piece that also happens to be a fantasy. The only other film I could potentially see upsetting it is Blade Runner 2049 given how that team was able to elaborate on the world-building that was already established in the original film from 1982.
​

Best Costume Design:

1. Phantom Thread
2. Beauty & the Beast
3. The Shape of Water
4. Darkest Hour
5. Victoria & Abdul

On paper, a movie about a fashion designer seems like the logical choice to win Best Costume Design. Not to mention that since Phantom Thread very surprisingly made the cut for Best Picture, this seems like the best place to award it. Though as we saw with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them winning this category last year, Academy members are probably more fond of fantasy/period pieces. If history repeats itself this year, Beauty & the Beast could win, which I really hope not for two reasons. First, I’ve actually boycotted that film from the beginning as I felt the animated classic didn’t need to be remade (especially as a live action film). Second, from the photos I’ve seen, the iconic ball gown looked so watered down from not only the cartoon, but also from many designs I’ve seen in stage productions of the Broadway show. Then, there’s The Shape of Water, which did manage to win the Costume Designers Guild Award. Could that film pull an upset here (especially given the design of the creature)?
​

Best Cinematography:

1. The Shape of Water
2. Blade Runner 2049
3. Dunkirk
4. Mudbound
5. Darkest Hour

The awards for Best Director and Best Cinematography have pretty much gone hand-in-hand within the last five years. With Guillermo del Toro out front to win Best Director for The Shape of Water, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Dan Laustsen riding those coattails here, especially given that film’s distinct visual style. Though Blade Runner 2049 could be a threat given that this is Roger Deakins’ 14th Oscar nomination, and he still has yet to win. While I could see that happening, there are still some disadvantages to that argument. Blade Runner 2049 is not up for Best Picture, and you have to go all the way back to 2006 when Pan’s Labyrinth won this award without a Best Picture nomination. It’s also worth noting that the names of the creative individuals in the below-the-line categories don’t even appear on the ballots, just the title(s) of the film itself. So there is the question of how many Academy members are even aware that Deakins shot Blade Runner 2049, let alone the fact that he’s overdue. Though I’d keep an eye out on Dunkirk given all the aerial sequences in that film.

Best Film Editing:

1. Dunkirk
2. Baby Driver
3. The Shape of Water
4. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
5. I, Tonya

Dunkirk seems like the logical winner given how well war movies have done in this category before. It also managed to win the American Cinema Editors Award for Best Edited Feature Film-Dramatic. Though at BAFTA, Baby Driver managed to win the award for Best Editing. While I can see that film winning given all the car chases that take place, I’m not sure if it really could given that it’s not up for Best Picture. Plus, it does not help that Kevin Spacey has a prominent supporting role in that film (though it was released several months before his allegations of sexual misconduct came about). I will say that if Baby Driver does win, Spacey will certainly have a lot to celebrate in rehab.

Best Sound Editing:

1. Dunkirk
2. Baby Driver
3. Blade Runner 2049
4. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
5. The Shape of Water

Best Sound Mixing:

1. Dunkirk
2. Baby Driver
3. The Shape of Water
4. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
5. Blade Runner 2049

Traditionally, the loudest film tends to win these Sound awards, especially war movies. Dunkirk seems to tick all those boxes as it’s a film where sound plays a very important part. Then again, Baby Driver is also a pretty loud movie not only with the car chases, but also with how the soundtrack is mixed in with the action on screen. As we’ve especially seen in the category of Best Sound Mixing, films where music plays a very important part tend to standout. That same argument could also be applied to The Shape of Water as that film features an unexpected musical sequence.
​

Best Original Score:

1. The Shape of Water
2. Dunkirk
3. Phantom Thread
4. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
5. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

For a film where the main character is a mute, Alexandre Desplat’s score for The Shape of Water is almost like its own character. Though Hans Zimmer’s score for Dunkirk plays a very important part in that film as the story is more reliant on the action. Then again, Jonny Greenwood is the lead guitarist and keyboardist for the rock band, Radiohead, and he’s also scored several films. Now, he’s a first-time Oscar nominee for his work on Phantom Thread.

Best Original Song:

1. ‘Remember Me’ from Coco
2. ‘This is Me’ from The Greatest Showman
3. ‘Mighty River’ from Mudbound
4. ‘Mystery of Love’ from Call Me By Your Name
   
5. ‘Stand Up for Something’ from Marshall

The song ‘Remember Me’ is frequently used throughout Coco (especially in different versions). Using one song throughout a movie wouldn’t seem to hurt as it might’ve helped ‘City of Stars’ standout from the other nominated song from La La Land, ‘Audition (The Fools Who Dream)’ at last year’s Oscars. With Coco out front to win Best Animated Feature Film, it seems natural to see the song that’s centered around it win as well. Though despite The Greatest Showman’s mixed critical reception, the song ‘This is Me’ has been much more visible to the general public (it was even recently played during the Olympics). Then again, ‘Can’t Stop the Feeling’ from Trolls was probably the most popular song out of all of last year’s Oscar nominees, and that didn’t help it.
​

Best Visual Effects:

1. Blade Runner 2049
2. War for the Planet of the Apes
3. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
4. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
5. Kong: Skull Island

Usually if there’s a Best Picture nominee in contention for Best Visual Effects, that tends to standout more as we’ve seen in the past with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button winning over The Dark Knight and Iron Man or Hugo winning over Rise of the Planet of the Apes. But this year, there’s no Best Picture nominee(s) in contention. So out of all of this year’s nominees for Best Visual Effects, I think Blade Runner 2049 will win. Not only does that have the most nominations of the films in contention here, but that visual effects team had to create the futuristic world of Los Angeles for a nearly three-hour film. Though War for the Planet of the Apes is the final entry of the new Planet of the Apes trilogy, and the previous two installments didn’t win this award. Could Academy members take this moment to finally award the trilogy as a whole? Then again, the newer Star Wars films haven’t received any gold from the Academy yet either.

Best Makeup & Hairstyling:

1. Darkest Hour
2. Wonder
3. Victoria & Abdul

Darkest Hour seems like the logical winner in this category not only because it’s a Best Picture nominee, but also because of how the makeup team was able to completely transform Gary Oldman into the prime minister Winston Churchill. I guess the only film I could possibly see beating it is Wonder given how the makeup team there was able to create a prosthetic that turned Jacob Tremblay’s face into a disfigured one.

​I’ll be back soon with my final predictions for the main categories.