The 92nd Academy Awards are almost here! On this page, I’ll be giving you my final predictions for the Top 8 categories. This year, most of these awards appear to be all locked up, with an exception which will be the last one we’ll get to. So let’s get on with them, shall we?

Starting with the writing categories, this year is likely going to be the first time that both screenplay awards will end up going to people of color.

Best Original Screenplay:

1. Parasite
2. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
3. Marriage Story
4. Knives Out
5. 1917

Earlier in the season, it looked like Quentin Tarantino was going to become the second person in history to win three Oscars for Best Original Screenplay following in the footsteps of Woody Allen. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood managed to win him the Golden Globe (which combines both adapted and original) and Critics’ Choice Awards. Yet, when the industry came in with their choices, Parasite won both the WGA and BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay. The latter win was especially telling because Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was actually nominated there while it wasn’t even eligible at WGA because Tarantino has never been a member of the Writers Guild. The last time that a film had won the WGA and BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay, yet ended up losing the Oscar was The Grand Budapest Hotel back in 2014, where the Best Picture winner Birdman took that prize as part of its haul. With Parasite, this would definitely be an opportunity to actually award director Bong Joon-ho. While the filmmakers are the ones who usually accept the award for Best International Film, the Oscar itself is really awarded to the movie’s country of origin. At least Tarantino will still have his two Oscars for 1994’s Pulp Fiction and 2012’s Django Unchained.

Best Adapted Screenplay:

1. Jojo Rabbit
2. Little Women
3. The Two Popes
4. Joker
5. The Irishman

When nominations were first announced, I thought Greta Gerwig had a pretty good shot of winning this award for her big screen adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women for several reasons. There’s a lot of good will towards her that has not only been leftover from Lady Bird two years ago, but also how in another year of an all-male lineup for Best Director, that she was left out. Plus, Gerwig has gotten a lot of (well-deserved) attention for creating such an unconventional narrative that was able to make the timeless story feel fresh. Not to mention that she did manage to win the Critics’ Choice and USC Scripter Awards. However, Jojo Rabbit managed to win both industry awards in this category at WGA and BAFTA. As much as I would love for Little Women to win, there does appear to be this whole stigma of "this story has been told on the big screen countless times before" which pretty much affected A Star is Born last year (just watch it affect Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story next year). Plus, it is worth noting that the last time a film won Best Adapted Screenplay at WGA and BAFTA, but ended up losing the Oscar was Up in the Air back in 2009, where Precious pulled off a big upset. Though that was a result of all the behind the scenes tension between writer/director Jason Reitman and co-writer Sheldon Turner because Reitman really wasn't giving Turner the credit he deserved on the awards circuit. It’s hard to go against that 10-year precedent, so I’m predicting Taika Waititi, an Indigenous filmmaker from New Zealand, to win here for Jojo Rabbit.

​Now this year is likely going to mark the second time that all four acting winners have swept through all the major precursors (Golden Globes, Critics Choice, SAG, BAFTA) prior to the Oscars. The first time this scenario has happened was just two years ago. Which is one of the reasons why I have these four people predicted to win.

Best Supporting Actress:

1. Laura Dern-Marriage Story
2. Scarlett Johansson-Jojo Rabbit
3. Florence Pugh-Little Women
4. Margot Robbie-Bombshell
5. Kathy Bates-Richard Jewell

Laura Dern is just Hollywood royalty. She’s the daughter of two legendary Oscar nominated actors, Bruce Dern & Diane Ladd. 2019 was also such a great year for her with other appearances in Little Women and the second season of HBO’s Big Little Lies. While I’m aware that there are quite a number of people on the internet who aren’t as enthusiastic about Laura Dern’s performance as a divorce lawyer in Marriage Story, I don’t agree with them at all. I found every single scene she was in to be quite captivating. In my opinion, her sweep throughout the whole season will end up being very well deserved.

Best Supporting Actor:

1. Brad Pitt-Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
2. Joe Pesci-The Irishman
3. Anthony Hopkins-The Two Popes
4. Tom Hanks-A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood​
5. Al Pacino-The Irishman

In a lineup that is full of previous winners, Brad Pitt is about to win his very first Oscar for acting. He has won before as a producer on 12 Years a Slave back in 2013, but his fourth acting nomination for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood will be the charm for him. After all, it is kind of a similar trajectory Michael Douglas had where he won his first Oscar as a producer on 1975’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and his second as an actor for 1987’s Wall Street. While I actually did have my doubts for a while that Brad Pitt would actually go all the way to win the Oscar for a very laid-back performance as a stuntman, it is hard to deny the power of his sweep throughout the season.

Best Actress:

1. Renée Zellweger-Judy
2. Scarlett Johansson-Marriage Story
3. Charlize Theron-Bombshell
4. Saoirse Ronan-Little Women
5. Cynthia Erivo-Harriet

Back in the early 2000s, Renée Zellweger was Oscar nominated three years in a row. Her first two bids were in Best Actress for 2001’s Bridget Jones’ Diary and 2002’s Chicago. Though 2003 marked her very first win in Best Supporting Actress for her work in Cold Mountain. After having taken some time away from the spotlight for a while, Renée made her grand return last year playing Judy Garland in a biographical film about the trouble the showbiz legend was going through in the months leading up to her premature death in 1969. While the academy doesn’t usually buy into these big comeback stories as evidenced by Mickey Rourke, Michael Keaton, Sylvester Stallone, and even Judy Garland herself all losing in the end, it’s once again hard to deny the power of Renée Zellweger’s sweep throughout the season.

Best Actor:

1. Joaquin Phoenix-Joker
2. Adam Driver-Marriage Story
3. Leonardo DiCaprio-Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
4. Jonathan Pryce-The Two Popes
5. Antonio Banderas-Pain & Glory

Despite how polarizing of a film Joker is, one aspect about it that has received universal acclaim is Joaquin Phoenix’s performance as the title character. The movie itself is a character study that explores the origin of the iconic Batman villain which also provides quite a showcase for Phoenix. After having been nominated three times before for his performances in 2000’s Gladiator, 2005’s Walk the Line, and 2012’s The Master, he’ll be ending his sweep throughout awards season on Sunday night with his very first Oscar.

Best Director:

1. Sam Mendes-1917
2. Bong Joon-ho-Parasite
3. Quentin Tarantino-Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
4. Martin Scorsese-The Irishman
5. Todd Phillips-Joker

20 years ago, Sam Mendes was a young British theater director who made a big splash with a small scale domestic drama, American Beauty. He ended up becoming the most recent filmmaker to win an Oscar for their first feature film as director. Now, he’s about to win a second Oscar for a completely different movie, 1917. A World War I epic designed to look like it was all done in one long continuous shot that also feels very personal to Mendes as it was inspired by stories he was told in his childhood by his grandfather, who himself served in WWI. After winning at the Golden Globes, Critics’ Choice (in a tie with Bong Joon-ho), Directors Guild, and BAFTA Awards, Mendes is about to become the very first Oscar winner for a directorial debut to win a second.

Now onto the final award of the night, and it’s a bit of a tough one.

Best Picture:

1. Parasite
2. 1917
3. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
4. Jojo Rabbit
5. The Irishman
6. Joker
7. Marriage Story
8. Little Women
9. Ford v Ferrari

Back in the fall, a number of people thought that this Best Picture race was going to be between Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood not only given all the buzz both of those films received, but also because of how consistent they’ve performed overall with guild nominations. While Once Upon a Time in Hollywood has been able to pull off wins at the Golden Globes (for Best Motion Picture-Comedy/Musical) and Critics’ Choice, it sadly hasn’t materialized much at any of the big industry awards. As for The Irishman, it has sadly been underperforming at every single major awards group in terms of wins. Meanwhile, 1917 has taken off in a big way with wins at the Golden Globes (for Best Motion Picture-Drama), Producers Guild (which utilizes a preferential voting system just like the academy does in this category), and BAFTA Awards. On paper, it looks like 1917 should be the automatic frontrunner to win. However, about five times out of the last seven years, we’ve been seeing splits between Best Picture and Best Director given how both of those categories utilize two separate voting systems. Instead, the films that have been winning the former award have taken a screenplay prize to go along with it. The preferential ballot is supposed to indicate which film(s) academy members actually feel most passionate about as well as which movie appears to be the least divisive within the industry. From what I’ve been hearing through various sources on the internet, there appears to be quite a bit of excitement for the South Korean film Parasite. While academy members may feel they’d be letting themselves off the hook by only giving it Best International Feature Film like what happened with Roma last year, one important thing that Parasite actually has is passion. Whereas with Roma, it seemed that a lot of people within the industry only admired that film more than they actually liked it. While Parasite doesn’t have any acting nominations, the whole cast of that movie received two standing ovations at the SAG Awards. First, when they introduced a clip montage, and then when they won Best Ensemble. That latter moment especially feels telling given how the actors branch is the largest branch of the academy. Plus, looking at the way I see things going for Parasite on Oscar night, I think it can win Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film. Two of those wins would also make sense because of how screenplay has really become the audition for Best Picture in recent years as opposed to Best Director.

​​The Red Carpet begins at 6:30 tomorrow night on ABC followed by the 92nd Academy Awards at 8:00. Here is a quick rundown of my predictions for some of the other Best Film categories…

Best Animated Feature Film:

1. Klaus
2. Toy Story 4
3. Missing Link
4. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
5. I Lost My Body

Best Documentary Feature Film:

1. American Factory
2. For Sama
3. The Cave
4. The Edge of Democracy
5. Honeyland

Best International Feature Film:

1. Parasite
2. Pain & Glory
3. Honeyland
4. Les Misérables (No, this is not another big screen adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel, this is a completely original movie that happens to share the same title)
5. Corpus Christi