by Ridhima Vakkalagadda (’24) | March 21, 2022
The Academy Awards, or the Oscars, is an annual event that has people anxiously waiting for its arrival every year. But why? The Oscars are incredibly renowned awards, and those that win see their popularity dramatically rise. During Oscars, there have been many interesting wins and mix-ups, like in the 2017 Oscars award show, where La La Land was announced as Best Picture, even though the real winner was Moonlight. Ouch! But let’s get into the important stuff. This year, there are many new movies and short films that are in contention for each award. However, the real question is: who will win?
Let’s start off with a bang, and go into Best Animated Feature Film first. This year, five animated films have been nominated: Encanto, Flee, Luca, The Mitchells vs. The Machines, and Raya and the Last Dragon. While all these movies are on par with each other, Encanto seems to be the favorite for this award. This movie was a huge box office success and just made history with its three Academy Award nominations for Best Animated Feature Film, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song for the song “Dos Orugitas.” But don’t count the other movies out just yet; because of their critical acclaim, The Mitchells vs. The Machines and Flee trail close behind.
The next category is Best Actress, and those nominated include Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye), Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter), Penélope Cruz (Parallel Mothers), Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos), and Kristen Stewart (Spencer). So far, Jessica Chastain’s acting as Tammy Faye Bakker has made her the highest ranked out of the five. But it isn’t a clear prediction yet; as of right now, it could be anyone’s game with these five incredible actresses.
The third category is for Best Actor. There are five actors who have been nominated for this award: Will Smith (King Richard), Andrew Garfield (Tick, Tick… Boom!), Benedict Cumberbatch (Power of the Dog), Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth), and Javier Bardem (Being the Ricardos). As of right now, Will Smith seems to be the frontrunner with his incredible acting as Richard Williams in the movie King Richard. If he wins this award, Smith will be only the fifth Black man to win the award for lead actor, following Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx, and Forest Whittaker. He would also be the third actor to win for acting while also nominated for best picture.
Finally, the category with the most anticipation: Best Picture. The nominees for this are Belfast, CODA, Don’t Look Up, Drive My Car, Dune, King Richard, Licorice Pizza, Nightmare Alley, The Power of the Dog, and West Side Story. The Power of the Dog is expected to win and director Jane Campion is predicted to win the Best Director award for this movie as well.
So, these are the predicted winners! But who knows, everything could change with one vote, and a film that no one ever expected to win might just have a chance. Even though some winners seem so obvious, crazier things have happened at the Oscars. The show airs on March 27 at 5 P.M. PST.
