Oscar Predictions: Best Sound

This year, Oscar nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 16th. As a result, most of the corresponding guilds won’t have announced their picks by then, so I’m making predictions in advance without being able to take those into consideration. I’ll be offering detailed predictions in most of the major categories, saving some of the biggest categories for last.

Last year’s nominees: Argo, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Skyfall

This year’s locks: Gravity, Inside Llewyn Davis

Very likely: None

Possible: Star Trek Into Darkness, Captain Phillips, 12 Years a Slave, Man of Steel, The Great Gatsby, Rush

Unlikely: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, World War Z

The rundown: This category tends to offer a mix of Best Picture contenders that meet with other music or action and the full-on technical contenders that wouldn’t ever make an appear in the top races. Gravity is the one that transcends both, while Inside Llewyn Davis meets the first requirement. Star Trek Into Darkness should follow in the footsteps of the first film in its series. Captain Phillips and 12 Years a Slave seem like good bets, though they could be bumped by Man of Steel, The Great Gatsby, Rush, or even The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug or World War Z.

One possible crazy scenario: Pacific Rim blasts it way into this race.

Forecasted winner: I suspect that Gravity will sweep all the technical categories.