Oscar Predictions: Best Original Score

This year, Oscar nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 14th. I’ll be offering detailed predictions in most of the major categories, saving some of the biggest categories for last.

Last year’s nominees: The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, Interstellar, Mr. Turner, The Theory of Everything

This year’s locks: Carol, The Danish Girl, The Hateful Eight

Very likely: None

Possible: Bridge of Spies, Spotlight, Brooklyn, Steve Jobs, Sicario, The Martian, Inside Out, Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Unlikely: The other 111 contenders

The rundown: A whopping 122 scores are officially eligible in this category this year. The only one of note that’s missing is Golden Globe nominee “The Revenant.” The other Globe honorees should be top contenders: Carol, The Danish Girl, The Hateful Eight, and Steve Jobs. Other films likely to bump any of them out are Bridge of Spies, Brooklyn, Inside Out, The Martian, Sicario, and Spotlight. It would be fun for Star Wars: The Force Awakens to be included here, earning John Williams his record-setting forty-fifth nomination and his first since “Return of the Jedi” for a Star Wars film. I’m not sure it will happen, but it’s certainly possible.
One possible crazy scenario: Thomas Newman scores a bid for Spectre, earning James Bond his second-ever mention in this category.
Forecasted winner: I think this goes to The Hateful Eight.