Oscar Winner Predictions: Best Art Direction

The competition: Arrival (Patrice Vermette and Paul Hotte), Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Stuart Craig and Anna Pinnock), Hail, Caesar! (Jess Gonchor and Nancy Haigh), La La Land (David Wasco and Sandy Reynolds-Wasco), Passengers (Guy Hendrix Dyas and Gene Serdena)

Previous winners: Mad Max: Fury Road, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Great Gatsby, Lincoln, Hugo, Alice in Wonderland, Avatar, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
My winner: To be announced soon!
The facts: This is Craig’s eleventh nomination, and he has prevailed three times, most recently in 1996. This is Haigh’s seventh nomination, and she won in 1991. This is Pinnock’s sixth nomination, and she won in 2014. This is the second nomination for Vermette, Gonchor, Hendrix Dyas, and Serdena. “Passengers” and “La La Land” took home ADG Awards in separate categories, with the former beating the other three nominees here.

Who should win: I’m sad to say that I didn’t see two of these films - “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” and “Passengers - because I underestimated their Oscar chances when they were in theaters, only to see both earn two nominations. I’m fond of “La La Land” and its purposeful colors over the rest here.
Who will win: I think that contemporary musical decorations will trump the sci-fi/period pieces and La La Land will take the win.