Oscar Predictions: Best Film Editing

This year, Oscar nominations will be announced on Tuesday, February 8th. I’ll be offering detailed predictions in all categories.

Last year’s nominees: The Father, Nomadland, Promising Young Woman, Sound of Metal, The Trial of the Chicago 7

This year’s locks: Dune

Very likely: None

Possible: Licorice Pizza, Don’t Look Up, The Power of the Dog, tick, tick…BOOM!, West Side Story, Belfast, King Richard

Unlikely: CODA, The Tragedy of Macbeth, The French Dispatch, Summer of Soul

The rundown: Where to start here? This category has historically snubbed some of the expected frontrunners, so it’s hard to know if that will happen again this year. Dune seems the most invulnerable, and then I’d add in a few choices that may not be at the top of the list in other categories, like Don’t Look Up, Licorice Pizza, and tick, tick…BOOM!. That doesn’t account for other probabilities like The Power of the Dog, Belfast, and King Richard. From the ACE Eddie lists for dramatic and comedy, there’s also No Time to Die, though no James Bond has ever been nominated in this category, Cruella, which seems like a stretch, and The French Dispatch, which I’d love to see do well enough across the board to merit a place here. Summer of Soul, a likely documentary contender that was also cited by ACE in the corresponding category, is a possibility too. There’s also West Side Story and The Tragedy of Macbeth, among plenty of others, including CODA.

For your consideration: Its Oscar prospects are seeming shaky, but how about The Harder They Fall, which is definitely a viewing experience thanks to its expert assembly?

Forecasted winner: I think Dune, but we’ll have to see the list first.