Damon Casarez for Variety
UPDATED: Jan. 24, 2017
This page will be your hub throughout the Oscar season for predictions in all of the Academy’s various categories as we move through the twists and turns of the circuit. Click through on each to see a list of contenders per category with ranked assessments of the various races.
Just remember: An Oscar season is fluid. Things do change. We’ll be here to track the shifting and sliding as it happens.
| Best Picture |
| “Arrival” (Shawn Levy, Dan Levine, Aaron Ryder and David Linde) |
| “Fences” (Scott Rudin, Denzel Washington and Todd Black) |
| “Hacksaw Ridge” (Bill Mechanic and David Permut) |
| “Hell or High Water” (Carla Hacken and Julie Yorn) |
| “Hidden Figures” (Donna Gigliotti, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, Pharrell Williams and Theodore Melfi) |
| ** “La La Land” (Fred Berger, Jordan Horowitz and Marc Platt) |
| “Lion” (Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Angie Fielder) |
| “Manchester by the Sea” (Matt Damon, Kimberly Steward, Chris Moore, Lauren Beck and Kevin J. Walsh) |
| “Moonlight” (Adele Romanski, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner) |
| >>>See full list |
| Best Director |
| Denis Villeneuve (“Arrival”) |
| Mel Gibson (“Hacksaw Ridge”) |
| ** Damien Chazelle (“La La Land”) |
| Kenneth Lonergan (“Manchester by the Sea”) |
| Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”) |
| >>>See full list |
| Best Actor |
| ** Casey Affleck (“Manchester by the Sea”) |
| Andrew Garfield (“Hacksaw Ridge”) |
| Ryan Gosling (“La La Land”) |
| Viggo Mortensen (“Captain Fantastic”) |
| Denzel Washington (“Fences”) |
| >>>See full list |
| Best Actress |
| Isabelle Huppert (“Elle”) |
| Ruth Negga (“Loving”) |
| Natalie Portman (“Jackie”) |
| ** Emma Stone (“La La Land”) |
| Meryl Streep (“Florence Foster Jenkins”) |
| >>>See full list |
| Best Supporting Actor |
| ** Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight”) |
| Jeff Bridges (“Hell or High Water”) |
| Lucas Hedges (“Manchester by the Sea”) |
| Dev Patel (“Lion”) |
| Michael Shannon (“Nocturnal Animals”) |
| >>>See full list |
| Best Supporting Actress |
| ** Viola Davis (“Fences”) |
| Naomie Harris (“Moonlight”) |
| Nicole Kidman (“Lion”) |
| Octavia Spencer (“Hidden Figures”) |
| Michelle Williams (“Manchester by the Sea”) |
| >>>See full list |
| Best Adapted Screenplay |
| “Arrival” (Eric Heisserer) |
| “Fences” (August Wilson) |
| “Hidden Figures” (Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi) |
| “Lion” (Luke Davies) |
| ** “Moonlight” (Barry Jenkins; Tarell Alvin McCraney) |
| >>>See full list |
| Best Original Screenplay |
| “Hell or High Water” (Taylor Sheridan) |
| ** “La La Land” (Damien Chazelle) |
| “The Lobster” (Efthymis Filippou, Yorgos Lanthimos) |
| “Manchester by the Sea” (Kenneth Lonergan) |
| “20th Century Women” (Mike Mills) |
| >>>See full list |
| Best Cinematography |
| “Arrival” (Bradford Young) |
| ** “La La Land” (Linus Sandgren) |
| “Lion” (Greig Fraser) |
| “Moonlight” (James Laxton) |
| “Silence” (Rodrigo Prieto) |
| >>>See full list |
| Best Costume Design |
| “Allied” (Joanna Johnston) |
| “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” (Colleen Atwood) |
| “Florence Foster Jenkins” (Consolata Boyle) |
| “Jackie” (Madeline Fontaine) |
| ** “La La Land” (Mary Zophres) |
| >>>See full list |
| Best Film Editing |
| “Arrival” (Joe Walker) |
| “Hacksaw Ridge” (John Gilbert) |
| “Hell or High Water” (Jake Roberts) |
| ** “La La Land” (Tom Cross) |
| “Moonlight” (Joi McMillon, Nat Sanders) |
| >>>See full list |
| Best Makeup and Hairstyling |
| “A Man Called Ove” (Love Larson and Eva Con Bahr) |
| ** “Star Trek Beyond” (S. Anne Carroll and Joel Harlow) |
| “Suicide Squad” (Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini and Christopher Nelson) |
| >>>See full list |
| Best Original Score |
| “Jackie” (Mica Levi) |
| ** “La La Land” (Justin Hurwitz) |
| “Lion” (Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka) |
| “Moonlight” (Nicholas Brittel) |
| “Passengers” (Thomas Newman) |
| >>>See full list |
| Best Original Song |
| “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” from “La La Land” (Justin Hurwitz; Benj Pasek and Justin Paul) |
| “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” from “Trolls” (Justin Timberlake, Max Martin and Karl Johan Schuster) |
| ** “City of Stars” from “La La Land” (Justin Hurwitz; Benj Pasek and Justin Paul) |
| “The Empty Chair” from “Jim: The James Foley Story” (J. Ralph and Sting) |
| “How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana” (Lin-Manuel Miranda) |
| >>>See full list |
| Best Production Design |
| “Arrival” (Patrice Vermette; Paul Hotte) |
| “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” (Stuart Craig; Anna Pinnock) |
| “Hail, Caesar!” (Jess Gonchor; Nancy Haigh) |
| ** “La La Land” (David Wasco; Sandy Reynolds-Wasco) |
| “Passengers” (Guy Hendrix Dyas; Gene Serdena) |
| >>>See full list |
| Best Sound Editing |
| “Arrival” (Sylvain Bellemare) |
| “Deepwater Horizon” (Wylie Stateman and Renée Tondelli) |
| ** “Hacksaw Ridge” (Robert Mackenzie and Andy Wright) |
| “La La Land” (Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan) |
| “Sully” (Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman) |
| >>>See full list |
| Best Sound Mixing |
| “Arrival” (Bernard Gariépy Strobl and Claude La Haye) |
| “Hacksaw Ridge” (Kevin O’Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace) |
| ** “La La Land” (Andy Nelson, Ai-Ling Lee and Steve A. Morrow) |
| “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (David Parker, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson) |
| “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi” (Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Mac Ruth) |
| >>>See full list |
| Best Visual Effects |
| “Deepwater Horizon” (Craig Hammack, Jason Snell, Jason Billington and Burt Dalton) |
| “Doctor Strange” (Stephane Ceretti, Richard Bluff, Vincent Cirelli and Paul Corbould) |
| “The Jungle Book” (Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Dan Lemmon) |
| “Kubo and the Two Strings” (Steve Emerson, Oliver Jones, Brian McLean and Brad Schiff) |
| ** “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel and Neil Corbould) |
| >>>See full list |
| Best Animated Feature Film |
| “Kubo and the Two Strings” (Travis Knight and Arianne Sutner) |
| “Moana” (John Musker, Ron Clements and Osnat Shurer) |
| “My Life as a Zucchini” (Claude Barras and Max Karli) |
| “The Red Turtle” (Michael Dudok de Wit and Toshio Suzuki) |
| ** “Zootopia” (Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Clark Spencer) |
| >>>See full list |
| Best Foreign Language Film |
| “Tanna” (Australia; Martin Butler and Bentley Dean) |
| “Land of Mine” (Denmark; Martin Zandvliet) |
| ** “Toni Erdmann” (Germany; Maren Ade) |
| “The Salesman” (Iran; Asghar Farhadi) |
| “A Man Called Ove” (Sweden; Hannes Holm) |
| >>>See full list |
| Best Documentary Feature |
| “Fire at Sea” (Gianfranco Rosi and Donatella Palermo) |
| “I Am Not Your Negro” (Raoul Peck, Rémi Grellety and Hébert Peck) |
| “Life, Animated” (Roger Ross Williams and Julie Goldman) |
| ** “O.J.: Made in America” (Ezra Edelman and Caroline Waterlow) |
| “13th” (Ava DuVernay, Spencer Averick and Howard Barish) |
| >>>See full list |
| Best Documentary (Short Subject) |
| “Extremis” (Dan Krauss) |
| “4.1 Miles” (Daphne Matziaraki) |
| ** “Joe’s Violin” (Kahane Cooperman and Raphaela Neihausen) |
| “Watani: My Homeland” (Marcel Mettelsiefen and Stephen Ellis) |
| “The White Helmets” (Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara) |
| >>>See full list |
| Best Short Film (Animated) |
| “Blind Vaysha” (Theodore Ushev) |
| “Borrowed Time” (Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj) |
| “Pear and Cider Cigarettes” (Robert Valley and Cara Speller) |
| ** “Pearl” (Patrick Osborne) |
| “Piper” (Alan Barillaro and Marc Sondheimer) |
| >>>See full list |
| Best Short FIlm (Live Action) |
| “Ennemis Interieurs” (Sélim Azzazi) |
| “La Femme et le TGV” (Timo von Gunten and Giacun Caduff) |
| ** “Silent Nights” (Aske Bang and Kim Magnusson) |
| “Sing” (Kristof Deák and Anna Udvardy) |
| “Timecode” (Juanjo Giménez) |
| >>>See full list |