Early Oscar Preditions in major categories

The Toronto Film Festival is over, the New York Film Festival has just started and Oscar season has begun! The front-runners for this year have already been established but the race still rages on in most of the major categories. This page will be updated every week with updated rankings for the categories. Here are the first Oscar Predictions for 2013.


BEST PICTURE

As of now, there are a lot of films fighting in the mix for best picture. The two front runners are Silver Linings Playbook and Argo but it's pretty close with a few other films. Right now, Les Miserables is a film that everyone seems excited for and thinks will win, Lincoln is being looked at with optimism (I guess) and The Master and Life of Pi are in the mix as well. Here are my top ten as of today.

1. Argo
2. Silver Linings Playbook
3. Les Miserables
4. Lincoln
5. The Master
6. Beasts of the Southern Wild
7. Moonrise Kingdom
8. Life of Pi
9. Zero Dark Thirty
10. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey


BEST ACTOR

Another category that has a lot of contenders. Joaquin Phoenix is the current front-runner but Anthony Hopkins for Hitchcock and Daniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln are two strong contenders. Bradley Cooper and John Hawkes are in the mix, as well as Denzel Washington and Hugh Jackman. A lot of potential contenders in this category.

1. Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
2. Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
3. Anthony Hopkins, Hitchcock
4. Denzel Washington, Flight
5. Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook


BEST ACTRESS

One of the few categories that has basically been won: Jennifer Lawrence is pretty much a lock for a win. There are a few other contenders. Keira Knightley for Anna Karenina, Quvenshane Willis for Beast of the Southern Wild along with Helen Mirren for Hitchcock and Marion Cotillard for Rust and Bone. But trust me, Lawrence is going to win.

1. Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
2. Quvenshane Willis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
3. Helen Mirren, Hitchcock
4. Keira Knightley, Anna Karenina
5. Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

A category that is always narrow is wide open. Amy Adams, Anne Hathaway and Helen Hunt are the front runners but Sally Field and Jessica Chastain have joined the mix. I would say that Hathaway is the front runner but Hunt and Adams are not far behind.

1. Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
2. Helen Hunt, The Sessions
3. Amy Adams, The Master
4. Sally Field, Lincoln
5. Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty


BEST SUPPORTING  ACTOR

Four strong contenders headline the best supporting actor field. The academy loves Leonardo DiCaprio but Robert De Niro and Phillip Seymour Hoffman are extremely strong contenders along with Alan Arkin, Russell Crowe, Hal Holbrook and more. There is no clear front runner right now but we'll see it get clearer in the next few weeks.

1. Phillip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
2. Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained
3. Alan Arkin, Argo
4. Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
5. Russell Crowe, Les Miserables


BEST ANIMATED MOVIE

This category hasn't really broken open yet because nobody has seen a lot of the movies that could be contenders. Frankenweenie and ParaNorman are the two strongest contenders yet but Brave, Rise of the Guardians and Wreck-It Ralph are in the mix as well. Frankenweenie is getting good reviews so I'll put my money on that.

1. Frankenweenie
2. ParaNorman
3. Wreck-It Ralph
4. Rise of the Guardians
5. Brave


BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Lots of contenders, lots of great effects but no clear cut winner yet. Life of Pi and The Hobbit look like the two strongest contenders along with Skyfall, The Dark Knight Rises and The Avengers are the other strong contenders. Prometheus is in the mix as well. Most cinemaniacs are obsessed with Life of Pi so I think that will pull a Hugo and win over the more commercial contenders.

1. Life of Pi
2. The Avengers
3. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
4. The Dark Knight Rises
5. Prometheus

I'll add more categories as the race expands and I start seeing some of the films that will get nominations (I should be seeing Frankenweenie next week and Argo the following week). But for now, this is how the race should turn out.