PRODUCTION DESIGN
“Blade Runner 2049”
“Darkest Hour”
“Dunkirk”
“Phantom Thread”
“The Shape of Water”
Party Crashers: “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Greatest Showman,” “Downsizing,” “Mother!”
Lowdown: ‘Shape,’ “Dunkirk” and “Blade Runner” are in. “Darkest Hour” and “Phantom Thread” could face some competition for those final two slots.
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Roger Deakins, “Blade Runner 2049”
Bruno Delbonnel, “Darkest Hour”
Dan Laustsen, “The Shape of Water”
Rachel Morrison, “Mudbound”
Hoyte van Hoytema, “Dunkirk”
Party Crashers: Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (“Call Me By Your Name”), Edward Lachman (“Wonderstruck”)
Lowdown: Mukdeeprom is likely the only contender that could make the cut, but who he knocks out of the five ASC nominees remains to be seen. We expect Morrison to make Oscar history as the first female Cinematographer nominated in this category.
MAKEUP AND HAIR
“Darkest Hour”
“Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2”
“Wonder”
Party Crashers: “I, Tonya,” “Bright”
Lowdown: These are your likely three, but this branch is full of surprises. I mean, did you think the work in “Bright” even deserved to make the shortlist? Yeah, me either.
ORIGINAL SCORE
Alexandre Desplat, “The Shape of Water”
Jonny Greenwood, “Phantom Thread”
Dario Marianelli, “Darkest Hour”
John Williams, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”
Hans Zimmer, “Dunkirk”
Party Crashers: John Williams (“The Post”), Michael Giacchino (“Coco”)
Lowdown: John Williams is likely getting in for something, but is it for ‘Last Jedi’ or “The Post”? Don’t miss out on the potential love for “Coco” either.
ORIGINAL SONG
“Home” from “Ferdinand”
“Mighty River” from “Mudbound”
“The Mystery of Love” from “Call Me By Your Name”
“Remember Me” from “Coco”
“This Is Me” from “The Greatest Showman”
Party Crashers: “Everymore” from “Beauty and the Beast,” “Stand Up for Something” from “Marshall”
Lowdown: I am very, very concerned that a song from ‘Call Me’ will be snubbed, but quality has to win out sometime. If not, “Everymore” from “Beauty” is your likely fifth nominee.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“A Fantastic Woman”
“In the Fade”
“Loveless”
“The Insult”
“The Square”
Party Crashers: “Foxtrot,” “The Wound”
Lowdown: I’m predicting that The Insult” will make the cut, but even so you’ll hear a scream from Park City at 6:30 AM when and if it’s officially announced. I simply can’t remember a shortlisted Foreign Language Film that frustrated me so much. As for the other nominees, there’s only been one year that one distributor had three of the five slots. That distributor was Sony Classics. Can they pull it off again? We say they don’t and Israeli entry “Foxtrot” gets the snub.
FEATURE DOCUMENTARY
“City of Ghosts”
“Faces Places”
“Icarus”
“Jane”
“Last Man in Aleppo”
Party Crashers: “Human Flow,” “Strong Island,” “An Inconvenient Sequel”
Lowdown: This one is a complete pick ’em. Outside of “Icarus” and “Jane” I’m not sure anyone would feel confident about predicting this category.
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
“The Breadwinner”
“Coco”
“The Lego Batman Movie”
“Loving Vincent”
“Mary and the Witch’s Flower”
Party Crashers: “Ferdinand,” “The Boss Baby”
Lowdown: What a horrible year for this category. It sort of doesn’t matter who is nominated because “Coco” is a lock for a win, but if anyone can theoretically crash the party it’s “Ferdinand.”
SOUND MIXING
“Baby Driver”
“Blade Runner 2049”
“Dunkirk”
“The Shape of Water”
“Star Wars: The Last Jedi”
Party Crashers: “The Greatest Showman,” “War for the Planet of the Apes”
Lowdown: Musicals tend to do well in this category (“Dreamgirls” and “Les Miserables” each won it), but we’re not sure “Greatest Showman” is good enough to make it.
SOUND EDITING
“Baby Driver”
“Blade Runner 2049”
“Dunkirk”
“War for the Planet of the Apes”
“Star Wars: The Last Jedi”
Party Crashers: “The Shape of Water,” “Wonder Woman”
Lowdown: Listen, “Shape of Water” could easily make the five, but something tells us this is the one category it falls short.
VISUAL EFFECTS
“Blade Runner 2049”
“Okja”
“The Shape of Water”
“Star Wars: The Last Jedi”
“War for the Planet of the Apes”
Party Crashers: “Dunkirk,” “Guardians of the Galaxy, vol. 2,” “Valerian and the City of A Thousand Planets”
Lowdown: “Valerian” seemed like a sure thing, but after what has been referred to as a disastrous bake off it would be surprising if it made the cut. “Shape” is the only real borderline nominee.