In the weeks leading up to the 96th Academy Awards, the Hollywood guilds have each announced their winners, giving film fans a better indication of what films will likely prevail in each category at the Oscars tomorrow.
The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) lineup is identical to the nominees for Best Cinematography this year, so they should be a very reliable precursor. ASC gave the award to Hoyte Van Hoytema for his stellar work on Oppenheimer, which has continued to be a technical juggernaut all year long. Despite earning an Oscar nomination for Dunkirk, Hoytema has never won an Oscar and this would be the perfect opportunity for the Academy to anoint him as a legend within his field.
The American Cinema Editors (ACE) also awarded Oppenheimer for Best Edited Feature Film (Drama), which it will handedly win at the Oscars. However, The Holdovers took home the prize in the Comedy category in an impressive victory over heavy hitters such as Poor Things and Barbie. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse won the award in the animated category, which is a nice consolation considering after being snubbed in editing categories across the board all season long. Cinema Audio Society (CAS) also continued on the Oppenheimer train, and awarded Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse in the animated category.
The Visual Effects Society (VES) gave their top prize The Creator. It’s worth noting that Godzilla Minus One was omitted from this category, so this win doesn’t necessarily indicate anything. It’s still one of the tightest races this year. Nyad unexpectedly took home Best Supporting Visual Effects over Napoleon and Society of the Snow, whereas Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse won Best Effects in an Animated Feature.
The Costume Designers Guild (CDG) made the race for Best Costume Design a whole lot more confusing by having the top contenders competing in different categories. Poor Things won Best Costume Design in a Period Film, whereas Barbie won Best Costume Design in a Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film. Saltburn won the Contemporary Costume Design award, and the contemporary makeup award at Makeup Artists & Hair Stylists Guild (MUAHS). Maestro obviously won Best Period Make-Up and will likely win the prize at the Oscars as well. At the Art Directors Guild (ADG), Poor Things triumphed over Barbie in the Fantasy Feature Film category. Oppenheimer won in the Period Feature category, and Saltburn took home the prize in the Contemporary Feature category.
While the winners of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) awards won’t be announced until after the Oscars due to the impact of the writers’ strike, the USC Scripter is a worthy precursor to pay attention to instead. American Fiction took home the top prize over Oppenheimer, signifying that writers in particular are really connecting to and championing this film.
The Directors Guild of America (DGA) award obviously went to Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer, who has never won this award before and has finally been recognized for his astounding career thus far.
Finally, the prestigious Producers Guild of America (PGA) award went to none other than Oppenheimer, a film that punched far beyond its weight at the global box office, earning nearly a billion dollars. Some thought that Barbie could win this award and make Best Picture a two way race, but just like with Top Gun: Maverick in 2022, insane box office returns doesn’t matter when up against a juggernaut. The guild awarded Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and American Symphony in the Animation and documentary categories respectively.
Stay tuned for our official Oscar predictions and don’t miss the 96th Academy Awards airing tomorrow night at 7pm EST on CTV in Canada and ABC in the United States.
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