Predictions: 2014 Oscar Winners List

With the awards season in full swing, the most awaited and prestigious awards-the Oscars, are here! With the BAFTAs getting over, which are usually considered as the pre cursor to the Oscars, who will walk away with the golden statue this year? The bets are high and while The Academy will have favourties, who will be the big winners and will history be created once again? Here’s a look at the Predictions: 2014 Oscar Winners List.

Best Film: With due respect to all the contenders under this category, 12 Years a Slave is most likely to win the big one. The film already won a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama and a BAFTA for Best picture. While Gravity won for the Best British film at the BAFTAs, its chances of winning are few. Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave has created a ripple and the big bets are on this one. Other films nominated under this category are American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, Her, Nebraska and Philomena.

Best Actor: The 86th Academy Awards will honour some of the best works in Hollywood and once again, big names are being pitied against each other. In the Best Actor category, the competition is tough but the actor to most likely win is Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club. But Chiwetel Ejiofor cannot be discounted for his brilliant performance in 12 Years a Slave nor can Leonardo DiCaprio for his performance in The Wolf of Wall Street who has gone on to prove that he is second to none! Though Matthew McConaughey was ignored at this year’s BAFTA, he won a Golden Globe for Dallas Buyers Club.

Best Actress: This is going to be a tough one considering there are big names at stake here. While the nominees for the Best Actress are Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine, Amy Adams for American Hustle, Sandra Bullock for Gravity, Judi Dench for Philomena and Meryl Streep for August: Osage County, this one is unpredictable. Interestingly, all the nominees except Amy Adams have won an Oscar before. While Amy Adams won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical, Blanchett won a Golden Globe too this year for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for Blue Jasmine. This has left Sandra Bullock far behind who deserves every bit of the Oscar. But with Blanchett winning a BAFTA for Best actress, she’s most likely to take home the Oscar too.

Best Directing: While the nominees are David O. Russell (American Hustle), Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity), Alexander Payne (Nebraska), Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) and Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street), the big winner is mostly going to be Alfonso Cuarón. Mexican director Cuarón has won a Golden Globe for Gravity as Best Director - Motion Picture and also a BAFTA for Best Director once again for his film Gravity. Though the Academy could surprise by giving the prestigious award to Steve McQueen, history will be created as Cuarón, who is a Mexican, will be the first from his community to win an Oscar under the Best Director category. Same goes for McQueen who will be the first Black director to win an Oscar.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Undoubtedly it is going to be Jennifer Lawrence. The actress is The Academy's favourite who won the coveted award last year for Best Actress for her performance in Silver Linings Playbook. Though Lupita Nyong'o’s name is being whispered everywhere for her remarkable acting in 12 Years A Slave, Lawrence certainly has an upper edge. The Actress has already won a Golden Globe and BAFTA for American Hustle and she’s likely to be The Academy’s favourtie once again!

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: This could be a tricky one once again as Jared Leto has won a Golden Globe for Dallas Buyers Club. He’s also had a SAG and BFCA win which puts him ahead in the race. Though his name was ignored at the BAFTAs this year, (he wasn’t even nominated), he is most likely to win the coveted award. But Barkhad Abdi could give him tough competition for his role in Captain Phillips which earned him a BAFTA. Only time will tell if Jared will beat Abdi in the race to the Oscars!

Best Animated Feature Film: There is no two ways about this one! The Oscar for the Best Animated Feature Film at the 86th Academy Awards will go to Disney’s Frozen. Other contenders in this category are The Croods, Despicable Me 2, Ernest & Celestine and The Wind Rises. Frozen has already won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. The film is a huge hit with audiences and everyone’s voting heavily on it.

Best Foreign Language Film: While the nominees are The Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgium), The Great Beauty (Italy), The Hunt (Denmark), The Missing Picture Cambodia and Omar (Palestine), the big winner is mostly going to be The Great Beauty. The film has already won a Golden Globe and BAFTA. So it should come as no surprise that The Great Beauty will win at the Academy Awards too. The film has won a lot of critical acclaim and seems to be everyone’s favourite!

Other Categories:

Best Documentary Feature: Bets are on The Act of Killing which also won a BAFTA.

Best Screenplay Motion Picture: Spike Jonze’s Her which won a Golden Globe but failed to win at the BAFTAs which awarded it to American Hustle. Though the bets are on Her, American Hustle could burst the bubble.
Best adapted screenplay- 12 Years a Slave could win though the BAFTA went to the film Philomena.

Best Music (Original Song): This could be a tough one. While the Golden Globe went to Ordinary Love by U2 from the film Mandela, Happy from Despicable Me 2 and Let It Go from Frozen could give tough competition. But we’ll go with Ordinary Love.