Best Film Editing Oscars Predictions (February)

We have our final five Best Film Editing nominees and the only true surprise was Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum for tick, tick…BOOM!. Not because their editing doesn’t deserve acknowledgement, but rather their nomination stands as one of only two nods for the film. It’s not uncommon to see non-Best Picture nominees land a nomination for film editing, but if the editors brand were feeling like honouring a musical, most of us presumed it would be West Side Story.

Joe Walker (Dune) was the only BAFTA nominee to also land a nomination from the Academy, so it now stands as the only film with all three major precursor nods (BAFTA, Critics Choice, ACE Eddie). For much of this race, we’ve mostly all presumed its major competition would be Peter Sciberras for Best Picture contender The Power of the Dog, but the ACE Eddie Awards just threw a major curveball into this race.

Okay, technically the Eddie Awards didn’t happen in February, so I’m cheating a little by including the results in this piece. But the shock Best Edited Feature Film (Drama) victory of Pamela Martin for King Richard has to be acknowledged now. Martin defeated both Walker and Sciberras to take this prize, which is a huge coup for her Oscar campaign. However, the last two winners of this award (The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Parasite) did not go on to Oscar victories, so time will tell if Martin will suffer the same fate.

So what will shape this race before Oscar voting commences on March 17? BAFTA and Critics Choice will reveal their winners on March 13. As previously mentioned, Dune is the only Oscar contender nominated at BAFTA, so a victory there won’t prove all that much. Critics Choice may not shed much light either, given King Richard is not nominated there. Still, if Dune takes both, it will head into Oscar voting with all the momentum.

BEST FILM EDITING PREDICTIONS:
1. Dune (Warner Bros.)
Joe Walker
2. King Richard (Warner Bros.)
Pamela Martin
3. The Power of the Dog (Netflix)
Peter Sciberras
4. tick, tick… BOOM! (Netflix)
Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum
5. Don’t Look Up (Netflix)
Hank Corwin