With the Academy’s nominations announcement drawing closer by the day, it’s time to lay it all on the line with my final Oscar nomination predictions. While the nominations from the American Cinema Editors for their ACE Eddie Awards won’t impact Oscar nomination voting (they were announced after voting had closed), they do provide an insight into how the editing branch may be leaning. Last year, all five of the eventual Oscar nominees for Best Film Editing nabbed an ACE Eddie nod, which shows the importance of this precursor award.
There’s still some apprehension over Chloé Zhao and whether she will suffer a similar fate to Alfonso Cuarón and his snub for editing his own 2018 film, Roma. But she’s nabbed nominations from ACE Eddie, BAFTA, and Critics Choice, so the Academy would look rather foolish to ignore Zhao’s editing. The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Sound of Metal now appear firmly locked for nods after receiving noms from BAFTA, Critics Choice, and ACE Eddie, while Mank nabbed noms from the latter two.
That leaves the fifth spot wide open. ACE Eddie went with Minari in their Drama category, while BAFTA favoured The Father and Promising Young Woman, which also landed an ACE Eddie nod in their Comedy category. The Father has performed rather poorly during the precursor season, so it’s hard to tell if the Academy will follow suit or shower it in nominations. Minari has the broader buzz overall and is certain to receive a Best Picture nomination, so let’s just assume the Academy will match all five of the ACE Eddie Drama category.
BEST FILM EDITING PREDICTIONS:
1. The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix)
Alan Baumgarten
2. Mank (Netflix)
Kirk Baxter
3. Nomadland (Searchlight Pictures)
Chloé Zhao
4. Sound of Metal (Amazon Studios)
Mikkel E.G. Nielsen
5. Minari (A24)
Harry Yoon
Alternate: The Father (Sony Pictures Classics)