Trending
(AP) -- The Oscars just got more interesting. With a few late-game curveballs, courtesy of the Actor Awards, the broadcast of the 98th Academy Awards on Sunday, March 15, may have more drama and heartbreak than expected even just last week.
As members of the film academy filled out their ballots before Thursday's 8 p.m. Eastern deadline, Associated Press film writers Lindsey Bahr and Jake Coyle are making their final predictions for the top awards too.
BEST PICTURE
Nominees: "Bugonia"; "F1"; "Frankenstein"; "Hamnet"; "Marty Supreme"; "One Battle After Another"; "The Secret Agent"; "Sentimental Value"; "Sinners"; "Train Dreams"
BAHR: "One Battle After Another" was coasting along the rolling hills of awards season as the clear front-runner, winning top prizes at the Producers Guild Awards, Directors Guild Awards, BAFTAs and the Golden Globes, right up until Sunday's Actor Awards. In this tortured, inherently flawed metaphor that I'm already regretting, I guess "Sinners," which won best ensemble, is Willa's car?
The point is, suddenly, the Oscars don't seem so buttoned up after all. I still think it's going to be "One Battle After Another," though. The award previously known as SAG has diverged five times in the past 10 shows; the PGAs are a slightly better predictor, having gone another way only twice in 10 years. And either way, it'll be a win for theatrical moviegoing and Warner Bros., no matter how uncertain their futures may be.
COYLE: I love your metaphor, just as long as it doesn't careen onto the "F1" racetrack. This has always felt like a two-horse race, only "Sinners" didn't have much to show for itself until those big wins at the Actor Awards. That Michael B. Jordan also won gives me some pause. The breakthrough for "Sinners" came at just the right time, when Oscar voters were sending in their ballots. So I think "Sinners" has an excellent chance of pulling off the upset. But ultimately I think "One Battle After Another" wins. It has the more meaningful precursors and feels powerfully of the moment.