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2021 Oscars Predictions: All Awards Categories

New predictions and updates every Thursday, along with the Awards Circuit column and podcast.

Oscars Best Picture Envelope

Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars from Film Awards Editor Clayton Davis. Following Academy Awards history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar predictions are updated regularly with the current year's contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four phases, running all year long: Draft, Pre-Season, Regular Season and Post Season. Eligibility calendar and dates of awards will determine how long each phase lasts and will be displayed next to revision date.

To see all the latest predictions, of all the categories, in one place, visit THE COLLECTIVE.

DRAFT>>>PRE SEASON>>>REGULAR SEASON>>>POST SEASON

UPDATED: Mar. 18, 2021

AWARDS PREDICTION COMMENTARY: We are now in the Oscars Post Season! All the Oscar prediction pages are being updated with the Academy Award nominees in each category, along with additional commentary, images and what the film’s “Oscar scene” (or better known as “Oscar clip”) is for the respective category. So far, you can find the updates for best picture, director, actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress, original screenplay, adapted screenplay and animated feature. Keep checking back for more.

In terms of the actual nominations commentary, this closes the chapter of one of the hardest years for cinema. After a year in which the Academy announced its divisive inclusion and representation standards, members stepped up to the plate, recognizing the most people of color in the acting categories in history with nine nods. There’s wonderful representation in almost every category, and while there’s still work to do, this is a step in the right direction and the Academy should be applauded for its efforts (Now let’s get our Latinx people on board in a big way next year, please).

In a year dubbed “The Year of the Woman,” it’s poetic to see (in theory) that the only two films that can win best picture, based on Oscar statistical history, are “Nomadland” and “Promising Young Woman,” considering where they landed nominations.

Awards Circuit Winners Chart (2020-2021)
2021 Awards Season Calendar

Academy Awards Predictions (All Categories)

Awards Circuit Winners Chart

Awards Circuit (Column) Archives

2021 Golden Globes Predictions (Film)

2021 Golden Globes Final Predictions (TV)

2021 SAG Awards Predictions (Film)

About the Academy Awards (Oscars)

The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, is Hollywood’s most prestigious artistic award in the film industry. Since 1927, nominees and winners are selected by members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). 17 branches are represented within the near 10,000 person membership. The branches are actors, associates, casting directors, cinematographers, costume designers, directors, documentary, executives, film editors, makeup and hairstylists, marketing and public relations, members-at-large, members-at-large (artists’ representatives), music, producers, production design, short films and feature animation, sound, visual effects and writers.

  • The Oscars are scheduled for Sunday, April 25, 2021.

About the Golden Globes

The Golden Globes Awards, hosted by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, is held annually with 93 members since 1944. The group recognizes excellence in film and television across drama and comedy or musical categories. Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land” holds the record for the most awards won by a single film with seven. Milos Forman’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and Alan Parker’s “Midnight Express” are next in line with six each. Robert Altman’s “Nashville” has the record for most nominations received by a film with 11 while Colin Higgins’ “Foul Play,” Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather Part III” and Mike Nichols’ “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” share the record for receiving the most nominations and not winning a single award at seven.

  • The Golden Globes are scheduled for Feb. 28, 2021.

About the SAG Awards

The Screen Actors Guild Awards, hosted by SAG-AFTRA, is an annual award show that has become one of the most important and key indicators for the Oscars. Four films have won the most SAG awards with three: 1999’s “American Beauty,” 2002’s “Chicago,” 2011’s “The Help” and 2017’s “Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri.” Three movies have been nominated for the most SAG awards with five: 1998’s “Shakespeare in Love,” “Chicago” and 2008’s “Doubt.”

  • The SAG Awards are scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 4, 2021

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