Predicting The 89th Annual Academy Awards

Best Visual Effects
Deepwater Horizon
Doctor Strange
The Jungle Book
Kubo and the Two Strings
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

With The Jungle Book having cleaned up at the Visual Effects Society Awards, in addition to winning the BAFTA award for this category, I would think it has the best chance to take the Oscar here. However, you may recall that Star Wars: The Force Awakens won with both groups last year, but still lost to Ex Machina on the big night, so while it seems like a sure thing, I wouldn’t rule out another surprise upset.

Best Foreign Language Film
Land of Mine
A Man Called Ove
The Salesman
Tanna
Toni Erdmann

With the incredibly disappointing elimination of Paul Verhoeven’s Elle from the category, we’re left with trying to find second best option. This would seem to point to the very popular Toni Erdmann as the most likely winner, especially with it having won several awards of its own from groups like The National Society of Film Critics, The London Film Critics Circle, The New York Film Critics Circle, and The Toronto Film Critics Association.

Best Documentary Feature
Fire at Sea
I Am Not Your Negro
Life, Animated
O.J. Simpson: Made in America
13^th

This would appear to be all wrapped up for Ezra Edelman’s outstanding eight-hour documentary O.J.: Made in America. It’s already won big with several major groups, including The Producers Guild of America, The Directors Guild of America, The American Cinema Editors, The Broadcast Film Critics Association, The National Board of Review, and The National Society of Film Critics, so it would seem that the Oscar is going to be its final accolade.

Best Animated Feature
Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
My Life as a Zucchini
The Red Turtle
Zootopia

Here we have another category that seems pretty easy to call. While I wish I could say that the marvelous The Red Turtle was going to take it, it’s been Zootopia that’s been enjoying a plethora of award victories throughout the season, including big wins from the Producers Guild of America and the Annie Awards, so there doesn’t appear to be any reason that it won’t win here. The only one I would say to watch out for is Kubo and the Two Strings, which has won a few awards of its own, but Zootopia just seems too popular to catch at this point.