Predicting The 89th Annual Academy Awards

Best Original Song
Audition (The Fools Who Dream), La La Land
Can’t Stop the Feeling, Trolls
City of Stars, La La Land
The Empty Chair, Jim: The James Foley Story
How Far I’ll Go, Moana

This will be another pretty easy win for La La Land. “City of Stars” has been the single most popular pick for Original Song throughout the season, racking up wins at the Critics’ Choice and Golden Globe Awards, in addition to several additional critics’ groups. They could surprise us and go with “Audition” instead, but even that slight alteration would be a little shocking.

Best Original Score
Jackie
La La Land
Lion
Moonlight
Passengers

Another easy one to predict for La La Land. After all, it’s an original musical with a brilliant and catchy score, so how could it not win? With victories at the Critics’ Choice, Golden Globe, and BAFTA Awards, along with multiple other wins, this is one of the biggest no-brainers of the evening.

Best Makeup & Hair
A Man Called Ove
Star Trek Beyond
Suicide Squad

This is one of the more interesting categories of the night, for there isn’t really any clear indication as to which film The Academy is going to choose. Both Suicide Squad and Star Trek Beyond won awards from The Makeup and Hair Stylists Guild, but my guess would be the latter, not only because they liked the makeup of the first film enough to award it this category, but also because I would think they would be more open to awarding it over something like Suicide Squad.

Best Costume Design
Allied
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Florence Foster Jenkins
Jackie
La La Land

Here we have one of the few awards that’s not locked down for La La Land. This year, Costume Design will more than likely be going to Jackie, with the main proof being that it won the Critics’ Choice Award for this category. Why is that so important? Well, they’ve matched this category 100% ever since they started handing out the award in 2009. Plus, Jackie has the kind of gorgeous period costumes that The Academy loves to award, so it makes sense that they’d go in that direction. That being said, if a sweep were to happen, it’s quite possible that La La Land could swoop in and take it, but as we head into the final stretch, that appears to be a much bigger gamble than going with a seven-year streak.

Best Production Design
Arrival
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Hail, Caesar!
La La Land
Passengers

I know this is going to start sounding incredible repetitive after a while, but this is yet another category that appears to be an easy call for La La Land. With wins from The Art Directors Guild, The Broadcast Film Critics Association, and numerous additional critics’ groups, there doesn’t really seem much doubt that the beloved musical will add this to its stash on the big night.