Oscar 2015 Predictions, Best Picture: Why 'Birdman' Will Beat 'Boyhood'
The Best Picture category is one of the most unpredictable categories in years as two films are competing for the top prize, while six of the films are currently longshots.
The winner of the category will be alongside the pantheon of 86 great films that include "Casablanca," "Titanic," "The Godfather Part 1," "The Godfather Part 2," "No Country for Old Men" and most recently "12 Years a Slave."
The other seven films will join greats like "Citizen Kane," "Fargo," "There Will Be Blood," "The Tree of Life," "Clockwork Orange," "Barry Lyndon" and "Saving Private Ryan."
So which films are the longshots?
The film that is most likely to lose is without a doubt "Selma." The film only obtained two nominations including Best Picture and Best Song. It was the only film nominated that did not score a Best Screenplay nomination, and it also failed to obtain an actor nomination. It is also not nominated for Best Director, and that is probably the most detrimental part of the whole situation. Additionally, the Guild awards ignored it due to a lack of screeners. It also failed to breakout at the box office the way pundits expected it would.
Following "Selma," "Whiplash" will likely lose the big award. Its box office has been a disaster since it opened as mainstream audience failed to embrace it the way most expected. Additionally, the film is extremely small and the type of picture that does not have the grand message most Academy Award winners have. "Whiplash" is nominated for five awards, and most expect it to take home the Best Supporting Actor award. However, the categories are still up for grabs. As a result, the film will likely have to resign to winning one award.
Another film that will also lose is "The Theory of Everything." While the movie was nominated at the Producers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild of America and was a BAFTA favorite, it has not won a single Best Picture and was not nominated for Best Director. "The Theory of Everything" may follow the historical mainstream film that the Academy likes to award but the film does not have the buzz other films have in this category. James Marsh's film will likely go home with the Best Adapted Screenplay award and may win best Score but the Picture category looks like a longshot.
"American Sniper" is being touted as a possible surprise film. Although reviews were mediocre, the Guilds embraced it, and the audiences did, as well. To date, the film has scored over $300 million at the box office and is likely to become the highest grossing film of 2014. As aforementioned, the movie scored nominations at the DGA, PGA and Writers Guild but failed to score nominations at SAG. This is where the film is weak. In the past 10 years, the Best Picture winner has been nominated for Best Ensemble at SAG. Failure to do so basically costs the film the category. Additionally, while the DGA embraced Clint Eastwood, the Academy failed to nominate him for Best Director. With eight nominations, expect the film to at least take home a sound category.
The final four films are definitely the films to look out for.
The first of the batch is "The Imitation Game." Nominated for eight Oscars, the movie was embraced by all four major guilds including the SAG, PGA, the DGA, and WGA. However, it has trailed at these awards having lost every single one except for WGA. Where "The Imitation Game" benefits over the other three remaining Best Picture nominees is it is being backed by awards guru Harvey Weinstein, and it has the more traditional film narrative the Academy likes. It also doesn't hurt the movie is inspired by real-life events and the last two Best Picture winners were based on real-life events. However, "The Imitation Game" has had a lot of controversies and will likely be marred down by it.
"The Grand Budapest Hotel" follows in the list as the film that could possibly win. The Wes Anderson film is nominated for nine Oscars and has been nominated for all the major guild awards, but it only won the WGA. It has been embraced, however, by the critics and was a huge box office hit. It was also won the Golden Globe in the comedy category, something no pundits expected. It also has an editing nomination, which is crucial for Best Picture since every film since 1981 has won the Oscar with an Editing nomination. Where "Budapest" may lose is it was released in March, and no film in the past 20 years that won the Oscar has been released that early.
As a result, the category comes down to two films, the B films: "Boyhood" and "Birdman." Both films have all the buzz and have been embraced in equal ways.
"Boyhood" is nominated for six Oscars and has won the BAFTA, Golden Globe and Critics' Choice. It is also nominated for Best editing, something that "Birdman" lacks. However, it failed to win a single major guild award including the PGA, DGA, SAG and WGA. That does not bode well for the picture that has also been criticized for the lack of a narrative. No film in the past 20 years has won the Oscar without a Guild win. Last year, "12 Years a Slave" may have lost the SAG award, the WGA and the DGA, but it won the PGA, and that was enough to go home with the Best Picture award. Even "The Departed," which lost the Golden Globe, the BAFTA, the PGA and SAG, still managed wins at the DGA and WGA. That was enough for a Best Picture win.
This is where "Birdman" has a stronger case. It won the PGA, SAG and the DGA and did not qualify for the WGA. The film also won at the Costume Designers Guild, Art Directors Guild, Cinema Audio Society, Sound Editors Guild and the American Cinematographer Society. It only failed to pull off a win at the Eddies for Editing. It also was not nominated for this award at the Oscars, but exceptions could be made as was the case in 2012 when "Argo" mysteriously missed a Best Directors nomination but still managed an Oscar win. The strength of "Argo" came from a universal embrace from the Guilds. Once it won the four major guilds it was unstoppable. The same thing happened in 2010 when "The King's Speech" won the PGA, DGA and SAG. Once it won these awards, it was unstoppable at the Oscars, even though "The Social Network" was the critical favorite. "The King's Speech" famously lost every major Critics' circle and also failed to win the Critics' Choice or the Golden Globe. Even the BAFTAs failed to give the film a Best Director award. But it still won gold on Oscar night.
Additionally, the last time a film won all these guilds but failed to win the Best Picture was in 1995 when "Braveheart" beat "Apollo 13." Many pundits suggest the same thing could happen, and "Boyhood" could win. The exception however was that "Braveheart" won at least one guild, and that was the WGA. As a result if this is to happen this year, "The Grand Budapest Hotel" has a better chance than "Boyhood" since it won the WGA.
"Birdman" is definitely the industry favorite, and it is unlikely to change given the universal praise and awards it was given by almost all the guilds. Expect "Birdman" to win the Best Picture on Oscar Sunday.
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