Meet This Year's Potential Best Picture Contenders
The decorations at your local mall may say "Christmas," but the movie release schedule suggests a different time of year: Awards Season. The next five weeks will introduce some heavy hitters—including new films from David O. Russell, Quentin Tarantino, Todd Haynes, and Alejandro González Iñárritu—into what is already shaping up to be a crowded field of contenders. Actually, history suggests that the next best picture winner may already be playing in a theater near you. No December release has won the top Oscar in over a decade.
With that in mind, browse our quick guide to the 25 films that still appear to be in the running for best picture consideration, including titles released earlier this year as well as those arriving over the next month.
Its underdog status certainly didn't hurt Compton this summer at the box office, when F. Gary Gray's surprise hit became the highest-grossing music biopic in film history. That success now has some Oscar pundits thinking that a best picture nomination could be next for this critically praised chronicle of rap legends N.W.A., even if it isn't exactly the type of movie that Academy voters tend to favor.