Meet This Year's Best Picture Contenders
If your leftover Halloween candy pile is down to a few stray pieces of Laffy Taffy* and Tootsie Rolls, it can mean only one thing: It's time for film awards season!
Which films will contend for the Oscars' biggest prize in March? To find out, we have surveyed industry experts, calculated the Metascores, and examined the top performing films at this year's major film festivals to come up with a list of 15 potential best picture contenders from 2022, plus more than a dozen bonus wildcards. In a welcome change, this year's best picture slate could include multiple films that you've heard of—in fact, it could include some of the year's most successful films at the box office. So let the guessing game begin ...
* Please take our Laffy Taffy.
What is it? Writer-director Martin McDonagh's dark comedy set on a remote Irish island in the 1920s where the long-standing friendship between two men (Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson) suddenly erupts into a bitter and violent feud.
Why is it a contender? Buzz has been building since Inisherin debuted at Venice and TIFF in September, where reviews were excellent and audiences were enthusiastic. ("Enthusiastic" might be an understatement for a 15-minute standing ovation.) And McDonagh's previous film, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, was a best picture nominee following similarly terrific reviews.
What are its chances? It's a sure thing for a best picture nomination and is also one of the few films that actually has a chance to upset The Fabelmans (more on that film in a moment) and win the category. Many experts predict that Inisherin will receive nominations in acting, directing, and screenplay categories as well.
When can I see it? Banshees has been playing in limited release for a few weeks but just expanded to theaters nationwide.