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? The latest drama from American Beauty and Skyfall director Sam Mendes is set in an English seaside town in the 1980s where a troubled movie theater manager (Oscar winner Olivia Colman) begins a relationship with one of her younger employees (Michael Ward).
Why is it a contender? Mendes has directed two previous best picture nominees, including his most recent film, 1917. And this one is in part—say it with us—a movie about the magic of cinema, which will appeal to at least some Academy voters. It also involves plenty of Oscar-nominated talent, including not just Colman but also composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross and cinematographer Roger Deakins.
What are its chances? Not as good as originally expected, due to one slight flaw: It's not a great film. Critics expressed mostly disappointment in Empire of Light when it debuted at Telluride, with multiple complaints about Mendes's first solo screenplay. But some reviewers loved Light, and even critics who disliked the movie applauded the acting, leading some experts to consider the film to remain in the running for a best picture nod.
When can I see it? December 9th, in theaters.
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