The awards season is in full swing, and the next one we’re covering is the Critics Choice Awards. The 30th Critics Choice Awards are on January 12th this upcoming year and have some interesting category selections. Conclave and Wicked led the way with 11 nominations, followed closely by Dune: Part 2 and Emilia Perez with 10 apiece.
What stands out to me is how the Critics Choice showed love for horror with 7 nominations going to The Substance, 4 for Nosferatu, and one going to Heretic and Abigail for Hugh Grant and Alisha Weir’s terrifying performances. Coralie Fargeat bet on herself with The Substance, reportedly having a deal with Universal until they demanded they recut the film to change its iconic ending. She refused and the film was sold to Mubi where it made over $56 million on a $17.5 million budget.
As we continue to get closer to the Oscars, we see the trends developing. While no one award is the perfect indicator of what movies will get nominated and win, we can see the same movies, actors and actresses, and directors get nominated for these awards, the local awards, the Golden Globes and connect the dots. It wouldn’t surprise me if these ten movies below are the Oscars’ best picture nominations as well. Same with the acting nominations, even with one extra pick here, the trends are there.
While the awards are still a ways away and there are still so many movies to watch still, I am extremely excited for the discourse and to see how the Critics Choice Awards play out and see who wins!
BEST PICTURE
A Complete Unknown
Anora
The Brutalist
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Pérez
Nickel Boys
Sing Sing
The Substance
Wicked
BEST ACTOR
Adrien Brody – The Brutalist
Timothée Chalamet – A Complete Unknown
Daniel Craig – Queer
Colman Domingo – Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes – Conclave
Hugh Grant – Heretic
BEST ACTRESS
Cynthia Erivo – Wicked
Karla Sofía Gascón – Emilia Pérez
Marianne Jean-Baptiste – Hard Truths
Angelina Jolie – Maria
Mikey Madison – Anora
Demi Moore – The Substance
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Yura Borisov – Anora
Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain
Clarence Maclin – Sing Sing
Edward Norton – A Complete Unknown
Guy Pearce – The Brutalist
Denzel Washington – Gladiator II
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Danielle Deadwyler – The Piano Lesson
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor – Nickel Boys
Ariana Grande – Wicked
Margaret Qualley – The Substance
Isabella Rossellini – Conclave
Zoe Saldaña – Emilia Pérez
BEST YOUNG ACTOR / ACTRESS
Alyla Browne – Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Elliott Heffernan – Blitz
Maisy Stella – My Old Ass
Izaac Wang – Didi
Alisha Weir – Abigail
Zoe Ziegler – Janet Planet
BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
Anora
Conclave
Emilia Pérez
Saturday Night
Sing Sing
Wicked
BEST DIRECTOR
Jacques Audiard – Emilia Pérez
Sean Baker – Anora
Edward Berger – Conclave
Brady Corbet – The Brutalist
Jon M. Chu – Wicked
Coralie Fargeat – The Substance
RaMell Ross – Nickel Boys
Denis Villeneuve – Dune: Part Two
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Sean Baker – Anora
Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum, Alex David – September 5
Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold – The Brutalist
Jesse Eisenberg – A Real Pain
Coralie Fargeat – The Substance
Justin Kuritzkes – Challengers
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Jacques Audiard – Emilia Pérez
Winnie Holzman, Dana Fox – Wicked
Greg Kwedar, Clint Bentley – Sing Sing
RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes – Nickel Boys
Peter Straughan – Conclave
Denis Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts – Dune: Part Two
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Jarin Blaschke – Nosferatu
Alice Brooks – Wicked
Lol Crawley – The Brutalist
Stéphane Fontaine – Conclave
Greig Fraser – Dune: Part Two
Jomo Fray – Nickel Boys
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Judy Becker, Patricia Cuccia – The Brutalist
Nathan Crowley, Lee Sandales – Wicked
Suzie Davies – Conclave
Craig Lathrop – Nosferatu
Arthur Max, Jille Azis, Elli Griff – Gladiator II
Patrice Vermette, Shane Vieau – Dune: Part Two
BEST EDITING
Sean Baker – Anora
Marco Costa – Challengers
Nick Emerson – Conclave
David Jancso – The Brutalist
Joe Walker – Dune: Part Two
Hansjörg Weißbrich – September 5
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Lisy Christl – Conclave
Linda Muir – Nosferatu
Massimo Cantini Parrini – Maria
Paul Tazewell – Wicked
Jacqueline West – Dune: Part Two
Janty Yates, Dave Crossman – Gladiator II
BEST HAIR AND MAKEUP
Christine Blundell, Lesa Warrener, Neal Scanlan – Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Hair and Makeup Team – Dune: Part Two
Stéphanie Guillon, Frédérique Arguello, Pierre-Olivier Persin – The Substance
Frances Hannon, Sarah Nuth, Laura Blount – Wicked
Traci Loader, Suzanne Stokes-Munton, David White – Nosferatu
Mike Marino, Sarah Graalman, Aaron Saucier – A Different Man
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Mark Bakowski, Pietro Ponti, Nikki Penny, Neil Corbould – Gladiator II
Pablo Helman, Jonathan Fawkner, Paul Corbould, David Shirk – Wicked
Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe, Gerd Nefzer – Dune: Part Two
Luke Millar, David Clayton, Keith Herft, Peter Stubbs – Better Man
Bryan Jones, Chervin Shafaghi, Pierre Olivier-Persin, Jean Miel – The Substance
Erik Winquist, Stephen Unterfranz, Paul Story, Rodney Burke – Kingdom of the Planet of the
Apes
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Flow
Inside Out 2
Memoir of a Snail
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot
BEST COMEDY
A Real Pain
Deadpool & Wolverine
Hit Man
My Old Ass
Saturday Night
Thelma
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
All We Imagine as Light
Emilia Pérez
Flow
I’m Still Here
Kneecap
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
BEST SONG
“Beautiful That Way” – The Last Showgirl – Andrew Wyatt, Miley Cyrus and Lykke Li
“Compress / Repress” – Challengers – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Luca Guadagnino
“El Mal” – Emilia Pérez – Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Camille
“Harper and Will Go West” – Will & Harper – Kristen Wiig
“Kiss the Sky” – The Wild Robot – Maren Morris
“Mi Camino” – Emilia Pérez – Selena Gomez
BEST SCORE
Volker Bertelmann – Conclave
Daniel Blumberg – The Brutalist
Kris Bowers – The Wild Robot
Clément Ducol & Camille – Emilia Pérez
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross – Challengers
Hans Zimmer – Dune: Part Two
