Oscars 2018 predictions: Three Billboards, The Shape of Water leading contenders at Academy Awards

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri won three prizes at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards on Sunday in a ceremony marked by women and their stories amid the sexual misconduct scandal that has swept Hollywood. The SAG awards are indicators of likely Oscar success in March because actors form the largest group of voters in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences representing about 1,200 of the roughly 6,000 voters. [caption id=“attachment_4314041” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Sam Rockwell (L) and Frances McDormand in a still from Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Image: Merrick Morton/Fox Searchlight Pictures[/caption] With the Oscar nominations set to be announced on Tuesday, let’s take a look at the top contenders for potential nominations. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which had previously triumphed at the Golden Globes, is now a hot favourite at the Oscars alongside The Shape of Water which won best movie at the Producers Guild Awards on Saturday. Other films which could be nominated for Best Picture are: Lady Bird, Get Out, Dunkirk, The Post, Call Me By Your Name, I, Tonya and Molly’s Game. The Shape of Water director Guillermo Del Toro is a near certainty in the Best Director category along with Dunkirk’s Christopher Nolan, The Florida Project’s Sean Baker, Lady Bird’s Greta Gerwig and Three Billboards’s Martin McDonagh. Frances McDormand won outstanding performance by a lead actress at the SAG awards for her role as a mother seeking to avenge the rape and murder of her daughter in Three Billboards. Meryl Streep (The Post), Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water), Margot Robbie (I, Tonya) and Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird) will be her competition at the Oscars. [caption id=“attachment_4314045” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Sally Hawkins (L) and Octavia Spencer in The Shape of Water. Fox Searchlight Pictures[/caption] Gary Oldman appears to be in line for Best Actor for his turn as wartime leader Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour. He’ll be in contention with the likes of Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name), Daniel Day-Lewis (Phantom Thread), James Franco (The Disaster Artist) and Tom Hanks (The Post). Three Billboards also won best ensemble, the SAG Awards’ most prestigious award, while Sam Rockwell took home the best supporting actor statuette for his role as a police officer in the film. And he is likely to lead that group of nominations at the Oscars too with Christopher Plummer (All the Money in the World), Steve Carell (Battle of the Sexes), Richard Jenkins (The Shape of Water) and Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project) hoping to cause an upset. Similarly, Allison Janney too won for her supporting actress role as a demanding mother in independent ice-skating movie I, Tonya at both events. She’ll get a certain nod along with Mary J Blige (Mudbound), Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird), Octavia Spencer (The Shape of Water) and Holly Hunter (The Big Sick). The Academy will likely nominate Logan in its adapted screenplay category alongside Call Me by Your Name, The Disaster Artist, Molly’s Game and Mudbound while critical hits like Three Billboards, The Big Sick, Get Out, I, Tonya, Lady Bird and The Shape of Water will feature in the original screenplay category. With inputs from agencies