Oscar Predictions 2020: Who And What Will Win In The Eight Major Categories

Brad Pitt's been enjoying quite the resurgence this year, between his acclaimed roles in Ad Astra and Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood, a handful of truly excellent awards season jokes, and that much buzzed-about reunion with Jennifer Aniston at the SAG Awards. His performance as driver/stuntman/laconic hunk Cliff Booth is one of the great pleasures of Tarantino's OUATIH, and it looks like he's the one to beat in this category. Photo: Andrew Cooper

Sam Mendes's acclaimed World War I epic has emerged as a surprise front-runner for the night's biggest prize. Despite its relative lack of buzz early in awards season, 1917's Golden Globe win was the kind of upset that can change everything. And it has since picked up award after award, including the coveted top Producers Guild Award, which is considered to be the best predictor of Best Picture. 1917 is filmed in lengthy takes and edited together to give the appearance of being one continuous, unbroken shot, an enthralling technique which—based on Birdman's win a few years ago—Academy voters are keen on. Photo: François Duhamel

If we're being honest with ourselves, Parasite probably deserves to sweep every single category it's eligible for. Bong Joon-ho's dizzyingly sharp, surprising blend of social satire and psychological horror is a gem, and the director himself has been an incredibly popular presence on the awards circuit. Though traditional wisdom may suggest this prediction is wishful thinking—Sam Mendes won the Directors Guild prize, for instance—we're Team Bong all the way. Photo: Neon

It was a predictable yet exhausting disappointment this year when, once again, the Academy failed to nominate a single female director, and one of the most glaring omissions was Gerwig. But she has a strong chance of taking home the Best Adapted Screenplay Award for her incredibly thoughtful and inventive retooling of the Louisa May Alcott classic. Photo: Wilson Webb

Quentin Tarantino's revisionist fairy tale about Old Hollywood no longer feels like a front-runner for Best Picture, as some were predicting when it came out in summer. But it's still a favorite among industry folks, and as a two-time winner in this category (for Django Unchained and Pulp Fiction), Tarantino has a strong chance to make it a hat trick at Sunday's ceremony. But he's far from a sure thing. Bong Joon-ho's screenplay for Parasite won the equivalent prize at the WGA Awards last weekend, though it's important to note that Tarantino wasn't eligible. Photo: Andrew Cooper

Divisive though Todd Phillips gritty take on the Batman villain has been since its October release, Joaquin Phoenix's performance as the troubled, mistreated Arthur Fleck has been universally acclaimed. A four-time Oscar nominee, Phoenix is overdue for an award having lost out for his extraordinary performance in Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master, and he's already taken home armfuls of awards for Joker including the SAG best actor prize. And though the Academy typically doesn’t reward comic book movies in major categories, it has made an exception for the Joker before. Photo: Niko Tavernise

Not unlike Phoenix for Joker, Zellweger emerged as the front-runner early on for her widely beloved performance in a film that was otherwise met with a muted response. Zellweger, a four-time nominee who won in 2004 for her performance in Cold Mountain, brings nuance to the role of Judy Garland, depicted here in the final year of her life. Having already won the SAG and Globe, she'll be hard to beat. Photo: Daivid Hindley

This is the least easy to predict of the four acting categories, since Dern is up against her double-nominated Marriage Story costar Scarlett Johansson, who's competing here for her turn in Jojo Rabbit. But Dern's performance, and particularly that searing monologue, has been one of the most consistently praised elements of the divisive divorce drama Marriage Story, and after two prior nominations, this feels like her time. Photo: Netflix