2023 Oscar Predictions: ORIGINAL SCORE (October)

We could be seeing double, well, double double, this December when the Oscar shortlists roll in for the original scores that the Academy music branch has deemed eligible and worthy of an Oscar nomination as previous winners Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (Soul, The Social Network) and Hildur Guðnadóttir (Joker) could find themselves in the running for two films each; Reznor and Ross for Empire of Light and Bones & All and Guðnadóttir for TÁR and Women Talking.

There are some major Oscar favorites in this category in the running this year, including two contenders who represent two of the most extreme superlatives in this race. John Williams should easily receive his 48th nomination in Original Score (the most nominations of anyone in this category plus five in Original Song) for Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans. A 5-time winner here, this is said to be the final score of his 70-year career. At 90, were he to win he would become the oldest competitive Oscar winner of all time, passing Ennio Morricone (also in this category), who was 87 when he won in 2016.

Thomas Newman has been nominated 14 times in this category and lost every time, an Oscar record. His nominations have come from Best Picture nominees and winners with tons of nominations to being a film’s sole nomination. One of the most consistently popular composers in the branch, he’s listed for the Tom Hanks film A Man Called Otto (the English language remake of the Oscar-nominated Swedish film A Man Called Ove) but is it a real movie? It’s long been slated for a late December release from Sony but you wouldn’t know it because we haven’t seen or heard a peep about it. If it comes out this year, pencil him in to make the shortlist at least.

Here are my 2023 Oscar predictions in Original Score for October.

1. The Fabelmans – John Williams (Universal Pictures)
2. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio – Alexandre Desplat (Netflix)
3. Empire of Light – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (Searchlight Pictures)
4. TÁR – Hildur Guðnadóttir (Focus Features)
5. The Banshees of Inisherin – Carter Burwell (Searchlight Pictures)

6. All Quiet on the Western Front – Volker Bertelmann (Netflix)
7. The Batman – Michael Giacchino (Warner Bros)
8. Till – Abel Korzeniowski (UAR/Orion Pictures)
9. Bardo, or False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths – Bryce Dessner and Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Netflix)
10. A Man Called Otto – Thomas Newman (Sony Pictures)

Other contenders (alphabetical)

Avatar: The Way of Water – Simon Franglen (20th Century Studios)
Babylon – Justin Hurwitz (Paramount Pictures)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Ludwig Göransson (Walt Disney/Marvel)
Blonde – Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (Netflix)
Bones & All – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (MGM/UAR)
Decision to Leave – Jo Yeong-wook (MUBI)
Everything Everywhere All at Once – Son Lux (A24)
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On – Disasterpiece (A24)
Nope – Michael Abels (Universal Pictures)
RRR – M.M. Keeravaani (Variance Films)
She Said – Nicholas Britell (Universal Pictures)
The Son – Hans Zimmer (Sony Pictures Classics)
Strange World – Henry Jackman (Walt Disney)
Top Gun: Maverick – Lorne Balfe, Harold Faltermeyer, Lady Gaga and Hans Zimmer (Paramount Pictures)
Turning Red – Ludwig Göransson (Walt Disney/Pixar)
The Whale – Rob Simeonsen (A24)
White Noise – Danny Elfman (Netflix)
The Woman King – Terence Blanchard (Sony/Tri-Star)
Women Talking – Hildur Guðnadóttir (UAR/Orion Pictures)

Photo courtesy of Focus Features