The State Of The Race – Pete Hammond’s Latest Predictions: “It’s Anybody’s Ballgame”

deadline.com:

It’s November — a month where everyone still thinks they can win. Oscars, that is. And as usual, the campaign activity is thriving, and maybe this year the idea that anyone can win — or at least get nominated — is not that far-fetched.

The lingering effects of the 2023 actors’ and writers’ strikes are still being felt, due to those productions that were halted and releases put on hold, and a more robust lineup of awards contenders has really failed to materialize because of those delays.

2025 is looking pretty good. 2024? Not so much. This isn’t to say there aren’t several worthy contenders, but just about any pundit you talk to will tell you this is a weird year, without a single take-it-to-the-bank frontrunning contender emerging in this nascent race.

It could be anyone’s ballgame. The excitement of 2023’s Barbenheimer contest that managed to ignite both the box office and the Oscar voters looks like the distant past at this point.