Will “The Shape of Water” win the coveted Best Picture award at Sunday’s Academy Awards?
TheWrap’s film reporters Beatrice Verhoeven and Matt Donnelly dissect its chances against other frontrunners “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” “Get Out” and “Lady Bird.”
With 13 nominations, including Best Director for Guillermo del Toro, and its wins at the Producers Guild and Directors Guild awards, “The Shape of Water” is a clear favorite. But of course, other films could pull an upset, like in recent years when a presumptive winner was overtaken by an underdog.
For example, “Birdman” surprised everyone when it took home the award instead of “The Grand Budapest Hotel” in 2015. In 2016, “Spotlight” nabbed the biggest award of the night away from “The Revenant,” and last year, “Moonlight” famously won over “La La Land.”
Also, the critics have favored “Get Out” and “Lady Bird,” the two films made by the debuting directors in this year’s race, Jordan Peele and Greta Grewig. Each of those films has 10 Best Picture wins, with the “Lady Bird” tally including the Golden Globe for Best Comedy.
This year’s Oscar Sunday is going to be one for the books — As TheWrap’s awards guru Steve Pond has noted, this is the most unpredictable Best Picture race in recent memory with a field that could see a horror movie, a directorial debut, or a sci-fi romance claim victory at the end of Oscar Sunday.
Tune in at 5 p.m. on ABC.
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