The October Oscar Read: The Odyssey, La Bola Negra and Wild Horse Nine Look Like Locks

Photo: Los Angeles Times, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The festivals are done, the October predictions are out, and the shape of the Best Picture race is clearer than it usually is at this point. Three films come up on every list as close to certain nominees: Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, Los Javis's La Bola Negra, and Martin McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine. The Playlist has all three as locked. The Hollywood Reporter's first Feinberg forecast of the season says more or less the same thing.

Below that it gets interesting. Rotten Tomatoes' early call has Project Hail Mary and Dune: Part Three in the mix, which would make for a very big-budget top line. Jesse Eisenberg's The Debut keeps coming up for Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti, John Malkovich is the supporting favourite for Wild Horse Nine, and Andrew Garfield's Altman in Artificial has made a late push. Anne Hathaway is getting serious mention for The Odyssey. Olivia Wilde's The Invite and Lee Chang-dong's Possible Love are the dark horses people keep naming.

The caveat is that it is October and half of these films have not been seen by the general public. Still, Nolan repeating as Best Director feels like the safe bet, and the race for the fifth and sixth Best Picture slots is where the fun will be. Which film do you think the pundits are missing?