The Motion Picture Sound Editors, those fine folk who contribute to the Best Sound Editing (formerly Best Sound Effects Editing) Oscar will reveal their winners on Sunday. With seven categories, it’s hard to be certain which will most reflect thoughts of Oscar voters, there are really only two categories that typically correlate: Sound Effects and Foley, and Dialogue and ADR. Our predictions below reflect where we see the race going and there’s a lot of divergence in our selections, so we are essentially saying: no one knows for certain, but whatever wins becomes an Oscar frontrunner and if one film wins both awards (or more than two), they are even more likely to win at the Oscars.

MOTION PICTURE SOUND EDITORS AWARDS

Best Sound Editing: Sound Effects and Foley in a Feature Film

Baby Driver
Blade Runner 2049 (Wesley, RU:Tripp, RU:Thomas)
Dunkirk (Tripp, Thomas, RU:Wesley)
Logan (Peter)
The Shape of Water
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Thor: Ragnarok
War for the Planet of the Apes (RU:Peter)

Wesley Lovell: I’ve been feeling for awhile now that Dunkirk isn’t as strong as we once thought. While I suspect it will come out on top in the end, I’m going to predict Blade Runner 2049 based on its hefty use of sounds that aren’t frequently heard in film.
Peter J. Patrick: This could go to any one of the actioners nominated, but I’ll give a shout-out to Logan with War for the Planet of the Apes its closest competition.
Tripp Burton: All those war sounds, on land, sea, and air, should make Dunkirk the easy pick here.
Thomas LaTourette: Dunkirk would seem to be the favorite here.

Best Sound Editing: Dialogue and ADR in a Feature Film

Baby Driver (RU:Peter)
Blade Runner 2049 (Wesley, RU:Thomas)
Darkest Hour
Detroit
Dunkirk (Tripp, Thomas)
The Shape of Water (Peter, RU:Wesley)
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
War for the Planet of the Apes (RU:Tripp)

Wesley Lovell: Capturing dialogue and making sure later-recorded dialogue fits with the overall soundscape of the film is a difficult concept to explain, but it’s a very important one. While its companion category tends to go to the bigger, bolder movies, this category goes to more dialogue-heavy films where crisp and consistent dialogue is important. I almost didn’t pick Blade Runner, but there’s a lot of voice work in the film, which could help it out. The Shape of Water also has a lot of potential as do Baby Driver and Darkest Hour. War for the Planet of the Apes could also win as could Dunkirk.
Peter J. Patrick: This could go to any of the nominees, but I’m guessing it will be another one for The Shape of Water.
Tripp Burton: I have no idea, so I’ll go with Dunkirk, which will probably be the night’s big winner.
Thomas LaTourette: I don’t know if Dunkirk will win here as well, but I will go for it.

Best Sound Editing & Music in an Animation Feature Film

The Breadwinner (RU:Wesley, RU:Peter)
Cars 3
Coco (Wesley, Peter, Tripp, Thomas)
Despicable Me 3 (RU:Thomas)
Ferdinand
The Lego Batman Movie (RU:Tripp)

Wesley Lovell: It’s a really sad state of affairs when one film so easily dominates every category it’s in. Unfortunately, 2017 wasn’t a diverse and expansive year for quality animation, thus Coco is probably going to win again.
Peter J. Patrick: Coco had the most impressive sound, everything else is an also-ran.
Tripp Burton: All season, I’m just gonna keep predicting Coco.
Thomas LaTourette: Music was a big part of Coco and explosions a big part of Despicable Me 3 (and Batman), so they seem the likely winners.

Best Sound Editing & Music in a Feature Documentary

Bill Nye: The Science Guy
Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars (Wesley, RU:Thomas)
Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS (RU:Wesley, RU:Tripp)
Icarus (RU:Peter)
In Pursuit of Silence
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power
Jane (Peter, Tripp)
Score: A Film Music Documentary (Thomas)

Wesley Lovell: This group loves war-set documentaries and music documentaries. That means a few of these are very possible winners and sometimes you won’t know until they announce. I give the edge to Eric Clapton: A life in 12 Bars simply because it would be the most challenging sound work on this list, though really Hell on Earth could also win as could absolutely any of the others.
Peter J. Patrick: Probably the popular Jane, with Icarus a possible spoiler.
Tripp Burton: The monkeys of Jane seem like the best bet here, although the war sounds of Hell on Earth are certainly possibilities too.
Thomas LaTourette: I would think one of the documentaries about music should win.

Best Sound Editing: Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue and ADR in a Feature Foreign Language Film

BPM (Beats Per Minute) (Peter, Thomas)
First They Killed My Father (Wesley, Tripp)
The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki
Loveless (RU:Peter)
Thelma
Wolf Warrior 2 (RU:Wesley, RU:Tripp, RU:Thomas)

Wesley Lovell: It’s hard to know precisely what this group will go for as they’ve picked some unusual choices in the past. Ultimately, I went with the conflict-heavy First They Killed My Father with the action of Wolf Warrior 2 in second place, but really any of these could probably win.
Peter J. Patrick: Could be any one of the nominees, but BPM (Beats Per Minute) and Loveless seem to be the most high profile.
Tripp Burton: The Hollywood-based sound team for First They Killed My Father will probably win with home field advantage.
Thomas LaTourette: Music was a big part of BPM, so it seems a likely winner.

Best Sound Editing: Music in a Feature Film

Baby Driver (Wesley, Tripp, Thomas, RU:Peter)
Blade Runner 2049 (RU:Wesley)
Dunkirk (RU:Tripp, RU:Thomas)
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
The Lost City of Z
The Shape of Water (Peter)
Transformers: The Last Knight
Wonder Woman

Wesley Lovell: This category is all about the careful and exciting use of music in film. Any film with a diverse musical soundscape will play well with these voters, which is why I give Baby Driver the edge over the Original Score nominees, though any of those or Blade Runner 2049 could win this one.
Peter J. Patrick: I see this one going to The Shape of Water with Baby Driver a close second.
Tripp Burton: The constant soundtrack of Baby Driver should be the favorite here, although the pulsating rhythms of Dunkirk could win too.
Thomas LaTourette: Music was integral to Baby Driver, so it might win here. Otherwise Dunkirk or Blade Runner might upset.

Best Sound Editing: Music in a Musical Feature Film

Beauty and the Beast (Wesley, RU:Peter, RU:Tripp, RU:Thomas)
Coco
The Greatest Showman (Peter, Tripp, Thomas, RU:Wesley)

Wesley Lovell: I would go with The Greatest Showman if it were more popular than Beauty and the Beast, but this is a tough category to call and I could easily swing the other way with a little push.
Peter J. Patrick: Coco has animation in the bag, so this one should be between The Greatest Showman and Beauty and the Beast.
Tripp Burton: I think this is between the live-action nominees, and The Greatest Showman is the popular film of the moment.
Thomas LaTourette: I would think it would be harder to do the sound editing in a live action musical, so I will guess those over Coco.