As the precursor awards continue unabated until Oscar night, I’m going to be providing a weekly update highlighting the films that have won and lost momentum through the precursor awards (and in some cases other outside influences).

It was a very slow week and next week will be equally slow before the new year when the guilds will start announcing their nominations. This week saw almost no movement in the races as the critics groups that announced didn’t go far off the beaten track.

But, before we get into this week’s winners and losers, let’s take a look at what’s coming up this week:

Week 6

Tue. 26 – North Carolina Critics (Nominations) (Official)
Thu. 28 – Online Critics (Awards) (Official)
Mon. 01 – Oklahoma Critics (Awards) (Unconfirmed)

Big Winners

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri picked up its first Best Picture prize from Nevada, but it was Sam Rockwell that was the star of the week, securing both awards given out, further denying Willem Dafoe a full sweep. The film continues to do well with the later critics groups, which will bolster its Oscar profile measurably.
Lady Bird has been pulling in more nominations and awards, though supporting actress Laurie Metcalf has hit a speed bump, not unlike Dafoe’s.
The Shape of Water has been securing tons of nominations and the awards are still flowing in with an award for Sally Hawkins and Guillermo del Toro. Richard Jenkins took a small hit, though, as he didn’t pick up a new nomination from Florida.
Dunkirk also won its first Best Picture prize of the season along with another prize for Best Director. It did face a few hurdles as it lost several awards to Blade Runner 2049 at the Florida critics awards.
Blade Runner 2049 had a solid week in the craft categories, picking up more honors, though it remains to be left off Best Picture slate, which would have seemed unthinkable just a few short months ago.

Big Losers

Darkest Hour has seen plenty of recognition for star Gary Oldman, who even managed to win in Nevada, but it continues to disappoint across the board outside of Best Actor.
Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool was supposed to be Annette Bening’s latest attempt to win an Oscar that she’s been denied frequently in the past. The problem is the studio has dragged its feet and hasn’t done a great job getting the film out there meaning it’s been ignored more frequently that would have seemed likely.
The Florida Project was having a great run of the precursors, but this past week proved a speed bump. It didn’t win a single award, not even for supporting actor Willem Dafoe who was nominated at Florida, but only earned the runner-up citation. Elsewise, the film was completely ignored.
Get Out is chugging along, but it won very little this past week with an Oscar impact, but with so few guilds, I wouldn’t exactly call that a trend.