If Moulin Rouge! provided a hopeful sign that the musical was back, 2002’s Chicago seemed to cement that hope.  In its wake came announcements of all kinds of plans to make or remake old Broadway musicals into new films.  Alas, few of those plans have come to fruition and none of those that have been filmed has gotten a Best Picture nomination from the Academy in the six awards years that have since come and gone.

Chicago’s road to becoming the first musical to win a Best Picture Oscar since 1968’s Oliver! was not an easy one.  It faced stiff competition from Stephen Daldry’s film of Michael Cunnigham’s The Hours, as well as Todd Haynes’ tribute to the films of Douglas Sirk, Far From Heaven and Martin Scorsese’s long delayed Gangs of New York.

Gangs of New York, about the Irish gangs of lower Manhattan just after the Civil War, had originally been scheduled for release in December, 2001, but Scorsese was unable to complete the film on time, only adding to its anticipation.  Would this be the film for which he finally won an Oscar?  Responses to the film were mixed, but most critics and audiences thought not.

The Hours and Far From Heaven were films that people either loved or hated.  Oddly, most of those who loved one hated the other.  Nevertheless those two films, along with Gangs of New York and Chicago were seen as the front-runners heading into Oscar season closely followed by Peter Jackson’s second installment in his Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The National Board of Review started things off by giving their award to The Hours, followed by the L.A. Film Critics which honored Alexander Payne’s About Schmidt about a retired businessman reconnecting with his scattered family.   The New York Film Critics went with Far From Heaven, while the National Society of Film Critics went in another direction with Roman Polanski’s holocaust drama, The Pianist.

The Broadcast Film Critics were the first to bestow a Best Picture award on Chicago, followed by the Golden Globes which gave it their Best Picture – Musical or Comedy award while giving Best Picture – Drama to The Hours.

The Directors Guild gave their award to Rob Marshall for Chicago over Stephen Daldry for The Hours; Peter Jackson for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; Martin Scorsese for Gangs of New York and Roman Polanski for The Pianist.  Oscar went along with all but Jackson who was supplanted by Spain’s Pedro Almodovar for Talk to Her.

Oscar’s Best Picture line-up, in addition to winner Chicago, included Gangs of New York; The Hours; The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Pianist, whose director Roman Polanski was the surprise winner in his category.

What, then, would the other five nominees have been had Oscar increased its nominees to ten in 2002?

Four of them are fairly easy to predict.   Frida, with six nominations and two wins would likely have been one of them.  So, too, would have been Adaptation, which was nominated for four and won one.  Also likely are Far From Heaven, which was nominated for four and About Schmidt, which was nominated for two.

For the last slot, my wild card pick would be Alfonso Cuaron’s Y Tu Mama Tambien.  Although the film had received only one nomination (for its screenplay), it had been a huge hit around the world for much of the year and catapulted its director to prominence.