With the summer in hindsight, it’s now time to look at the Oscar season in more detail. What’s come out so far and what’s yet to come. Most of our predictions feature a strong number of late-year releases. The early months didn’t provide many films with strong buzz, leaving the year-end to do the heavy lifting. Some very important festivals are going on in September. Telluride, Toronto and Venice. From these, we may see more contenders emerge. Telluride has already resulted in buzz for The Imitation Game and Reese Witherspoon in Wild. More may be forthcoming, so we wanted to get our thoughts down before too much is known from these festivals, so here are our current predictions.

KEY:

Best Picture

• Big Eyes (TB O)
• Birdman (WL O) (PP O)(TL S) [New]
• Boyhood (WL S) [New] (PP S) [New] (TB S) [New] (TL O/S) [Return]
• Exodus: Gods and Kings (WL C)
• Foxcatcher (WL O) (PP O) (TB O) (TL O)
• Fury (PP O/S) [Return](TL S) [New]
• Gone Girl (WL O) (PP O)(TL O)
• The Grand Budapest Hotel (WL O)
• The Imitation Game (WL S) [New] (PP C) (TB S) [New]
• Inherent Vice (WL O) (PP O) (TB O) (TL O)
• Interstellar (WL O) (PP C) (TB O) (TL O)
• A Most Violent Year (TL O)
• Mr. Turner (TB O)
• Theory of Everything (PP O)
• Trash (TB O)
• Unbroken (WL O) (PP O/S) [Return] (TB O) (TL O)
• Wild (TB O) (TL O/S) [Return]

Best Director

• Paul Thomas Anderson – Inherent Vice (WL O)(TL O)
• Tim Burton – Big Eyes (TB O)
• David Fincher – Gone Girl (WL O) (PP O)(TL C)
• Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu – Birdman (PP S) [New]
• Angelina Jolie – Unbroken (WL S) [New] (TB C) (TL O/S) [Return]
• Richad Linklater – Boyhood (WL S) [New] (PP S) [New] (TB S) [New] (TL S) [New]
• James Marsh – The Theory of Everything (PP S) [New]
• Bennett Miller – Foxcatcher (WL C) (PP O) (TB O) (TL O)
• Morten Tyldum – The Imitation Game (TB S) [New]

Best Actor

• Chadwick Boseman – Get On Up (WL O)
• Steve Carell – Foxcatcher (PP O) (TB C) (TL O)
• Bradley Cooper – Serena (TB C)
• Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game (PP C) (TB S) [New] (TL C)
• Michael Keaton – Birdman (WL S) [New] (PP O) (TB O) (TL O/S) [Return]
• Joaquin Phoenix – Inherent Vice (WL O)(TL O)
• Brad Pitt – Fury (WL O)
• Eddie Redmayne – Theory of Everything (WL O) (PP O)
• Timothy Spall – Mr. Turner (PP O) (TB O) (TL C)

Best Actress

• Amy Adams – Big Eyes (PP C) (TB O) (TL O)
• Cate Blanchett – Blackbird (WL O)
• Jessica Chastain – A Most Violent Year (WL S) [New] (PP S) [New]
• Jessica Chastain – Miss Julie (TB S) [New]
• Jennifer Lawrence – Serena (WL O)
• Julianne Moore – Maps to the Stars (TL S) [New]
• Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl (PP C) (TB O) (TL C)
• Meryl Streep – Into the Woods (PP O/S) [Return]
• Hilary Swank – The Homseman (TB S) [New]
• Naomi Watts – Birdman (WL O)
• Reese Witherspoon – Wild (WL S) [New] (PP C) (TB O) (TL O/S) [Return]

Best Supporting Actor

• Josh Brolin – Inherent Vice (WL O)
• Albert Brooks – A Most Violent Year (TB O)
• Albert Brooks – Inherent Vice (TL S) [New]
• Robert Duvall – The Judge (PP O) (TB O) (TL O)
• Idris Elba – Beasts of No Nation (TB O)
• Domnhall Gleeson – Unbroken (TB O)
• Neil Patrick Harris – Gone Girl (WL O)
• Toby Jones – Serena (WL O)
• Logan Lerman – Fury (PP S) [New]
• Edward Norton – Birdman (PP S) [New](TL S) [New]
• Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher (PP O) (TB O) (TL O)
• J.K. Simmons – Whiplash (TL C)
• Channing Tatum – Foxcatcher (WL S) [New]
• Christopher Walken – Jersey Boys (WL O)
• Christoph Waltz – Big Eyes (PP S) [New]

Best Supporting Actress

• Patricia Arquette – Boyhood (PP S) [New] (TB S) [New] (TL C)
• Emily Blunt – Into the Woods (PP O)(TL S) [New]
• Laura Dern – Wild (WL S) [New] (PP S) [New](TL S) [New]
• Felicity Jones – Theory of Everything (PP C)
• Anna Kendrick – Into the Woods (TB O)
• Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game (WL S) [New] (PP S) [New] (TB S) [New]
• Jena Malone – Inherent Vice (TB O) (TL O)
• Rooney Mara – Trash (TB O)
• Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl (WL S) [New]
• Vanessa Redgrave – Foxcatcher (TL O)
• Emma Stone – Birdman (WL C)
• Meryl Streep – Into the Woods (WL O)

Best Original Screenplay

• Birdman (WL O) (PP O) (TB O) (TL O)
• Boyhood (WL S) [New] (PP S) [New] (TB S) [New] (TL O)
• Foxcatcher (WL O) (TB O)
• Fury (PP S) [New]
• The Grand Budapest Hotel (WL O) (TB O)
• The Imitation Game (PP S) [New]
• Interstellar (TL S) [New]
• A Most Violent Year (TL O)
• Mr. Turner (WL O) (PP O) (TB O) (TL O)

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Foxcatcher (TL O)
• Gone Girl (WL O) (PP O)(TL O)
• Inherent Vice (WL O) (PP O) (TB O) (TL O)
• Serena (WL O)
• Suite Francaise (TB O)
• Theory of Everything (PP O)
• Trash (TB O)
• Unbroken (WL O) (PP S) [New] (TB O) (TL O)
• Wild (WL S) [New] (PP S) [New] (TB O) (TL S) [New]

Best Visual Effects

• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (WL O) [New] (PP O) [New] (TB O) [New] (TL O) [New]
• Exodus: Gods and Kings (WL O) [New]
• Godzilla (PP O) [New] (TB O) [New]
• Guardians of the Galaxy (WL O) [New] (TB O) [New] (TL O) [New]
• The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (WL O) [New] (PP O) [New] (TB O) [New] (TL O) [New]
• Interstellar (PP O) [New] (TB O) [New] (TL O) [New]
• Maleficent (TL O) [New]
• X-Men: Days of Future Past (PP O) [New]