Film Music Reporter

Starting today, we are publishing our predictions for the Best Original Score category of next year’s 95th Academy Awards on the left side column of this page. The selection and ranking is based on our own experience of the scores in context of the movies, reactions of Academy music branch members and others in the film music community, the level of awards campaigning and awareness of the competing titles, historical data and the response to the movies in other categories. The order of the titles in the ranking is likely to shift as some movies have yet to be released or are early in their release cycle and more reactions are coming in.

Predictions updated on December 22 following Academy shortlist and other industry awards announcements:

The (Near-)Locks:

1. The Fabelmans – John Williams
2. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio – Alexandre Desplat

The Other Frontrunners:

1. The Banshees of Inisherin – Carter Burwell
2. Babylon – Justin Hurwitz
3. Women Talking – Hildur Guðnadóttir
4. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Ludwig Goransson
5. Nope – Michael Abels
6. The Woman King – Terence Blanchard

Runner-ups:

1. Don’t Worry Darling – John Powell
2. Avatar: The Way of Water – Simon Franglen
3. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – Nathan Johnson
4. Everything Everywhere All at Once – Son Lux
5. Devotion – Chanda Dancy
6. She Said – Nicholas Britell
7. All Quiet on the Western Front – Volker Bertelmann

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Original predictions from December 9 following first industry screenings of Avatar: The Way of Water and A Man Called Otto:

The (Near-)Locks:

1. The Fabelmans – John Williams
2. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio – Alexandre Desplat

The Other Frontrunners:

1. The Banshees of Inisherin – Carter Burwell
2. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Ludwig Goransson
3. Women Talking – Hildur Guðnadóttir
4. The Woman King – Terence Blanchard
5. Babylon – Justin Hurwitz
6. The Batman – Michael Giacchino
7. Empire of Light – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross

Runner-ups:

1. Nope – Michael Abels
2. A Man Called Otto – Thomas Newman
3. White Noise – Danny Elfman
4. Till – Abel Korzeniowski
5. Avatar: The Way of Water – Simon Franglen
6. She Said – Nicholas Britell

Short list voting will begin next Monday, December 12 and the shortlists will be announced the following week. The nominations for the 95th Academy Awards will be announced on January 24, 2023 and the awards ceremony will take place on March 12.