The 2022 Academy Awards doesn’t take place until March 27, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t start thinking Oscars. Entertainment handicappers know that from October 1 through the end of the year, it’s Oscar Film Season. Check out the movies that major traditional studios and streamers are hoping can grab the golden eunuchs at the 94th Academy Awards. Let’s get right to it so you can start planning your bets against the Academy Awards odds. 

Entertainment News: Oscar Film Season is Here

94th Academy Awards

• When: March 27, 2022
• Where: Dolby Theatre, Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA

Warner Bros. about to release Dune and King Richard

Based on the Frank Herbert novel, Bugs Bunny’s studio wanted to release Dune in 2020. We know why they didn’t. 

Dune was so heavily promoted back in late 2019 and early 2020 before the pandemic that MyBookie made Dune the chalk to win the Oscar for Best Picture at the 93rd Academy Awards. The film looks fantastic. So there’s no reason to believe Dune doesn’t grab a nom.

But another Warner Bros. movie, King Richard, could steal Dune’s thunder. King Richard stars Will Smith as Richard Williams, Venus’ and Serena’s father. 

Smith is an excellent actor. King Richard might be his best performance. 

Dune doesn’t require golden Eunuch lobbying, but King Richard might. Expect Bugs and the gang to put a ton of money behind King Richard’s Oscar campaign. 

Netflix hopes to make a splash with The Power of the Dog

Netflix show The Crown cleaned up at the 2021 Emmys. Netflix could also clean up at the 2022 Oscars.

The Silicon Valley based streaming studio should grab multiple nominations to win statutes with the Benedict Cumberbatch vehicle The Power of the Dog. Cumberbatch plays a rancher who is both feared and inspires awe.

His brother brings home a new wife and son. Cumberbatch is awful to both until, yep, he starts to develop feelings of love.

Benedict and the other talent, including real-life husband and wife Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons, are shoo-ins for actor noms. Jane Campion will receive multiple nomination, for writing and directing. 

Apple+ looking for gold with CODA and The Tragedy of Macbeth

Apple+  launched in November 2019. Already, it’s produced the best comedy in the United States, Emmy award winning Ted Lasso. It’s received multiple Emmy nominations for its other shows.

Next year, it could grab a few Oscars. Both CODA and The Tragedy of Macbeth should get looks for Best Picture.

Joel Cohen, yes, the Barton Fink, Fargo, and No Country for Old Men Joel Cohen, directs Denzel Washington in a traditional retelling of Shakespeare’s McBeth. 

Denzel doesn’t hold back. He’s a lock to get a nom. So is Frances McDormand, Joel’s wife. The film is shot in black and white. 

Oscar handicappers know how voters love when directors shoot films in black and white. So, yep, noms all around for cinematography, costumes, editing, etc.

CODA is a move about a young singer who is the only non-deaf person in her family. The film title has a double-meaning. 

A coda is a passage in music that brings the piece to an end. The film title CODA also means Child of Deaf Adults.

The move looks like one of those heart string pulling, happy films that Hollywood loves to nominate for Best Picture but never awards. Marlee Matlin could win her second Oscar, her first since she won Best Actress for Children of a Lesser God way back in 1986.

Both films should signal Tim Cook’s team isn’t standing by why traditional studios like Warner Bros. and granddaddy streamer Netflix get all the movie accolades.