2010 Oscars: Nominations Predictions

Tomorrow morning at 5:30am PST (Tuesday February 2) the 82nd Academy Award nominations will be announced for films released in 2009 (Review my Top 10 movies of 2009 list here). After seeing the actual nominations on Tuesday I will post a more extensive post with my predictions for the winners of the Top 8 awards. In previous years, Mad Professah has done pretty well in predicting both nominations and wins. In 2008 I won an online Oscars predictions contest (by picking 18 out of 24 awards correct) that resulted in having free Netflix for 6 months! Last year, I correctly picked all of the Top 8 winners and 20 of 28 categories but since the sweep by Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire was widely expected, I didn't win any Oscar contests.

The big change this year is a return to 10 nominees for Best Picture.

Best Picture

Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Invictus
Precious
Star Trek
The Hangover
Up
Up in the Air

Best Director

• Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
• James Cameron, Avatar
• Lee Daniels, Precious
• Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
• Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Best Actress

• Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
• Helen Mirren, The Last Station
• Casey Mulligan, An Education
  
• Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
• Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

Best Actor

• Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
• George Clooney, Up in the Air
• Colin Firth, A Single Man
• Morgan Freeman, Invictus
• Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Best Supporting Actress

• Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
• Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
• Diane Kruger, Inglourious Basterds
• Mo'Nique, Precious
• Julianne Moore, A Single Man

Best Supporting Actor

• Matt Damon, Invictus
  
• Josh Brolin, Milk
• Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
• Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
• Christoph Walz, Inglourious Basterds

Best Original Screenplay

• Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
• James Cameron, Avatar
• Joel & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man
• Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
• Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, (500) Days of Summer
  

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, District 9
• Nora Ephron, Julie & Julia
• Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
• Nick Hornby, An Education
• Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air

Total Nominations

1. Avatar, 10
   
2. Up in the Air, 8
   
3. The Hurt Locker, 7
4. Inglourious Basterds, Precious 6