Oscars 2018: 10 Movies That Could Win Best Picture Next Year

Will it be the year that the Academy finally recognises Christopher Nolan? 

By James Hunt /

"And the Academy Award for Best Motion Picture goes to..."

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The film industry still hasn't quite moved on from the Oscars snafu that saw La La Land named Best Picture, and then correctly changed to Moonlight while the former's producers were halfway through an acceptance speech.

While that flub won't be forgotten anytime soon, the Oscars - and thus awards season - is indeed over for another year, which means it's already time to look ahead to 2018.

We've had Sundance, which is an increasingly strong showcase of films we can expect to be in the mix once the red carpets start getting rolled out once again (see: Manchester By The Sea, Whiplash for two recent examples).

On top of that, we've got some heavy-hitting blockbusters that could well be represented next year (since the expansion, at least one 'big' film tends to make the nominees list), and then a host of your more typical Oscar fare arriving later in the year.

Some big names are going to be making bids, from Steven Spielberg to Aaron Sorkin, but there are still a lot of unknown variables: a movie could miss the necessary release date, a surprise challenger can emerge with the right buzz, and an early favourite can have the wind knocked right out of it.

The list can fluctuate right up until January 2018, but these are the best early bets ahead of next year's Oscars.

10. Untitled PTA Movie

The Film

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10 years on from There Will Be Blood, Paul Thomas Anderson (who is writing and directing) and Daniel Day-Lewis are reuniting for a currently untitled movie set around the fashion world of the 1950s.

Taking place in London, it'll see a dressmaker commissioned to design for the Royal Family and members of high society.

Why It Could Win

Erm, it's Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Day-Lewis. The Academy likes PTA, especially as a writer, but more importantly it LOVES Day-Lewis. There Will Be Blood received eight nominations, and while it might be unfair to expect this to repeat that, this will be right on the radar of Oscar voters.

Day-Lewis has five Oscar nominations, and every time it's been accompanied by a Best Picture nomination. If he's on top form (and given this is his first movie since Lincoln, he probably will be), the movie will do well.

The material doesn't sound too heavy, but it could provide a rich and surely sumptuous period piece. It'll be easier to predict how it might do once we know more (if it's as weird as Inherent Vice it probably won't get too much love), but at this stage it'd be a surprise if a movie from this duo was overlooked.

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