9. The Hateful Eight
Nominations: Tarantino's last two movies, both of which were period pieces, scooped a total of 13 nominations between them, and there's a strong chance this'll follow suit.
Best Picture and
Best Original Screenplay are very likely, plus with such a large ensemble cast, the campaign team will essentially be able to shove whoever they like the most into the Supporting categories. The best bets seem to be Jennifer Jason Leigh for
Supporting Actress, and Kurt Russell for
Supporting Actor, while
Best Cinematography is practically a given considering that it's being shot in 70mm, and
Film Editing (assuming the film isn't excessively long like Django) and
Sound Editing would surprise no-one. Best Director is less assured, as QT missed out on it for Django, so let's go with
7 nominations.
What It Could Win: A Tarantino film that wins Best Picture would be glorious, and is certainly possible, while perhaps the Academy will finally want to reward Kurt Russell's career of steely performances. Technicals are anyone's guess, but if the cinemtography is as lush as it looks from the poster, then it's a strong competitor.
What It Will Win: Tarantino has won two screenplay Oscars to date, and as anyone who read the leaked script knows, The Hateful Eight is a mighty piece of writing. He'll probably scoop that, and given the juicy potential of Leigh's part, she should do very well here also.
2 wins.