Who/What Were the Sixth Place Finishers at the 98th Oscar Nominations?

Dear readers, the Oscar nominations have been sitting in our minds for a few days now, ever since the announcement on Thursday morning. Often, I like to wait a bit before I do some of these kinds of pieces. On the one hand, it can make some of the immediate emotions feel less fresh. On the other hand, however, it allows for perhaps a bit more rational thinking. So, I’ve split the difference, doing some pieces last week and presenting another one today. To that end, I wanted to once again play around with an exercise to see who and what just missed on an Academy Award nomination. Imagine if, in most categories, we had six nominees instead of five? What would nomination morning have looked like? To some degree, this is an expansion of the annual “alternate” Oscar nominations piece (found here most recently) that I do, as well as another follow-up to last year’s experiment here. Hopefully, it’s fun, and as always, it’s a clear invitation to submit your own picks/discuss who or what would have taken that final position.

As always, some categories are always pretty cut and dry. Others, however, are far from obvious. Plus, below the line is harder to figure out, as we all know, but most of them have one or two fairly clear probabilities. Mostly, it’s just a fun little exercise, especially as you see how much better something you like might have done, if only one or two more things would have broken their way.

Obviously, I’m going to want you all to chime in, but first…my picks are up. Here now are the sixth (or in one notable case, the eleventh) place Oscar finishers, in my humble opinion:

BEST PICTURE: Blue Moon

BEST DIRECTOR: Guillermo del Toro – Frankenstein

BEST ACTOR: Joel Edgerton – Train Dreams

BEST ACTRESS: Chase Infiniti – One Battle After Another

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Paul Mescal – Hamnet

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Ariana Grande – Wicked: For Good

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Weapons

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: Wicked: For Good

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: F1

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: One Battle After Another

BEST FILM EDITING: Hamnet

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING: Wicked: For Good

BEST SOUND: Avatar: Fire and Ash

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Frankenstein

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Marty Supreme

BEST ORIGINAL SONG: Sinners (Last Time (I Seen the Sun))

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Cover-Up

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE: No Other Choice

Who and what did you think were next in line for Oscar nominations? Let us know!