Oscar Predictions: Best Original Score – John Williams Could Be the Oldest Nominee in Any Category's History for 'The Fabelmans'

2023 Oscars best original score predictions include John Williams, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Terence Blanchard, Hans Zimmer and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

Oscar Predictions: Best Original Score – John Williams Could Be the Oldest Nominee in Any Category’s History for ‘The Fabelmans’

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages are Davis’ assessment of the current standings of the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any film or performance. Like any organization or body that votes, each inpidual category is fluid and subject to change. Predictions are updated every Thursday.

LAST UPDATED: Sept. 22, 2022

2023 Oscars Predictions: Best Original Score

CATEGORY COMMENTARY: Composer John Williams is a legend in every facet of the music world. Aside from winning 25 Grammys and five Oscars, he is undoubtedly the most important musical artist living today. Tapped for Steven Spielberg’s personal semi-autobiographical film “The Fabelmans,” he adds another great composition to his already impressive resume. If nominated, at 90 years old he would surpass costume designer Ann Roth and documentarian Agnes Varda as the oldest nominee, of any competitive Oscar category, in history.

There are other big names and Academy favorites surrounding him including many with multiple scores. Two-time winners Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (“The Social Network” and “Soul”) have two delectable creations with Sam Mendes’ “Empire of Light” and Luca Guadganino’s “Bones & All,” both worthy of the lineup. Oscar-winner Hildur Guðnadóttir (“Joker”) has a sure-fire bet for “Women Talking” and will hopefully qualify for “TÁR.”

We’ll continue to cross our fingers that the Music Branch has enough sense to recognize one of the best scores of the year with “The Batman” from former winner Michael Giacchino (“Up”). While also having “Lightyear,” his work on the superhero film is one of his single best efforts yet.

See the latest film predictions, in all 23 categories, in one place on Variety’s Oscars Collective.

To see the ranked predictions for each inpidual category, visit Variety’s Oscars Hub.

ALL AWARDS CONTENDERS AND RANKINGS:

And The Predicted Nominees Are:
Rank	Film	Composer(s)	Distributor
1	“The Fabelmans”	John Williams	Universal Pictures
1	A semi-autobiography based on Spielberg’s own childhood growing up in post-war Arizona, from age seven to eighteen.
2	“Women Talking”	Hildur Guðnadóttir	MGM/United Artists Releasing
2	A group of women in an isolated religious colony as they struggle to reconcile their faith with a string of sexual assaults committed by the colony’s men.
3	“Empire of Light”	Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross	Searchlight Pictures
3	“Empire of Light” is a love story set in and around a beautiful old cinema on the South Coast of England in the 1980s.
4	“The Batman”	Michael Giacchino	Warner Bros.
4	When a sadistic serial killer begins murdering key political figures in Gotham, Batman is forced to investigate the city’s hidden corruption and question his family’s involvement.
5	“The Woman King”	Terence Blanchard	Sony Pictures
5	A historical epic inspired by the true events that happened in The Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Next in Line
6	“TÁR”	Hildur Guðnadóttir	Focus Features
6	Set in the international world of classical music, the film centers on Lydia Tár. widely considered one of the greatest living composer/conductors and first-ever female chief conductor of a major German orchestra.
7	“Strange World”	Henry Jackman	Walt Disney Pictures
7	The legendary Clades are a family of explorers whose differences threatened to topple their latest and most crucial mission.
8	“Babylon”	Justin Hurwitz	Paramount Pictures
8	Set in Hollywood during the transition from silent films to talkies, focusing on a mixture of historical & fictional characters.
9	“The Son”	Hans Zimmer	Sony Pictures Classics
9	Peter as his busy life with new partner Emma and their baby is thrown into disarray when his ex-wife Kate turns up with their teenage son, Nicholas.
10	“She Said”	Nicholas Britell	Universal Pictures
10	New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor break one of the most important stories in a generation — a story that helped launch the #MeToo movement and shattered decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood.
Other Top-Tier Contenders
11	“RRR”	M.M. Keeravaani	Variance Films
12	“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”	Ludwig Göransson	Marvel Studios
13	“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”	Alexandre Desplat	Netflix
14	“Avatar: The Way of Water”	Simon Franglen	20th Century Studios
15	“The Banshees of Inisherin”	Carter Burwell	Searchlight Pictures
16	“Nope”	Michael Abels	Universal Pictures
17	“Bones & All”	Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross	MGM/United Artists Releasing
18	“The Whale”	Rob Simonsen	A24
19	“White Noise”	Danny Elfman	Netflix
20	“Vengeance”	Finneas O’Connell	Focus Features
Also In Contention
21	“Spirited”	Benj Pasek, Justin Paul	Apple Original Films
22	“Bardo (or False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths)”	Bryce Dessner, Alejandro G. Iñárritu	Netflix
23	“Everything Everywhere All at Once”	Son Lux	A24
24	“My Policeman”	Steven Price	Amazon Studios
25	“Blonde”	Nick Cave, Warren Ellis	Netflix
26	“Turning Red”	Ludwig Göransson	Pixar
27	“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”	Nathan Johnson	Netflix
28	“The Inspection”	Animal Collective	A24
29	“Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies”	Brian H. Kim	Focus Features
30	“The Pale Blue Eye”	Howard Shore	Netflix
All Contenders Listed (Unranked-Alphabetical)
—	“Amsterdam”	Daniel Pemberton	20th Century Studios
—	“Avatar: The Way of Water”	Simon Franglen	20th Century Studios
—	“Death on the Nile”	Patrick Doyle	20th Century Studios
—	“Everything Everywhere All at Once”	Son Lux	A24
—	“The Inspection”	Animal Collective	A24
—	“The Whale”	Rob Simeonsen	A24
—	“After Yang”	Aska Matsumiya, Ryuichi Sakamoto	A24
—	“Aftersun”	Oliver Coates	A24
—	“Bodies Bodies Bodies”	Disasterpiece	A24
—	“Close”	Valentin Hadjadj	A24
—	“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On”	Disasterpiece	A24
—	“Men”	Ben Salisbury, Geoff Barrow	A24
—	“Pearl”	Tyler Bates, Tim Williams	A24
—	“The Inspection”	Animal Collective	A24
—	“Causeway”	Alex Somers	A24/Apple Original Films
—	“Argentina, 1985”	Pedro Osuna	Amazon Studios
—	“Catherine Called Birdy”	Carter Burwell	Amazon Studios
—	“Good Night Oppy”	Blake Neely	Amazon Studios
—	“Master”	Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe	Amazon Studios
—	“My Policeman”	Steven Price	Amazon Studios
—	“Thirteen Lives”	Benjamin Wallfisch	Amazon Studios/MGM
—	“The Greatest Beer Run Ever”	Dave Palmer	Apple Original Films
—	“Cha Cha Real Smooth”	Este Haim, Chris Stracey	Apple Original Films
—	“Luck”	John Debney	Apple Original Films
—	“Spirited”	Benj Pasek, Justin Paul	Apple Original Films
—	“TÁR”	Hildur Guðnadóttir	Focus Features
—	“Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies”	Brian H. Kim	Focus Features
—	“Armageddon Time”	Christopher Spelman	Focus Features
—	“Brian and Charles”	Daniel Pemberton	Focus Features
—	“TÁR”	Hildur Guðnadóttir	Focus Features
—	“The Northman”	Robin Carolan, Sebastian Gainsborough	Focus Features
—	“Vengeance”	Finneas O’Connell	Focus Features
—	“Am I OK?”	St. Vincent, Craig Wedren	HBO Max
—	“Happening”	Evgueni Galperine, Sacha Galperine	IFC Films
—	“Corsage”	Camille	IFC Films
—	“I Love My Dad”	Jeremy Bullock	Magnolia Pictures
—	“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”	Ludwig Göransson	Marvel Studios
—	“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”	Danny Elfman	Marvel Studios
—	“Women Talking”	Hildur Guðnadóttir	MGM/United Artists Releasing
—	“Bones & All”	Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross	MGM/United Artists Releasing
—	“Three Thousand Years of Longing”	Junkie XL	MGM/United Artists Releasing
—	“Decision to Leave”	Jo Yeong-wook	Mubi
—	“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”	Soundwalk Collective, Dawn Sutter Madell	Neon
—	“Broker”	Jung Jae-il	Neon
—	“Crimes of the Future”	Howard Shore	Neon
—	“Bardo (or False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths)”	Bryce Dessner, Alejandro G. Iñárritu	Netflix
—	“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”	Alexandre Desplat	Netflix
—	“White Noise”	Danny Elfman	Netflix
—	“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”	Nathan Johnson	Netflix
—	“The Wonder”	Matthew Herbert	Netflix
—	“The Pale Blue Eye”	Howard Shore	Netflix
—	“All Quiet on the Western Front”	Volker Bertelmann	Netflix
—	“Blonde”	Nick Cave, Warren Ellis	Netflix
—	“Hustle”	Dan Deacon	Netflix
—	“The Good Nurse”	Biosphere	Netflix
—	“Wendell and Wild”	Bruno Coulais	Netflix
—	“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”	Alexandre Desplat	Netflix
—	“Athena”	Hugh Martin, Ralph Blane	Netflix
—	“Till”	Abel Korzeniowski	Orion/United Artists Releasing
—	“Babylon”	Justin Hurwitz	Paramount Pictures
—	“Top Gun: Maverick”	Lorne Balfe, Harold Faltermeyer, Hans Zimmer	Paramount Pictures
—	“Lightyear”	Michael Giacchino	Pixar
—	“Turning Red”	Ludwig Göransson	Pixar
—	“As They Made Us”	Kevin Besignano	Quiver
—	“Call Jane”	Isabella Summers	Roadside Attractions
—	“Empire of Light”	Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross	Searchlight Pictures
—	“The Banshees of Inisherin”	Carter Burwell	Searchlight Pictures
—	“The Menu”	Colin Stetson	Searchlight Pictures
—	“Chevalier”	Kris Bowers	Searchlight Pictures
—	“The Banshees of Inisherin”	Carter Burwell	Searchlight Pictures
—	“The Menu”	Colin Stetson	Searchlight Pictures
—	“A Man Called Otto”	To be announced	Sony Pictures
—	“Bullet Train”	Dominic Lewis	Sony Pictures
—	“Devotion”	Chanda Dancy	Sony Pictures
—	“Lyle, Lyle Crocodile”	Matthew Margeson	Sony Pictures
—	“Where the Crawdad Sing”	Mychael Danna	Sony Pictures
—	“The Son”	Hans Zimmer	Sony Pictures Classics
—	“Living”	Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch	Sony Pictures Classics
—	“The Woman King”	Terence Blanchard	TriStar Pictures
—	“The Fabelmans”	John Williams	Universal Pictures
—	“She Said”	Nicholas Britell	Universal Pictures
—	“Bros”	Marc Shaiman	Universal Pictures
—	“Ambulance”	Lorne Balfe	Universal Pictures
—	“Beast”	Steven Price	Universal Pictures
—	“Nope”	Michael Abels	Universal Pictures
—	“She Said”	Nicholas Britell	Universal Pictures
—	“The Fabelmans”	John Williams	Universal Pictures
—	“Holy Spider”	Martin Dirkov	Utopia
—	“RRR”	M.M. Keeravaani	Variance Films
—	“Strange World”	Henry Jackman	Walt Disney Pictures
—	“Don’t Worry Darling”	John Powell	Warner Bros
—	“Black Adam”	Lorne Balfe	Warner Bros
—	“DC League of Super Pets”	Steve Jablonsky	Warner Bros
—	“Elvis”	Elliott Wheeler	Warner Bros.
—	“The Batman”	Michael Giacchino	Warner Bros.

2023 Academy Awards Predictions

The 95th Oscars ceremony will be held at the Dolby Theatre and televised live on Sunday, March 12, 2022, on ABC.

2022 category winner: “Dune” (Warner Bros.) – Hans Zimmer

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