Final Oscar Predictions

The waiting game is finally coming to a close. Tomorrow morning at 5 (East Coast time) Mo'Nique and AMPAS President Tom Sherak will unveil everything that the past 3 months have been building towards: the Oscar nominations. Like the past two Awards Seasons, a great many of the nominees are rather easy to call, but AMPAS loves to throw us a handful of curve balls every year, which adds to the fun (even if the nominee is something like The Blind Side in Best Picture). So, who should look forward to having his/her name read off tomorrow morning? Here's my final set of predictions on (most of) the categories:

**Nominees listed by likelihood of nomination

Best Picture:

• The Social Network
• The King's Speech
• Black Swan
• The Fighter
• Inception
• True Grit
• Toy Story 3
• The Kids Are All Right
• Winter's Bone
• The Town

Alternates: 127 Hours, Blue Valentine, The Ghost Writer, The Way Back

Best Director:

• David Fincher - The Social Network
• Tom Hooper - The King's Speech
• Christopher Nolan - Inception
• Darren Aronofsky - Black Swan
• David O. Russell - The Fighter

Alternates: Joel and Ethan Coen (True Grit), Danny Boyle (127 Hours), Roman Polanski (The Ghost Writer)

Best Actor in a Leading Role:

• Colin Firth - The King's Speech
• Jesse Eisenberg - The Social Network
• James Franco - 127 Hours
• Jeff Bridges - True Grit
• Ryan Gosling - Blue Valentine

Alternates: Mark Wahlberg (The Fighter), Javier Bardem (Biutiful), Robert Duvall (Get Low)

Best Actress in a Leading Role:

• Natalie Portman - Black Swan
• Annette Bening - The Kids Are All Right
• Nicole Kidman - Rabbit Hole
• Jennifer Lawrence - Winter's Bone
• Michelle Williams - Blue Valentine

Alternates: Julianne Moore (The Kids Are All Right), Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit), Lesley Manville (Another Year)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role:

• Christian Bale - The Fighter
• Geoffrey Rush - The King's Speech
• Andrew Garfield - The Social Network
• Jeremy Renner - The Town
• John Hawkes - Winter's Bone

Alternates: Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role:

• Melissa Leo - The Fighter
• Amy Adams - The Fighter
• Helena Bonham Carter - The King's Speech
• Hailee Steinfeld - True Grit
• Jacki Weaver - Animal Kingdom

Alternates: Mila Kunis (Black Swan), Lesley Manville (Another Year), Barbara Hershey (Black Swan)

Best Original Screenplay:

• The King's Speech
• Inception
• The Kids Are All Right
• The Fighter
• Black Swan

Alternates: Another Year, Blue Valentine,

Best Adapted Screenplay:

• The Social Network
• Toy Story 3
• True Grit
• Winter's Bone
• 127 Hours

Alternates: Rabbit Hole, The Town, The Ghost Writer

Best Editing:

• The Social Network
• Inception
• Black Swan
• The Fighter
• The King's Speech

Alternates: 127 Hours, The Town, True Grit

Best Cinematography:

• True Grit
• Inception
• Black Swan
• 127 Hours
• The King's Speech

Alternates: The Way Back, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1, Never Let Me Go

Best Art Direction/Set Design:

• Black Swan
• Inception
• The King's Speech
• Alice in Wonderland
• True Grit

Alternates: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1, Shutter Island, The Ghost Writer

Best Costume Design:

• The King's Speech
• Alice in Wonderland
• Black Swan
• True Grit
• Secretariat (I know it vanished, but it could randomly show up here with the period setting and all)

Alternates: Robin Hood, TRON: Legacy, Inception, Burlesque

Best Visual Effects:

• Inception
• TRON: Legacy
• Iron Man 2
• Alice in Wonderland
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1

Alternates: Hereafter, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Clash of the Titans (lol)

Best Make Up:

• Alice in Wonderland
• The Wolfman
• True Grit

Alternates (from the list of finalists provided by AMPAS; this category is weird that way): The Fighter, The Way Back

Best Original Score:

• Hans Zimmer - Inception
• Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - The Social Network
• Alexandre Desplat - The King's Speech
• John Powell - How to Train Your Dragon
• AR Rahman - 127 Hours

Alternates: Alexandre Desplat (The Ghost Writer), Rachel Portman (Never Let Me Go), Daft Punk (TRON: Legacy)

Best Original Song:

• "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" - Burlesque
• "I See the Light" - Tangled
• "Shine" - Waiting for Superman
• "Coming Home" - Country Strong
• "Bound to You" - Burlesque

Alternates: "We Belong Together" (Toy Story 3), "Express" - Burlesque, "If I Rise" - 127 Hours

Best Sound Mixing:

• Inception
• Black Swan
• True Grit
• TRON: Legacy
• Shutter Island

Alternates: Iron Man 2, 127 Hours, Salt

Best Sound Editing:

• Inception
• Black Swan
• TRON: Legacy
• True Grit
• The Town

Alternates: Salt, 127 Hours, Unstoppable, The Social Network

Best Animated Film:

• Toy Story 3
• How to Train Your Dragon
• Tangled

Alternates: The Illusionist, Despicable Me

Best Documentary Feature:

• Waiting for Superman
• Restrepo
• Inside Job
• Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Elliot Spitzer
• Gasland

Alternates: Exit Through the Gift Shop, The Tillman Story

Best Foreign Language Film:

• In a Better World (Denmark)
• Biutiful (Mexico)
• Incendies (Canada)
• Life Above All (South Africa)
• Outside the Law (Algeria)

Alternates: Dogtooth (Greece), Confessions (Japan), Even the Rain (Spain)