Final Predictions: 85th Academy Awards (updated)

Here is Jams A. Molnar's attempt at some final predictions for the 85th Academy Awards, after a very intriguing Oscar race.

By James A. Molnar
TGK Editor

The Oscar envelopes will be opened on Sunday, Feb. 24, and the winners who are announced could be surprising. In a typical year, most of the major categories would seem to be sewn up, and statuettes practically engraved already. But the crop of films from 2012 has provided a very intriguing Oscar race, which began in September with various film festivals around the world.

What has been different with 2012 is that there are so many good films from which guilds and organizations such as the Academy could choose. "Lincoln" seemed to be the odds-on favorite to win Best Picture, even before the film was released. After a late "Argo" surge, the film by Ben Affleck seems to be the new front runner. But how many Oscars will the latter film win? That's a good question.

One thing is for sure, however: the race isn't over until those gold envelopes are opened on Oscar Sunday. Here is my attempt at some final predictions for the 85th Academy Awards.

Final Score: 16/24.

Final Winning Tally Prediction
"Lincoln": 5/12 2/12 || "Life of Pi": 2/11 4/11 || "Les Misérables": 4/8 3/8
"Silver Linings Playbook": 1/8 √ Correct || "Argo": 2/7 3/7 || "Amour": 2/5 1/5
"Django Unchained": 0/5 2/5 || "Zero Dark Thirty": 1/5 √ Correct
"Beasts of the Southern Wild": 0/4 √ Correct

Best Picture √ Correct
"Amour": Margaret Menegoz, Stefan Arndt, Veit Heiduschka and Michael Katz
"Argo": Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers
"Beasts of the Southern Wild": Dan Janvey, Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald, Producers
"Django Unchained": Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone, Producers
"Les Misérables": Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh, Producers
"Life of Pi": Gil Netter, Ang Lee and David Womark, Producers
"Lincoln": Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
"Silver Linings Playbook": Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen and Jonathan Gordon, Producers
"Zero Dark Thirty": Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Megan Ellison, Producers

Best Director X Incorrect
Ang Lee, "Life of Pi"
Michael Haneke, "Amour"
David O. Russell, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Steven Spielberg, "Lincoln"
Benh Zeitlin, "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

Best Actor in a Leading Role √ Correct
Bradley Cooper, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln"
Hugh Jackman, "Les Misérables"
Joaquin Phoenix, "The Master"
Denzel Washington, "Flight"

Best Actress in a Leading Role √ Correct
Jessica Chastain, "Zero Dark Thirty"
Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Emmanuelle Riva, "Amour" #2
Quvenzhané Wallis, "Beasts of the Southern Wild"
Naomi Watts, "The Impossible"

Best Actor in a Supporting Role X Incorrect
Alan Arkin, "Argo"
Robert De Niro, "Silver Linings Playbook" #2
Philip Seymour Hoffman, "The Master"
Tommy Lee Jones, "Lincoln"
Christoph Waltz, "Django Unchained"

Best Actress in a Supporting Role √ Correct
Amy Adams, "The Master"
Sally Field, "Lincoln"
Anne Hathaway, "Les Misérables"
Helen Hunt, "The Sessions"
Jacki Weaver, "Silver Linings Playbook"

Best Writing — Adapted Screenplay X Incorrect
"Argo": Screenplay by Chris Terrio #2
"Beasts of the Southern Wild": Screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
"Life of Pi": Screenplay by David Magee
"Lincoln": Screenplay by Tony Kushner
"Silver Linings Playbook": Screenplay by David O. Russell

Best Writing — Original Screenplay X Incorrect
"Amour": Written by Michael Haneke
"Django Unchained": Written by Quentin Tarantino
"Flight": Written by John Gatins
"Moonrise Kingdom": Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
"Zero Dark Thirty": Written by Mark Boal #2

Best Animated Feature Film √ Correct
"Brave": Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
"Frankenweenie": Tim Burton
"ParaNorman": Sam Fell and Chris Butler
"The Pirates! Band of Misfits": Peter Lord
"Wreck-It Ralph": Rich Moore #2

Best Cinematography √ Correct
"Anna Karenina": Seamus McGarvey
"Django Unchained": Robert Richardson
"Life of Pi": Claudio Miranda
"Lincoln": Janusz Kaminski
"Skyfall": Roger Deakins #2

Best Costume Design X Incorrect
"Anna Karenina" Jacqueline Durran #2
"Les Misérables" Paco Delgado
"Lincoln" Joanna Johnston
"Mirror Mirror" Eiko Ishioka
"Snow White and the Huntsman" Colleen Atwood

Best Documentary — Feature √ Correct
"5 Broken Cameras"
"The Gatekeepers"
"How to Survive a Plague"
"The Invisible War" #2
"Searching for Sugar Man"

Best Documentary — Short Subject √ Correct
"Inocente": Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
"Kings Point": Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
"Mondays at Racine": Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
"Open Heart": Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern #2
"Redemption": Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill

Best Film Editing √ Correct
"Argo": William Goldenberg
"Life of Pi": Tim Squyres
"Lincoln": Michael Kahn
"Silver Linings Playbook": Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
"Zero Dark Thirty": Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

Best Foreign Language Film √ Correct
Austria, "Amour," Michael Haneke, director
Canada, "War Witch," Kim Nguyen, director
Chile, "No," Pablo Larraín, director
Denmark, "A Royal Affair," Nikolaj Arcel, director
Norway, "Kon-Tiki," Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, directors

Best Makeup and Hairstyling √ Correct
"Hitchcock": Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey": Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane #2
"Les Misérables": Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell

Best Music — Original Score X Incorrect
"Anna Karenina": Dario Marianelli
"Argo": Alexandre Desplat
"Life of Pi": Mychael Danna #2
"Lincoln": John Williams
"Skyfall": Thomas Newman

Best Music — Original Song √ Correct
"Before My Time" from "Chasing Ice": Music and Lyric by J. Ralph
"Everybody Needs A Best Friend" from "Ted": Music by Walter Murphy; Lyric by Seth MacFarlane
"Pi's Lullaby" from "Life of Pi": Music by Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri
"Skyfall" from "Skyfall": Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
"Suddenly" from "Les Misérables": Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

Best Production Design (formerly Art Direction) X Incorrect
"Anna Karenina": Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer #2
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey": Production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
"Les Misérables": Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson
"Life of Pi": Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
"Lincoln": Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

Best Short Film — Animated √ Correct
"Adam and Dog": Minkyu Lee #2
"Fresh Guacamole": PES
"Head over Heels": Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly
"Maggie Simpson in 'The Longest Daycare'" David Silverman
"Paperman": John Kahrs

Best Short Film — Live Action √ Correct
"Asad": Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
"Buzkashi Boys": Sam French and Ariel Nasr
"Curfew": Shawn Christensen
"Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)": Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
"Henry": Yan England

Best Sound Editing √ Correct (There was a tie!)
"Argo": Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn #2
"Django Unchained": Wylie Stateman
"Life of Pi": Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
"Skyfall": Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
"Zero Dark Thirty": Paul N.J. Ottosson

Best Sound Mixing X Incorrect
"Argo": John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia #2
"Les Misérables": Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
"Life of Pi": Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
"Lincoln": Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
"Skyfall": Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson

Best Visual Effects √ Correct
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey": Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White
"Life of Pi": Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott
"Marvel's The Avengers": Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
"Prometheus": Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
"Snow White and the Huntsman": Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson

The 85th Academy Awards were televised LIVE on ABC Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013, at 5:30 p.m. PT.

Please share your thoughts by commenting on this post or on Facebook or interacting with us on Twitter. Download a ballot here.