The Batman has a big day in tech nominations from the industry
So the guild nominations are finally here and most of them drop this week, on a truncated calendar. The first batch we have here would indicate what has actual strength in the industry compared to the critics and Globes voters.
2022 MOTION PICTURE SOUND EDITORS NOMINEES
Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Feature Dialogue / ADR
The Banshees of Inisherin
The Batman
Elvis
Empire of Light
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Top Gun: Maverick
Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Feature Effects / Foley
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Batman
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Jurassic World: Dominion
Nope
Top Gun: Maverick
They have six nominees here, so there will be less at the Oscars for sound, but a complete miss for a supposed heavy hitter like The Fabelmans (which was also snubbed at ASC below) is telling, while Everything Everywhere shows strength. The other nominees were mostly expected, as the sound editors are impressed by action movies usually.
2022 ART DIRECTORS GUILD NOMINEES
Avatar lands expected nominations for sound and production design
Period Feature:
“All Quiet on the Western Front”
“Babylon”
“Elvis”
“The Fabelmans”
“White Noise”
Fantasy Feature:
“Avatar: The Way of Water”
“The Batman”
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”
“Everything Everywhere All at Once”
“Nope”
Contemporary Feature:
“Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths”
“Bullet Train”
“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”
“Tár”
“Top Gun: Maverick”
Again with these there are three categories- two too many to predict what makes it into Oscar’s one, but The Batman seems to be doing well so far. I’d forgotten about its acclaimed techs, so that one might land some surprise nominations on Oscar morning.
2022 AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS NOMINEES
Elvis showing major strength in the guilds so far- could Baz Luhrmann recognition be next?
Empire of Light
The Batman
Bardo
Elvis
Top Gun Maverick
Now this is the most important guild of the day, as cinematography, along with editing, is the biggest of the below the line technical awards. And the nominees here are surprising- Elvis made it! Elvis is clearly a top five film in the industry, and Baz Luhrmann could well be looking at his first DGA nomination after all these years (and it speaks well for Austin Butler’s chances in Best Actor, and maybe even Tom Hanks to get into supporting for a critically reviled performance). Alejandro Innaritu’s Bardo looks like it may be more popular in the industry than it was with critics as well, and again The Batman making it makes the movie three for three today in techs. And then there’s Top Gun- definitely making it into every category as well. Until recently I thought Everything Everywhere was possibly the consensus choice for Picture but now I’m thinking it might be Top Gun, as the industry recognizes it may finally be time to award a blockbuster movie the top prize again. I wouldn’t be surprised at all now if that happened. Watch out for the SAG noms on Wednesday to see whether Top Gun’s strength extends to the actors- not usually the case for action movies. We’ll see if it is now.
