Nominees For The 94th Academy Awards Promise A Great Show

‘The Power of the Dog’, ‘Dune’, and ‘West Side Story’ dominate the list of 2022 Oscar nominees

Kay Copeland

The list of nominees for the upcoming award show promise a strong competition.

The competition at the upcoming 94th Oscar Awards is looking fiercer than ever. The nominees were announced by Leslie Jordan and Tracee Ellis Ross on Feb. 8 via live stream on the Oscars website and social media accounts. The show is scheduled for March 27 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

Two films took the cake for most nominations, with a respective 10 nominations for “Dune” and 12 for “The Power of the Dog.” Following close behind, with seven nominations is “West Side Story” and “Belfast”. To check out the full list of nominees in each category, click here.

The biggest award of the night will be a difficult one to call. The nominees for Best Picture include the biographical drama “King Richard”, the epic sci-fi film “Dune”, the satirical “Don’t Look Up”, and a plethora of other accredited films. 

An award bound to stir up mixed emotions is Best Original Song, featuring nominees that range from Beyonce to Billie Eilish to Lin-Manuel Miranda. The nominees for Best Original Score present a similar line-up with “Encanto”, “Dune”, “Don’t Look Up”, “The Power of the Dog” and “Parallel Mothers” all up for the win. 

The winner for Best Actor will be another scarily-close call. Andrew Garfield secured his second-ever Oscar nomination for “Tick, Tick… Boom!” in this category. He’s up against Denzel Washington in “The Tragedy of Macbeth”, Will Smith for “King Richard”, Benedict Cumberbatch for “The Power of the Dog”, and Javier Bardem for “Being the Ricardos”. 

Kristen Stewart obtained her first-ever Oscar nomination for her starring role as Princess Diana in “Spencer”. She’s up for Best Actress, a category featuring other prominent names in Hollywood such as Nicole Kidman and Jessica Chastain. 

In an unforeseen and controversial approach, Lady Gaga was not nominated in any category for her lead role in “House of Gucci”. Many thought she would secure a Best Actress nomination for her performance. Somewhat redeeming, the film in its entirety is up for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. 

Currently, there’s no word as to who’s hosting this year’s Oscars, but just last month it was confirmed the show would indeed have a host after three years of being without one. 

Regardless of who ends up hosting, the Academy Awards this year are bound to be full of surprises, deserved wins, and riled-up fans. Place your predictions now, then be sure to tune into ABC on Mar. 27 at 7 p.m. CST to congratulate the winners!