"Everything Everywhere All at Once, a wacky sci-fi film featuring multiple universes, sex toys and hot dog fingers, enters Sunday's Oscars ceremony as the highly unorthodox frontrunner for best picture.
Academy bosses hope audiences will tune in to see whether the zany $100 million-grossing hit can claim Hollywood's most coveted prize -- and draw a line under Will Smith's infamous slap at last year's gala.
"Everything Everywhere" -- which leads the overall nominations count at 11 -- follows a Chinese immigrant laundromat owner locked in battle with an inter-dimensional supervillain who happens to also be her own daughter.
Michelle Yeoh's heroine Evelyn must harness the power of her alter egos living in parallel universes, which feature hot dogs as human fingers, talking rocks and giant dildos used as weapons.
The film has dominated nearly every awards show in Hollywood, with its charismatic, predominantly Asian stars becoming the feel-good story of the season.
But although the quirky film is widely expected to dominate Oscars night, it could hit a stumbling block for best picture.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences uses a special "preferential" voting system for that award, in which members rank films from best to worst.
If any rival can benefit, it is likely "All Quiet on the Western Front," German-language World War I movie that dominated Britain's BAFTAs.
While the best picture race has a clear favourite, the acting contests are incredibly tight.
For best actress, Cate Blanchett had long been favoured to win a third Oscar for "Tar," but "Everything Everywhere" love could propel Yeoh to a historic first win by an Asian woman in the category.
Best actor is a three-horse race between Austin Butler ("Elvis), Brendan Fraser ("The Whale") and Colin Farrell ("The Banshees of Inisherin").
Angela Bassett, the first Marvel superhero actor ever nominated with "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," is up against "Everything Everywhere" star Jamie Lee Curtis and "Banshees" actress Kerry Condon.
One category does appear to be locked. Ke Huy Quan, the former child star of "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and "The Goonies," has won every best-supporting actor prize going and looks near-certain to complete a comeback story for the ages.
Here are the early predictions:
Best Picture
Everything Everywhere All at Once - Winner
The Banshees of Inisherin - Could Win
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
Elvis
The Fabelmans
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick
Triangle of Sadness
Women Talking
Best Director
Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) - Could Win
Martin McDonagh (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)
Todd Field (“Tár”)
Ruben Östlund (“Triangle of Sadness”)
Best Lead ActorColin Farrell (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) - Winner
Austin Butler (“Elvis”)
Paul Mescal (“Aftersun”)
Bill Nighy (“Living”)
Best Lead ActressMichelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) - Winner
Cate Blanchett (“Tár”) - Could Win
Ana de Armas (“Blonde”)
Andrea Riseborough (“To Leslie”)
Michelle Williams (“The Fabelmans”)
Best Supporting Actor
Brendan Gleeson (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)
Brian Tyree Henry (“Causeway”)
Judd Hirsch (“The Fabelmans”)
Barry Keoghan (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)
Best Supporting Actress
Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”) - Could Win
Jamie Lee Curtis (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)
Hong Chau (“The Whale”)
Stephanie Hsu (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)
Best Adapted Screenplay
“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Screenplay by Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson & Ian Stokell - Winner
“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” Written by Rian Johnson
“Living,” Written by Kazuo Ishiguro
“Top Gun: Maverick,” Screenplay by Ehren Kruger and Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie; Story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks
“Women Talking,” Screenplay by Sarah Polley
Best Original Screenplay
“The Banshees of Inisherin,” Written by Martin McDonagh - Could Win
“The Fabelmans,” Written by Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner
Tár,” Written by Todd Field
“Triangle of Sadness,” Written by Ruben Östlund
Best Cinematography
“All Quiet on the Western Front”, James Friend - Winner
“Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths,” Darius Khondji
“Elvis,” Mandy Walker
“Empire of Light,” Roger Deakins
“Tár,” Florian Hoffmeister
Best Documentary Feature Film
“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin and Yoni Golijov
“Fire of Love,” Sara Dosa, Shane Boris and Ina Fichman
“A House Made of Splinters,” Simon Lereng Wilmont and Monica Hellström
Best Documentary Short Film
“The Elephant Whisperers,” Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga - Winner
“Haulout,” Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev
“How Do You Measure a Year?” Jay Rosenblatt
“The Martha Mitchell Effect,” Anne Alvergue and Beth Levison
“Stranger at the Gate,” Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones
Best Film Editing“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Paul Rogers - Winner
“The Banshees of Inisherin,” Mikkel E.G. Nielsen
“Elvis,” Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond
“Tár,” Monika Willi
Top Gun: Maverick,” Eddie Hamilton
Best International Feature Film
“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Germany) - Winner
“Argentina, 1985” (Argentina) - Could Win
“Close” (Belgium)
“EO” (Poland)
“The Quiet Girl” (Ireland)
Best Original Song
“Naatu Naatu” from “RRR,” Music by M.M. Keeravaani; Lyric by Chandrabose - Winner
“Applause” from “Tell It Like a Woman,” Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
“Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick,” Music and Lyric by Lady Gaga and BloodPop
“Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson; Lyric by Tems and Ryan Coogler
“This Is a Life” from “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski; Lyric by Ryan Lott and David Byrne
Best Production Design
“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Production Design: Christian M. Goldbeck; Set Decoration: Ernestine Hipper
“Avatar: The Way of Water,” Production Design: Dylan Cole and Ben Procter; Set Decoration: Vanessa Cole
“The Fabelmans,” Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara
Best Visual Effects
“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank and Kamil Jafar
“The Batman,” Dan Lemmon, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands and Dominic Tuohy
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Geoffrey Baumann, Craig Hammack, R. Christopher White and Dan Sudick
“Top Gun: Maverick,” Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson and Scott R. Fisher
Best Animated Feature Film
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar and Alex Bulkley - Winner
“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On,” Dean Fleischer Camp, Elisabeth Holm, Andrew Goldman, Caroline Kaplan and Paul Mezey
“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” Joel Crawford and Mark Swift
“The Sea Beast,” Chris Williams and Jed Schlanger
“Turning Red,” Domee Shi and Lindsey Collins
Best Animated Short Film
“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse,” Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud
“The Flying Sailor,” Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
“Ice Merchants,” João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano
“An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It,” Lachlan Pendragon
Best Costume Design
“Babylon,” Mary Zophres
“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Shirley Kurata
“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris,” Jenny Beavan
Best Live Action Short
“An Irish Goodbye,” Tom Berkeley and Ross White
“Ivalu,” Anders Walter and Rebecca Pruzan
“Le Pupille,” Alice Rohrwacher and Alfonso Cuarón
“Night Ride,” Eirik Tveiten and Gaute Lid Larssen
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Heike Merker and Linda Eisenhamerová
“The Batman,” Naomi Donne, Mike Marino and Mike Fontaine
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Camille Friend and Joel Harlow
“Elvis,” Mark Coulier, Jason Baird and Aldo Signoretti
Best Original Score
“All Quiet on the Western Front,” Volker Bertelmann - Winner
“Babylon,” Justin Hurwitz
“The Banshees of Inisherin,” Carter Burwell
“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Son Lux
“The Fabelmans,” John Williams
Best Sound
“Avatar: The Way of Water,” Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers and Michael Hedges
“The Batman,” Stuart Wilson, William Files, Douglas Murray and Andy Nelson
“Elvis,” David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson and Michael Keller
“Top Gun: Maverick,” Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor
