Greek Epics and Awkward Invites: Where Does This Year's Oscars Race Stand?

As the fall film festival season unfolds, Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey has emerged as an early contender to watch in this year's Oscars race, according to an analysis published by The Guardian.

The report notes that reporting on Oscars prospects from festivals such as Venice, Telluride and Toronto has grown more complicated in recent years, with awards-season narratives increasingly unpredictable.

Last year's festival circuit was described as notably underwhelming, arriving months after Sinners transformed from a box-office hit into a legitimate awards contender, while One Battle After Another skipped the festival circuit altogether en route to winning best picture.

The analysis points to a broader shift in the awards pipeline that once reliably produced best-picture winners such as Birdman, Spotlight, 12 Years a Slave and The King's Speech — a pipeline that has played a diminished role since the Covid-affected Nomadland became the last fall festival film to win the top prize.

This year's slate features new films starring Tom Cruise, Timothée Chalamet, Anne Hathaway, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Ben Affleck and Mikey Madison — though notably, none of them are premiering at a festival, according to the report.

The report suggests studios have grown more cautious about festival premieres, wary of the risk of negative buzz following films such as White Noise and Joker: Folie à Deux, even as past festival successes like The Shape of Water and Poor Things demonstrate the potential upside.