As the precursor awards continue unabated through the month of December, I’m going to be providing a weekly update highlighting the films that have won and lost momentum through the precursor awards. At this point in the season, the smattering of critics groups still announcing aren’t changing the narrative much. That’s not to say there weren’t winners and losers, but there aren’t nearly as many as there may have been in previous weeks. Next week is dead except for the start of Oscar voting. We’ll get more precursors starting the following week, so enjoy your time off.

But, before we get into this week’s winners and losers, let’s take a look at what’s coming up this week:

Week 5

Friday, Dec. 27 – Academy Awards Voting Begins

Big Winners

Her. It was an excellent week for Spike Jonze’s new film. Her picked up several prizes in the last week, including a few Best Picture prizes. This should easily bolster the film’s chances at Oscar nominations (as my Oscar Preview article later today will discuss in detail).
12 Years a Slave still had a strong week in spite of Her‘s big one. The film continue to collect a number of prizes and still holds leads for most awards in several categories with Chiwetel Ejiofor and Lupita Nyong’o picking up even more precursor awards. Right now, even if the film starts losing ground, these two should still be top-tier contenders.

Big Losers

The Past This one is less of a precursor loser and more of an Oscar loser. Yes, the precursors have continued to be unkind to The Past, but in the end, the Oscars did more to harm the film’s chances than anyone. The Foreign Language Film committee announced the nine finalists for Oscar nominations. The Past wasn’t among them. I guess the lack of precursor attention kept the film from seeming like a major contender.