For our twenty-first Rundown article, we look at those who take all the various aural elements and fuse them together. After the jump, you’ll find our winner and runner-up predictions for Best Sound Mixing as well as general commentary about the race. Friday, we’ll cover the only category with a 100% accuracy rate at predicting Best Picture.

Best Sound Mixing

Winner Predictions

• Baby Driver (PP O)
• Blade Runner 2049
• Dunkirk (WL O) (TB O) (TL O)
• The Shape of Water
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Runner-Up Predictions

• Baby Driver (TB O)
• Blade Runner 2049 (WL O)
• Dunkirk (PP R) [New]
• The Shape of Water (TL O)

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Wesley Lovell: Dunkirk picked up the Cinema Audio Society award. While that doesn’t mean a lot if the voters don’t get any influence or advice from the guilds, but considering how well war films perform with the Academy, it seems like a safe bet for a prediction.
Peter J. Patrick: If Dunkirk couldn’t beat Baby Driver at the BAFTAs, it won’t beat it at the Oscars.
Tripp Burton: Sound Mixing and Sound Editing matched up 5-for-5 this year for the first time, and I’m guessing that the winners will match-up too. I’m predicting Dunkirk running the table on the most technical awards, but Baby Driver could be a dark horse here.
Thomas La Tourrette: With both the generic BAFTA award for sound as well as the Cinema Audio Society award going to Dunkirk, it looks likely to be the winner of this Oscar. Since the academy did not nominate one of the musicals which often do well in this category, a war film seems likeliest to win. Dunkirk was lauded for its technical skills and that will carry over to wins in a few categories, this one included. There are cases to be made for all the other nominees, Baby Driver used music and revving car noises to strong effect. Both Star Wars and Blade Runner 2049 created all sorts of futuristic environments, shots, and noises and cannot be ruled out. Dunkirk’s biggest competition might come from the relatively quiet The Shape of Water. The sound mixing is not overt, but lends itself well to the movie. I am not sure that there is enough love for that film to sweep through the awards and win categories like this, but it is still a possibility. The Shape of Water could score an upset, but look for Dunkirk to win.

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