The first major studio screener out of the gate is Contagion from Warner Bros. Unlike most past screeners I’ve received, I’ve seen this one already. As for their category placement, it’s the standard kit-and-kaboodle selection, though the lead actor citation for Laurence Fishburne and not Matt Damon is a bit surprising. Also unexpected is the absence of Soderbergh being listed as Cinematographer.

Contagion

Genre: Disaster Drama
Stars: Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Laurence Fishburne, John Hawkes, Jude Law, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet, Anna Jacoby-Heron, Jennifer Ehle, Demetri Martin, Elliott Gould, Enrico Colantoni, Bryan Cranston, Sanaa Lathan
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Premise: “Contagion follows the rapid progress of a lethal airborne virus that kills within days. As the fast-moving epidemic grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself. At the same time, ordinary people struggle to survive in a society coming apart.
Oscar Chances: Most of these are probably long shots, but: Best Picture, Director (Soderbergh), Original Screenplay, Original Score, Editing, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing.
Campaign-Proposed Categories:

• Best Picture (Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher, Gregory Jacobs)
• Best Director (Steven Soderbergh)
• Best Original Screenplay (Scott Z. Burns)
• Best Actor (Laurence Fishburne)
• Best Supporting Actor (Matt Damon, Jude Law)
• Best Supporting Actress (Marion Cotillard, Jennifer Ehle, Sanaa Lathan, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet)
• Best Art Direction (Hoard Cummings; Cindy Carr
• Best Costume Design (Louise Frogley)
• Best Film Editing (Stephen Mirrione, A.C.E.)
• Best Makeup (Kate Biscoe, Frida Svala Aradottir)
• Best Original Score (Cliff Martinez)
• Best Sound Mixing (Mark Weingarten, Dennis Towns, Larry Blake)
• Best Sound Editing (Larry Blake)
• Best Visual Effects (Thomas J. Smith, Randy Goux)

Rotten Tomatoes:
84% (214 critics; as of 11/10/11)
Metacritic:
70 out of 100 (38 critics; as of 11/10/11)
My Review: