We had five films release this past weekend with the potential for Oscar nominations.

The Peanuts Movie

The comic strip Peanuts ran for 50 years, ending its run in 2000 with the death of creator Charles Schulz. He left behind a strong legacy of humorous, family-friendly comics that told the story of a young group of school chums tackling adult problems with childlike wonder. There were TV specials and movies, but until now there hasn’t been a big screen adaptation.

The Peanuts Movie takes the incredibly two-dimensional drawings and gives them depth as 3D computer generated renderings that have led some to question whether it’s truly an embodiment of its creator’s vision. The reviews have been universally positive from both critics and audiences meaning it should have a healthy box office haul.

Those factors combined put to rest concerns that the movie would be a disservice to the original and alleviated the possibility that the film could be ignored by the Academy. It now enters the top tier of contenders for a Best Animated Feature slot.

Spectre

With tepid reviews, the fourth outing with Daniel Craig as the legendary Britishy super spy James Bond, Spectre looks to be fading into Oscar obscurity.

Until Skyfall, the prior entry in the franchise, the Academy had largely ignored the Bond franchise, nominating it periodically for Best Original Song and little else. Not only did Skyfall earn a series best five Oscar nominations, it took home its first ever Oscars for both Best Original Song and Best Sound Editing.

With that kind of history, it’s not difficult to see why so many people have tentatively chalked Spectre into several races. The problem with that assertion is that the reviews lead one to believe that the film doesn’t have nearly the universal support the prior effort had and even that film couldn’t manage a Best Picture nominations in spite of its reviews.

That said, the new song for the film has largely derided and with so many tech heavy films out there, it’s hard to believe a film that isn’t incredibly well liked will be able to parlay that into many nominations if any.

Brooklyn

How does a relatively new director find himself at the helm of a critically acclaimed film that seems destined for Oscar consideration? By making a handful of well liked features and being handed a period drama about life in America for an Irish woman torn between her new identity and the world she’s left behind. Brooklyn becomes Saoirse Ronan’s first film in eight years well positioned enough to earn her a second Oscar nomination.

Brooklyn has been receiving stellar reviews. With 77 critics reporting, the film is sitting at a staggering 99% Fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Pair that with a superb 88 rating from MetaCritic and its clear the film critics are going to be giving the film a serious boost for the Academy Awards.

With that level of acclaim, it’s hard to see Brooklyn as anything but a top-tier contender for several categories. Whether it can top another of this week’s new releases for the win in some of those categories is uncertain, but the competition should prove fascinating.

Spotlight

That other film competing with Brooklyn at the Oscars this year is Spotlight, Tom McCarthy’s festival hit about the Boston Globe and its journalistic investigation of the Catholic Church pedophilia scandal.

Starring a trove of noted Hollywood actors including Oscar nominees Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, and Stanley Tucci as well as Emmy nominees Live Schreiber and John Slattery, the film has earned incredibly strong reviews. While it’s 96% at Rotten Tomatoes is lower than Brooklyn‘s, the MetaCritic score of 90 shows a more solid level of support.

Regardless, the film is being bandied about as one of this year’s top contenders for the Best Picture Oscar, a film that’s been favorably compared to eight-time Oscar nominee All the President’s Men, which took home four Oscars in 1976 losing Best Picture to Rocky. That level of acclaim shouldn’t be taken lightly and with a number of other films so far failing to live up to expectations, this one should have little trouble leveraging that to high acclaim, especially with the Academy.

Trumbo

One of those films that entered the season with a modest amount of buzz, but has so far failed to turn that into success, Trumbo follows the story of legendary screenwriter Dalton Trumbo as he tries to destroy the blacklist that forced him to put his considerable talents to use in secret.

Bryan Cranston’s multiple Emmys suggest an actor with a lot of potential for future awards consideration and while he’s getting solid notices as Trumbo, the film is getting mediocre and mixed reviews, which has endangered its chances at the Oscars significantly.

Cranston might still be in the competition, as is Helen Mirren, but the film seems likely to find itself relegated to the creative categories like Best Production Design and Best Costume Design where it has a better than average chance of gaining some level of attention.