For our first Rundown article, we look at the musical category that defines the overall tone of a film. After the jump, you’ll find our winner and runner-up predictions for Best Original Score as well as general commentary about the race. Thursday, we’ll cover a companion category that is a part of the whole.

Best Original Score

Winner Predictions

• Jackie
• La La Land (WL O) (PP O) (TB O) (TL O)
• Lion
• Moonlight
• Passengers

Runner-Up Predictions

• Jackie (WL O) (PP R) [New]
• Lion (TB R) [New] (TL O)

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Wesley Lovell: There is virtually no way that the celebrated Best Picture front-runner, the first fully original musical in decades to score a Best Picture nomination with a total of 14 overall. La La Land has had this award sewn up since it became a contender. The only score that could top it is the one that’s won the most other prizes from precursors: Jackie, but that won’t be happening.
Peter J. Patrick: Justin Hurwitz can starting writing his acceptance speech now. This is one of the categories that Oscar frontrunner La La Land should win easily. Even if it weren’t the odds-on favorite to win Best Picture, a well received original song score up against the scores of four dramatic films is almost guaranteed a win. There is essentially no chance of an upset, but if one would occur I’d expect it to be Mica Levi’s superb score for the historical drama Jackie.
Tripp Burton: La La Land seems to be the popular prediction in this category, and it makes sense. It is looking to go on a sweep, it is a musical (although it has been over 20 years since a musical won in this category), and there isn’t a challenger to give it a run for its money. Jackie is a well-regarded score, but it has as many detractors as it does supporters. Thomas Newman has 14 nominations and has never won an Oscar, but Passengers is the least liked film on this list and recent history has favored the more popular films. Moonlight is looking to compete with La La Land across the board, and its gorgeous score could be a contender here, but it could also be seen as too slight. That leaves Lion, which might have its best shot at an Oscar here. That said, it has a big hurdle to get over in La La Land.
Thomas La Tourrette: The jazzy score of La La Land should easily win this Oscar. Not only does it have the most precursors, but it is from the most talked about movie of the season. La La Land is about life in Hollywood and actors and musicians, which will endear it to the Academy. It is also a movie where the music plays a large part in the film. None of the other scores had the same impact, though the lush work of Lion is nice if not totally awe inspiring. It is a more typical score, which is not bad, but music propelled La La Land so it will win.

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