As the precursor awards continue unabated until Oscar night, I’m going to be providing a weekly update highlighting the films that have won and lost momentum through the precursor awards (and in some cases other outside influences).

While the onslaught of critics awards begins in earnest this week, there’s no question that it got a good jolt from this week’s Washington DC critics and New York Film Critics as well as nominations from the Annie Awards.

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

Week 4

Tuesday, Dec. 4 – American Film Institute (Awards) (Official)
Wednesday, Dec. 5 – Detroit Critics (Nominations) (Unconfirmed)
Wednesday, Dec. 5 – Australian Academy of Cinema and Televisions Arts (Awards) (Official)
Wednesday, Dec. 5 – Grammy Awards (Nominations) (Official)
Thursday, Dec. 6 – Detroit Critics (Awards) (Unconfirmed)
Thursday, Dec. 6 – Golden Globes (Nominations) (Official)
Saturday, Dec. 8 – North Texas Critics (Nominations) (Unconfirmed)
Saturday, Dec. 8 – Philadelphia Critics (Nominations) (Unconfirmed)
Saturday, Dec. 8 – San Francisco Critics (Nominations) (Unconfirmed)
Sunday, Dec. 9 – Boston Online Critics (Awards) (Unconfirmed)
Sunday, Dec. 9 – Chicago Critics (Nominations) (Unconfirmed)
Sunday, Dec. 9 – NY Online Critics (Awards) (Unconfirmed)
Sunday, Dec. 9 – Philadelphia Critics (Awards) (Official)
Sunday, Dec. 9 – San Diego Critics (Nominations) (Unconfirmed)
Sunday, Dec. 9 – San Francisco Critics (Awards) (Unconfirmed)
Sunday, Dec. 9 – Toronto Critics (Awards) (Unconfirmed)
Monday, Dec. 10 – Atlanta Critics (Awards) (Unconfirmed)
Monday, Dec. 10 – Broadcast Critics (Nominations) (Official)
Monday, Dec. 10 – Phoenix Circle (Nominations) (Unconfirmed)
Monday, Dec. 10 – San Diego Critics (Awards) (Unconfirmed)
Monday, Dec. 10 – Seattle Critics (Nominations) (Unconfirmed)
Monday, Dec. 10 – St. Louis Critics (Nominations) (Unconfirmed)

Big Winners

Roma had a good week, picking up two Best Picture awards and a raft of other citations. The film has taken an early lead with critics, though its chances with the Academy might be a bit more muted.
The Favourite burst onto the scene with quite a bit of strength, landing frequent citations for Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz in particular.
A Star Is Born has won several awards as well including a couple of prizes for Lady Gaga, which could be a strong sign that she’s going to avoid the curse of the pop singer-turned-actress in terms of Oscar recognition.
Green Book started off well with the National Board of Review and has dropped in terms of enthusiasm, but in terms of citations, it’s still doing well.
If Beale Street Could Talk was thought to be a minor contender going into the system, but the number of citations, along with the multiple wins by supporting actress Regina King suggests it’s going to be one of the year’s bigger players.

Big Losers

First Man was released to enthusiastic reviews and it was thought to be a chief contender for most nominations at the Oscars, but the dull box office hurt and the mediocre representation among critics awards has made things far worse.
BlacKkKlansman is another film that was thought to be a major player this year, but has received far less attention than expected. it could still pull things out, but more nominations and awards will be required to rebuild its potential.
Mary Queen of Scots hasn’t been screened in a lot of places so far and while it’s gotten a handful of nominations, the lack of enthusiasm is troublesome for the film. It could still surge as people see it and later-voting groups recognize it, but it’s a tougher hill at present.
Widows redefined the heist genre and earned plenty of praise as a result. However, that praise hasn’t turned into heaps of praise from the precursors. The film gets a few mentions, but not nearly enough to make it a genuine threat this year.
Willem Dafoe was thought to be a frontrunner for an Oscar until Christian Bale came along. Unfortunately, even with a single impediment, Dafoe has gotten far less atteniton than expected, which hurts his ultimate chances with Academy voters.