For our first Rundown article, we contemplate to the selections for the first of two music categories. 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 this category’s companion, Best Original Song.

Best Original Score

Winner Predictions

• All Quiet on the Western Front
• Babylon (WL O) (TB O) (TL O)
• The Banshees of Inisherin (PP R) [New]
• Everything Everywhere All at Once
• The Fabelmans

Runner-Up Predictions

• Babylon (PP R) [New]
• The Fabelmans (WL R) [New] (TB O) (TL O)

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Wesley Lovell: I will admit that I’m not terribly fond of any of the scores this year, especially the nominated Babylon. While I would love for The Banshees of Inisherin to win, the critics leader seems a safer bet, though don’t count out John Williams on what is his penultimate feature film. They might not want to recognize him for Indy 5, so this might be their last chance.
Peter J. Patrick: I give the edge to the score from The Banshees of Inisherin over Babylon, All Quiet on the Western Front, and The Fabelmans in what is probably the category with the closest competition this year.
Tripp Burton: (Commentary added 2/17/23) Oscar favorite Justin Hurwitz seems like the front-runner here, but if this is really John Williams’ last score, the all-time nominations leader could get some love and a final Oscar.
Thomas La Tourrette: Before Babylon opened, it seemed like it would be a major player at the Oscars. Then it opened to not very kind reviews and bad word of mouth. Now it looks like score is the only likely win it will have, though it might pull off one for production design. Even the score had gotten mixed reviews, but it still seems the likely winner. Its stiffest competition comes from John Williams’ score for The Fabelmans. It is likely to be one of his last major scores and would be a fitting way for the Academy to honor him one last time. He has 53 nominations, the most of any living person and second only to the late Walt Disney, but surprisingly only 5 wins, the last of which was almost 30 years ago. I can understand them wanting to reward his career, but he likely will have to wait another time for that to happen and to see if anything grabs people in 2023 or beyond. All Quiet on the Western Front has a distinctive score and might have won in a different year. That film may do well elsewhere, but I doubt it will win here. Both Everything Everywhere All at Once and The Banshees of Inisherin will have to be content with their nominations. While John Williams and The Fabelmans will give it a decent try, look for Babylon to easily win.

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