2015 Oscar Predictions: Best Picture

Here are our very early best picture Oscar predictions.

Indiewire will provide updates of our predictions for the 87th Academy Award nominations through January 2015, when the nominations are announced.

Fall has arrived, so let's take an ignorant stab at the Oscar nominations anyway, shall we?  There are a few possibilities from what we saw earlier in the year. "Boyhood" and "The Grand Budapest Hotel," given their glowing reviews and strong box office, could very well make for Richard Linklater's and Wes Anderson's first Best Picture nominations, respectively. 

But it's the final four months of the year that really reveals the picture.  

Can two-time best director nominee David Fincher ("The Social Network" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") win with his adaptation of Gillian Flynn's extremely popular novel "Gone Girl," starring Ben Affleck?

How about Paul Thomas Anderson (who has yet to win an Oscar after four nominations) with his seventh feature film "Inherent Vice," which reunites him with his Oscar-nominated "The Master" star Joaquin Phoenix?

There's also "Chicago" director Rob Marshall with another big budget musical en route for Christmas with "Into The Woods."

Stephen Daldry offers up "Trash," the latest from the man who has directed four films in his career ("Billy Elliot," "The Hours," "The Reader" and "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"), every single one of which has been nominated for best picture or best director (or both.)

Don't count out Angelina Jolie's "Unbroken" -- written by the Coen Brothers, no less -- which could be a major player with its chronicle of the life of Louis Zamperini (played by Jack O'Connell), an Olympic runner who was taken prisoner by Japanese forces during World War II.

Plus Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Birdman" opened Venice to intensely rave reviews.

Let the races begin...

Here are our 2015 Oscar predictions for Best Picture. Check out our predictions in other categories here.

It's Early, But They Seem Like Pretty Safe Bets:
1. "Foxcatcher" (Bennett Miller)
2. "Birdman" (Alejandro González Iñárritu)
3. "Boyhood" (Richard Linklater)

More Iffy, But Good Shots Too:
4. "Theory of Everything" (James Marsh)
5. "The Imitation Game" (Morten Tyldum)
6. "Mr. Turner" (Mike Leigh)

Strong Contenders (At Least On Paper):
7. "Unbroken" (Angelina Jolie)
8. "Fury" (David Ayer)
9. "Interstellar" (Christopher Nolan)
10. "Gone Girl" (David Fincher)
11. "Inherent Vice" (Paul Thomas Anderson)
12. "Big Eyes" (Tim Burton)
13. "Into The Woods" (Rob Marshall)

If Some of the Above Don't Deliver, These Will Become Contenders:
14. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (Wes Anderson)
15. "Wild" (Jean-Marc Vallée)
16. "Rosewater" (Jon Stewart)
17. "Whiplash" (Damien Chazelle)18. 
18. "Love Is Strange" (Ira Sachs)
19. "While We're Young" (Noah Baumbach)

Other Possibilities (Though At This Point, Anything Is):
20. "A Most Violent Year" (JC Chandor)
21. "American Sniper" (Clint Eastwood)
22. "Selm"a (Ava DuVernay)
23. "Trash" (Stephen Daldry)