13 Early Oscar Predictions For 2014

It's 358 days until the 2014 Academy Awards.

Actors have not performed and movies have not been seen.

Obviously it's too early to get a read on what films will be nominated in 2014, but with George Clooney, Cormac McCarthy, the Coen brothers, and Cate Blanchett in the mix, we can make some educated guesses.

Check out the predictions >

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Best Picture Prediction: 'The Monuments Men'

Predicted nominees:

August: Osage County
The Butler
Captain Phillips
The Counselor
Fruitvale
The Monuments Men
Nebraska
Saving Mr. Banks
Twelve Years a Slave
The Wolf of Wall St

As easy as it is to imagine August: Osage County winning Best Picture thanks to its huge cast (Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts), and Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning source material, we're leaning toward George Clooney's The Monuments Men and Tom Hanks' Captain Phillips as Oscar front-runners next year.

Monuments Men, like A:OC, has a star-filled cast (Clooney, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, Daniel Craig), is a true story set during WWII, and, most importantly, tells an important, political story that's as relevant to foreign audiences as it is to those in the U.S. Captain Phillips, also a true story with an international setting, has Tom Hanks and when Hanks is on, the Academy comes calling.

Also for your consideration:

Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, Rush, Inside Llewyn Davis, Her, The Place Beyond the Pines, Labor Day, Out of the Furnace, Untitled Terrence Malick Project, The Fifth Estate, Foxcatcher, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Best Actor Prediction: Tom Hanks, 'Captain Phillips'

Predicted nominees:

Leonardo DiCaprio - The Wolf of Wall St.
Benedict Cumberbatch - The Fifth Estate
Tom Hanks - Captain Phillips
Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club
Brad Pitt - The Counselor

Lots of talent here, obviously. Hanks, DiCaprio, and Pitt stand out as three of the biggest stars in the world. Cumberbatch is in for a breakout year with five movies (including Star Trek Into Darkness), and his role as Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate may be the icing on the cake.

McConaughey's DBC role has drawn attention for the actor's weightloss, but at this point, we've got Hanks in the lead. His title role in Captain Phillips is just too perfect for the Academy. Directed by Paul Greengrass (United 93), the film tells the real-life story of Captain Richard Phillips, who kept the crew of the Maersk Alabama alive long enough for SEAL Team Six to rescue them from a group of armed Somali pirates in 2009.

Can't you just see Hanks' furrowed brow and worried eyes capturing Academy voters hearts and minds? Us too.

Also for your consideration:

Daniel Bruhl - Rush, Chiwetel Ejiofor - Twelve Years a Slave, Steve Carell - Foxcatcher, Ryan Gosling - The Place Beyond the Pines, Oscar Isaac - Inside Llewyn Davis, George Clooney - The Monuments Men, Christian Bale - Out of the Furnace, Bruce Dern - Nebraska, Michael B. Jordan - Fruitvale, Forest Whitaker - The Butler

Best Actress Prediction: Kate Winslet, 'Labor Day'

Predicted nominees:

Cate Blanchett - Carol
Kate Winslet - Labor Day
Meryl Streep - August: Osage County
Sandra Bullock - Gravity
Shailene Woodley - The Spectacular Now

Streep and Roberts lead the talented cast of August: Osage County, and either could easily claim an Oscar nod. In Gravity, Bullock tackles sci-fi as an astronaut stranded in space, and Woodley has already wowed Sundance audiences as a high schooler who falls in love with a hard-drinking classmate in The Spectacular Now.

Our pick, though, is Kate Winslet who stars in Jason Reitman's adaptation of Joyce Maynard's 2009 novel about a single mom who gives an escaped convict a ride against her better judgment. Academy voters always love Winslet and Labor Day seems like just the kind of perilous journey to elicit Oscar-worthy huzzahs.

Also for your consideration:

Julia Roberts - August: Osage County, Jennifer Lawrence - Serena, Marion Cotillard - Lowlife, Emma Thompson - Saving Mr. Banks, Jessica Chastain - The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Hers, Greta Gerwig - Frances Ha, Naomi Watts - Diana, Emma Watson - The Bling Ring, Rooney Mara - Side Effects

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