Oscar predictions via Feinberg Predictions: Scott is taking over Governors Awards weekend

Times of discover News: Wicked, the first installment of a two-part adaptation of the hit Broadway musical of the same name, had its official screening at the LA Academy on November 9, drawing the largest audience of any film this season and a standing ovation.

It was everywhere beyond that, premiering in LA later the same day, premiering in Mexico on November 11, and lots of press coverage about its stars, lead actress Cynthia Erivo and supporting actress Ariana Grande. The consensus answer, which I agree with, is that the film is excellent.

Meanwhile, the review embargo for Paramount's Gladiator II was lifted on November 11. Critics, including The Hollywood Reporter, have somewhat mixed opinions about the film overall - it has a rating of just 75% on Rotten Tomatoes - but the same was true for the original Gladiator from 24 years ago (only 80% on RT), and won the Oscar for Best Picture, so it doesn't matter.

The excitement around the film could be seen at its world premiere in London on November 13, at a Royal Film Performance fundraiser attended by King Charles III. The film's main cast is now heading to LA for an official Academy screening and Q&A on Saturday.

In other news, only one awards candidate had a solid opening at the box office last weekend: A24's Heretic, which earned $11 million, missing out on second place. Mubi Bird, Searchlight's A Real Pain and Neon Anora also managed limited releases.

The Grammy nominations were announced on November 8, and it's worth noting that the scores for The Challengers (composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) and Dune: Part Two (Hans Zimmer) are among the five nominees for Best Soundtrack Score for Visual Media.

While the latter score was deemed ineligible for the Best Original Score Oscar, The Twisters' song "Ain't No Love in Oklahoma" (written by Jessi Alexander, Luke Combs and Jonathan Singleton) was written for visual media. One of the five nominees for Best Song. In addition, the Oscar-eligible Netflix documentary, The Greatest Night in Pop, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Music Film.

The Critics' Choice Documentary Awards ceremony took place on November 10. Warner's Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story and Netflix's Will & Harper were the big winners. They compare it to Best Feature; Super/Man won all six categories in which it was nominated. Meanwhile, the doc that received the most nominations of the evening, Nat Geo's Sugarcane, walked away with two awards, Best Political Doc and Best True Crime Doc.

Another major doc race precursor group, Cinema Eye Honors, announced the nominations on November 14. Kana received the most mentions in this group with six, including one in the top category, Best Doc Feature. In that race, it will be competing with MTV docs Black Box Diaries, Mubi Dahomey, Netflix Daughters, A24 Look Into My Eyes, the U.S.-distributor-less No Other Land, and Kino Lorber Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat.

This coming weekend will be one of the busiest of the season, with everyone scheduling everything around Sunday night's Governors Awards. In fact, there will be dozens of screenings and Q&As on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday — among them, a Paramount screening with producer Sean Penn at the PGA on September 5; A24's The Brutalist at CAA, with the agency's clients, director Brady Corbet, and the stars of his film; and Netflix's Maria with Angelina Jolie in Hollywood.

There will also be footage from several roundtable meetings that bring together the top contenders from various films and categories. There will be celebrations of the full studio slate, such as Paramount’s celebration held at the Sunset Tower Hotel, and celebrations of distinguished individuals, such as the celebration for The Substance writer/director Coralie Farguet at the residence of the French Consul General in L.A. And the list goes on.