A Sinners Sweep Could Flip the MFL Leaderboard

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Here’s a look at the scores from Week 24 of Vulture’s Movies Fantasy League. While it’s too late to join for this season, you can still keep up with everything happening by visiting the league hub and signing up for our weekly newsletter.

I was hoping the Writers Guild Awards might throw a curveball into the Oscars race, but honestly, that was probably wishful thinking! Paul Thomas Anderson, who wrote One Battle After Another, was the clear frontrunner for Best Adapted Screenplay, and Ryan Coogler, the writer and director of Sinners, was the same for Best Original Screenplay. And just as everyone predicted, both of them won! It feels like One Battle and Sinners are really solidifying their positions as the ones to beat heading into the Academy Awards this Sunday.

The documentary 2000 Meters to Andriivka, though not nominated for an Oscar, won the Best Documentary Screenplay award. This gives a small boost to the 420 people who had included the film in their predictions, despite its absence from the Oscar nominations.

Full list of Writers Guild Awards points:

Sinners: 20
One Battle After Another: 20
2000 Meters to Andriivka: 20

Box Office

Okay, here’s the latest from the box office, and it’s a bit quiet this week. Zootopia 2 gained a couple of points, and Avatar: Fire and Ash added one. The Secret Agent and Pillion both pushed past $4 million and $3 million total, respectively. Honestly, the biggest news was Sirât getting re-released and finally hitting $1 million! That means Sirât, along with Sentimental Value, The Secret Agent, and It Was Just an Accident, all made over $1 million domestically. That’s something we haven’t seen at the Oscars since 2014 – back then it was Ida, Leviathan, Timbuktu, and Wild Tales. The last International nominee, The Voice of Hind Rajab, is close behind at $911,000. It’s been a really strong year for International features, especially if you picked the right ones for your predictions!

Here’s a rundown of how movies performed at the box office this weekend, showing total earnings in the United States and Canada so far.

Zootopia 2: $427 million
Avatar: Fire and Ash: $402m
Sirât: $1m
Pillion: $3m
The Secret Agent: $4m

Check out the MFL landing page to view the complete leaderboard. You can also join our Discord server for more information about each movie in the MFL and other exciting content.

Looking Ahead

Get ready for the Oscars! The 98th Academy Awards are happening this Sunday, March 15th, at 7 p.m. Eastern Time. Don’t forget that you can earn a lot of points during the show, so be sure to tune in!

Win in Best Picture: 100 points

Earn 75 points by winning in any of these categories: Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Animated Feature, Best Documentary Feature, or Best International Feature.

Okay, so as a total movie fanatic, here’s how I see it: a truly great film absolutely nails the visuals, and that means winning big in things like cinematography – how gorgeous it looks – and production design, which is basically building the whole world of the movie. Then you’ve got the details – costumes, hair and makeup, all of that needs to be top-notch. Sound is huge, obviously, and these days, visual effects have to be seamless. Don’t even get me started on editing – it’s the backbone of pacing! And a killer soundtrack? Essential. Oh, and casting – getting the right actors can make or break a film. If a movie sweeps all those categories, you know it’s something special – that’s a 50-point win in my book!

As we head into the final stretch, Tracy Letts Get Loud is comfortably in the lead with a significant 74-point advantage. Honestly, a win in pretty much any category could seal the deal for them. Their team is incredibly strong, boasting potential winners like One Battle After Another, and a strong favorite for Best Actress with Hamnet. They’re also pinning a lot of hope on Timmy from Marty Supreme, and Train Dreams could be a real dark horse in the Cinematography category. While If I Had Legs I’d Kick You seems unlikely to score any points, they have a huge presence in the International Feature category with three of the five nominees: The Secret Agent, Sirât, and The Voice of Hind Rajab. But Rodrigo Solis isn’t out of the running! They share a lot of the same contenders – One Battle, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, Train Dreams, and The Secret Agent – but their secret weapon, Weapons, could be the game changer. If Amy Madigan manages to snag a win for Supporting Actress, we might just see a shift in the overall lead. It’s going to be a nail-biter!

Honestly, I’m most worried about teams currently ranked around 13th – specifically, Oscars for Good and Millennium Mambo No. 5 (what a name!). They’re the highest-ranked squads still relying on Sinners predictions, and that movie could really shake things up. Right now, TLGL is comfortably ahead by 194 points, but Sinners doesn’t even need to win Best Picture to make a serious move. If it can beat OBAA in a few of the craft categories – like Song, Score, or maybe Cinematography – and snag just one acting win (imagine Wunmi Mosaku taking it while Sean Penn is surprised!), it could pull off a huge upset. If Sinners really sweeps, it would completely change the leaderboard and send shockwaves through the top 15.

It’s easy to imagine many different ways things could end, but the final outcome of this situation is still uncertain. Be prepared for anything.

Hey, if you’re having any trouble with the league – maybe you can’t find your team or mini-league on the leaderboard, or just have a question or some feedback – the folks at Vulture said to email them at moviesleague@vulture.com. That’s where you can reach out!

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2026-03-10 19:55