Three Films Battle for Oscar Sound Prize: Zombies, Fire, and Brad Pitt
Oscar contenders for Best Sound already starting to take shape.
The year has barely begun, yet the race for the Oscar in Best Sound is already heating up. With films still rolling out in cinemas, experts are already placing their bets: the coveted statuette could well go to Formula 1 starring Brad Pitt, Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later, and the spy thriller Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning. Here’s why these titles are making the most noise.
Front-Runner: Formula 1
Racing is not just about the roar of engines, but a symphony of metal, wind, and crowd noise. Directed by Kosinski, fresh off his win with Top Gun: Maverick, this film once again places sound front and centre — and early reviews suggest it’s a winning formula.
The work of two-time Oscar winner Gary Rizzo literally plunges viewers into the cockpit. The Best Sound category often rewards the loudest films, and Formula 1 feels right at home in this arena.
The Second Wave of the Apocalypse: 28 Years Later
The sequel to the cult horror franchise 28 Days Later leans heavily on atmosphere, where every growl from the infected cuts through silence like a knife. Particularly chilling is the naked alpha male, the pack’s fierce leader.
Johnny Burn masterfully manipulates background noise to play on the audience’s nerves, while a soundtrack by Young Fathers amplifies the sense of ominous doom. Here, sound isn’t mere decoration — it drives the narrative.
Burn, Fly, Dive: Mission: Impossible
The Mission: Impossible series has rarely earned Academy praise, with only a single prior nomination for sound. Alongside the breathtaking scene of a parachute dome aflame in the sky, the underwater sequence impresses with equal force.
Watching in a cinema, you feel submerged beneath layers of ice and tons of water, trapped inside a sunken submarine. The film sounds and looks impeccable, even if the plot leaves some questions unanswered.
Other potential contenders include Garland’s War with its deafening, terrifying explosions, and Jurassic World Dominion with its grand dinosaur sound design. But for now, the trio above is making the loudest impact — both literally and figuratively.
