Fall movie season has arrived. Here are 5 early Oscar predictions

NEW YORK (AP) – Fall movie season additionally means Oscar season.

Key points

• It might be only just September, but the jockeying for next March's Academy Awards is well underway.
• But here's an early survey of the Oscar landscape, with a few predictions mixed in.
• At this point, Christopher Nolan's epic deserves to be considered the movie to beat.

What happened

It might be only just September, but the jockeying for next March's Academy Awards is well underway. Movies first began revving up their Oscar campaigns at the Cannes Film Festival in May. But now that the fall festivals, in Venice, Telluride and shortly Toronto, are in full swing, so is the prognosticating concerning what's in the mix for awards.

There is much still to come. Sandworms! ("Dune: Part III") Old Tom Cruise! ("Digger") Oh my! But here's an early survey of the Oscar landscape, with a few predictions mixed in. 'The Odyssey' won't end up the best picture favorite.

At this point, Christopher Nolan's epic deserves to be considered the movie to beat. His previous film, "Oppenheimer, " steamrolled its way to best picture and Nolan's first Oscar, for best director. His singular stature is such that back-to-back wins might sound good to academy members. But "The Odyssey" isn't quite as well-loved as "Oppenheimer, " and, fun fact, no movie that Homer translators have come out against has ever won best picture. OK, so that's a small subset. But being the front-runner for more than half a year is hard, and the academy has largely favored smaller films over recent years. This prediction could come back to bite me, but, right now, I'd take the field.

The bottom line

In short, fall movie season has arrived. Here are 5 early Oscar predictions is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.