As the great Martin Scorsese has said, Cinema is life. 2022 continues to be a great year for film, especially when highlighting Best Adapted Screenplay nominees. The 2023 Oscars will be interesting since there isn’t a clear indication of who will win as it was with some previous years.
Nevertheless, below will highlight a few possible Best Adapted Screenplay contenders, with some having a higher chance than others. We’ll discuss the logline of each from IMDB and discuss the basics of why it’ll get nominated. Even if these films aren’t nominated, they’re worth checking out!
Writers: Sarah Polley, Miriam Toews
Logline: Do nothing. Stay and fight. Or leave. In 2010, the women of an isolated religious community grapple with reconciling a brutal reality with their faith.
Women Talking has everything going for it to get a nomination. It’s filled with a terrific cast, a great director’s first film in ten years, and subject matter that’ll evoke conversations for years to come. It’s almost a guarantee that Women Talking will get nominated.
Photo credit: ABC News
Writer: Samuel D. Hunter
Logline: A reclusive English teacher attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter.
No one has stopped talking about Brendan Fraser’s performance in The Whale. Though it’s guaranteed Fraser will get a Best Actor nomination, the script is in fair competition to achieve a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination.
Photo credit: Vanity Fair
Writers: Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, Christopher McQuarrie
Logline: After thirty years, Maverick is still pushing the envelope as a top naval aviator but must confront ghosts of his past when he leads TOP GUN's elite graduates on a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those chosen to fly it.
Who doesn’t love Top Gun? The classic 1980s flick was brought back to life thanks to a solid performance from Tom Cruise and a good script. The film's success alone should catapult it to get a few nominations.
Photo credit: FilmLore
Writer/Director: Rian Johnson
Logline: Famed Southern detective Benoit Blanc travels to Greece for his latest case.
Knives Out success in 2019 arguably relaunched the Whodunit genre to the mainstream. With recent films like Death on the Nile and See How They Run, will the latest installment in the genre live up to the hype? The script will play a large factor in deciding so.
Photo credit: People
Writers: Kazuo Ishiguro, Akira Kurosawa
Logline: An English-language adaptation of the script of "Ikiru" (1952), set in London in the 1950s. A veteran civil servant receives a medical diagnosis that inspires him to move to the south coast and cram some fun into his remaining days.
Some may feel strange that a masterpiece like Ikiru is getting adapted, but what hasn’t been adapted yet? At the very least, Living appears to be a great adaptation of its source material while being unique enough to stand independently.
Photo credit: The Hollywood Reporter
Writer: David Kajganich
Logline: Maren, a young woman, learns how to survive on the margins of society.
Bones & All has all of the markings to be Tumblr and TikTok’s favorite film of 2022. There’s so much to quote and remember about the film, and most of its likability is because of its script from David Kajganich.
Photo credit: Notify
Writer: Rebecca Lenkiewicz
Logline - New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor break one of the most important stories in a generation - a story that helped ignite a movement and shattered decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood.
Like Spotlight and All The President’s Men, She Said has the potential to be the next great journalism movie. It’s a film that’ll be viewed for years to come, and given its subject matter, you can assume it’ll get a few nominations from the academy.
Photo credit: The New York Times
Writer: Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, Ian Stokell
Logline: A young German soldier's terrifying experiences and distress on the western front during World War I.
Who doesn’t love a good anti-war flick? All Quiet on the Western Front is everything you could hope it’d be and more. It arguably deserves a nomination in every category, but at the very least, its script is worth all of the accolades.
Photo credit: JoBlo
Writer: James Cameron, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver
Logline - Jake Sully lives with his newfound family formed on the planet of Pandora. Once a familiar threat returns to finish what was previously started, Jake must work with Neytiri and the army of the Na'vi race to protect their planet.
The day is finally here for Avatar to be back in the mainstream. Will it dominate the box office as it did in the past? Or will it be a massive failure because it’s not a part of a DC or Marvel universe? We shall see, but if it does well, you can expect some nominations.
Photo credit: CNET
Writer: Guillermo del Toro, Patrick McHale
Logline: A father's wish magically brings a wooden boy to life in Italy, giving him a chance to care for the child.
Though there are currently two Pinocchios out in the world in 2022, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is the highest claimed and most likely to get some nominations. Will it being a non-live-action film hold it back? We’ll see.
Photo credit: IndieWire