Cinema Audio Society Awards: Oscar frontrunner ‘Dune’ wins with sound mixers

The Cinema Audio Society Awards gave a boost to the Oscar hopes of “Dune” on Saturday. The film took top honors at these precursor prizes that honor sound mixing over three of its Oscar rivals for Best Sound — “No Time to Die,” “The Power of the Dog” and “West Side Story”– as well as “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” The latter bumped the fifth Oscar nominee, “Belfast.”

The upcoming Oscars mark the second year of the Best Sound category, which combines Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing. The CAS honors the latter while the Motion Picture Sound Editors salute achievements in the former. On March 13, the MPSE awarded its top prize to “Dune.” Last year, “Sound of Metal” won with the CAS but lost the MPSE to “Greyhound” before taking home the Oscar.

Historically, about half of the CAS champs went on to claim victory at the Academy Awards. In 2020, “Ford v Ferrari” claimed top honors over two of its Oscar rivals for Best Sound Mixing — “Joker” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”  — as well as “Rocketman” and “The Irishman.”  The sound branch of the academy snubbed those latter two films in favor of “1917” and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” “Ford v Ferrari” won at the Oscars as well.

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