I'm almost certainly going to regret saying this, but want to call my shot before reactions start coming in just in case...
The Best Picture race is wide open this year. To the point where critics have seen literally every candidate by now and nothing has emerged as a front-runner yet. Lady Bird and Call Me By Your Name are the two closest probably, with Phantom Thread, The Post, and Dunkirk kind of lingering as well, along with a couple others. But there's not a strong push for any of those titles, and this is the first year in a long time where a single movie or two doesn't have a clear edge at this point.
Point is, if - and that's a big IF - The Last Jedi somehow ends up being a transcendent Star Wars movie, the kind where, say, Mark Hamill has an incendiary performance, and the material elevates the film to something more than just a blockbuster, there's a small chance The Last Jedi could swoop in and take Best Picture. In other words, if ever there was a year something like this could do it, this is it.
Again, people are more than likely going to end up laughing at this idea come next week, but it's a thread to be mindful of come Saturday when reactions start dropping. Should they be genuinely, truly through the roof - and stay that way for 24 hours or so, after everyone has cooled down - a Star Wars movie might actually have a shot at taking the cake come March.