Writer-director Christopher Nolan's World War II epic Dunkirk won the top film award for a drama at the  American Cinema Editors' Eddie Awards Friday night, increasing the film's chances for landing an Oscar in the category in March. The 10th feature film by Nolan, Dunkirk has defied expectations since its July release, first by earning more than $525 million worldwide ($188 million of that total domestically), an extraordinary amount consider the period film's subject matter traditionally plays better in the fall/holiday release frame.

Perhaps even more amazing is the film's perseverance through awards season despite its mid-summer release. Making several critics' top 10 list, the film also scored major nominations from the likes of the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards and the Golden Globes; and for Nolan, a career breakthrough at the Academy Award nominations with his first-ever Oscar nod for Best Director. The film, which tells the harrowing true tale of the "Miracle of Dunkirk" from three points of view – from land, sea, and air – earned eight nominations in all, including Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design and Best Editing.

Related: 2018 Oscar Nominations

Following the ACE Eddie Awards in Beverly Hills, California, Friday night, Dunkirk seems to have picked up momentum in its quest for the Best Editing Oscar. According to The Wrap, Dunkirk editor Lee Smith won the Eddie for Best Edited Dramatic Feature of 2017, substantially increasing the film's chances of winning at the Academy Awards. In the Best Edited Comedy Feature category, Tatiana S. Riegel took the Eddie for the Tonya Harding biopic I, Tonya, which is also nominated for a Best Editing Oscar.

The Wrap says since 2000, the winner of Best Edited Dramatic Feature has gone on to win the Best Editing Oscar 12 times, where on the flip side, the Comedy or Musical winner has only captured the Oscar once. In each of the last 18 years, no film has gone to winning the Best Editing Oscar without at being nominated for an Eddie Award first. In addition to Dunkirk and I, Tonya, the films vying for the Best Editing Oscar are Baby Driver; Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; and The Shape of Water.

Given the huge odds in favor of The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, at the Oscars with big wins for the former at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Movie Awards, and the latter at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Nolan and Warner Bros. have to be feeling good of Dunkirk's Best Editing Oscar prospects after the Eddie Awards. A Best Editing Award at the Academy Awards would say a lot about the importance of the editing on the film, which no doubt had the most unique storytelling perspective in all of 2017 with Nolan's inventive triptych narrative.

NEXT: Dunkirk's Fan Edit Turns Nolan's Epic Into B&W Silent Film

Source: The Wrap