Betting On The Academy Awards Winners

The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony will be presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on April 25th and will honor the best films released between January 1st, 2020, and February 28th, 2021. ABC will carry the broadcast, which airs beginning at 8 p.m. EDT.

Just as March Madness has its brackets, film fans love to fill out their Oscar pools. They can be simple projects taking into account the top categories like best picture, best actor and best director. Others go obsessively in depth, taking into account the best cinematography and best foreign film.

However, did you also know that you could wager on the outcomes of the Academy Awards? Several top online betting sites like Bet365, for example, offer odds on all the major categories that will be announced on Oscar night.

Let’s pick a favorite and a sleeper to win each of the major categories.

Best Picture

Favorite: Nomadland (-275) – Does Frances McDormand ever make a bad movie? Her performance here as a woman who loses everything during the Great Recession and then spends her life traveling through the American West while living in a van will turn a lot of heads.

Sleeper: The Trial Of The Chicago 7 (+400) – There’s a lot of buzz in the industry about this based on a true story of the court case involving the seven men arrested during the protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Considering the volatile political landscape in America today, it resonated with a lot of people. Aaron Sorkin, known for his critically-acclaimed TV shows, directed the film. Sacha Baron Cohen gave a compelling performance as Abbie Hoffman.

Best Actor

Favorite: Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (-2000) – It’s difficult to see a way anyone other than Boseman gets this award. The star of the Jackie Robinson Story and Black Panther, this was his farewell performance before losing his life to cancer.

Sleeper: Anthony Hopkins, The Father (+800) –  At 83, he’s the oldest best actor nominee in Academy Awards history. His fifth nomination, Hopkins won in 1991 for Silence Of The Lambs.

Best Actress

Favorite: Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman (-150) – Previously nominated in 2009, Mulligan plays a woman who, having suffered through a traumatic episode in her past, seeks out vengeance against those who wrong her. She’s backed by an excellent supporting cast of prominent character actors.

Sleeper: Frances McDormand, Nomadland (+275) – A two-time winner for Fargo (1996) and Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri (2018), could McDormand net the hat trick? It’s always a risk betting against her talent.

Best Director

Favorite: Chloe Zhao, Nomadland (-1000) – Not far removed from factual complaints that female directors weren’t being given their due by the Academy, Zhao is poised to join Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, 2006) as the only female directors to win the Best Director Oscar. Zhao won at the Golden Globes for Best Director.

Sleeper: Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman (+2000) – Just 35, Fennell is the first British woman to be nominated for the Best Director Oscar. It’s also the first time that two women have been up for the award in the same year.

Best Supporting Actor

Favorite: Daniel Kaluuya, Judas And The Black Messiah (-450) – The clear favorite here, the only concern with Kaluuya as the choice is that his co-star Lakeith Stanfield is also nominated in the category and they could split the votes.

Sleeper: Sacha Baron Cohen, The Trial Of The Chicago 7 (+300) – The star of Borat and Ali G clearly displayed his acting chops in this film. Will the Academy be able to ignore its traditional bias against comedic actors?

Best Supporting Actress

Favorite: Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Movie Film (+100) – In what is clearly a wide-open race, Bakalova is a breakout star and the first Bulgarian to be nominated. Just one question – if she wins, will she thank Rudy Giuliani?

Sleeper: Olivia Colman, The Father (+900) – With her subtle brilliance, Colman has a way of stealing scenes no matter what role she plays. She’s one-for-one at winning Oscars, taking the Best Actress award in 2018 for The Favourite. By comparison, fellow Best Supporting Actress nominee Glenn Close is 0-for-7.