88th Annual Academy Awards: Best Picture Odds and Oscar Betting Preview

We’re only a few weeks away from the 88th Annual Academy Awards and excitement is definitely building for Hollywood’s biggest night. Eight films will battle it out for the night’s top prize namely: The Big Short, Bridge of Spies, Brooklyn, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, The Revenant, Room and Spotlight.

Read on below as we break down the favorites, sleepers and long shot for this year’s Best Picture award. While you’re at it, you can check out our predictions for the Best Actor and Best Actress categories.
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The Oscars: Best Picture Odds and Preview

Favorites: Spotlight and The Revenant

[sc:CELEB250 ]Spotlight may have left this year’s Golden Globes empty-handed but that didn’t stop bookmakers from making them the favorite to win the Oscar for Best Picture this year. The film, which tackled the The Boston Globe’s Catholic Church sex abuse investigation, garnered six nominations including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Film Editing. Tom McCarthy was nominated for Best Director while Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams were named finalists in the supporting actor/actress categories. Spotlight is pegged at -120 to win the prestigious Best Picture award.

If there’s one movie, though, that can stop Spotlight from making history on February 28, it’s got to be The Revenant (+120). The wilderness drama led Thursday’s nominations with 12 including best picture, director (Alejandro González Iñárritu) and actor (Leonardo DiCaprio). This comes on the heels of their successful showing in the Golden Globes last Sunday where they captured the Best Picture award in the drama category. All the momentum is with Iñárritu who’s looking to win the Oscar for Best Picture for the second straight year. He also directed Birdman, the critically-acclaimed film that won the Best Picture Oscar last year.

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Sleepers: The Big Short and The Martian

One film that can definitely surprise in this year’s Best Picture race is The Big Short. Adam McKay’s star-studded finance drama picked up five nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Christian Bale), Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing. Even though it came up empty-handed in last Sunday’s Golden Globes, some Oscar prognosticators like Sasha Stone of Awardsdaily.com still rate The Big Short as the frontrunner in this year’s Best Picture race.

Stone pointed out that the film enjoys vast support across all branches of the Academy. The Big Short is one of only two films in this year’s race to be nominated for the top awards by all four of the major Hollywood guilds: the Directors Guild, Producers Guild, Writers Guild and Screen Actors Guild. Look for this Brad Pitt-produced film to send some shockwaves in next month’s Academy Awards. The Big Short’s odds of winning Best Picture are currently priced at +700.

Another film that got a whole lot of Oscar nominations is The Martian. The film, starring Matt Damon as stranded astronaut Mark Watney, received seven nominations, including Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor for Damon, and Best Picture. In one of  the surprises of the morning, though, director Ridley Scott wasn’t nominated for top honors in his category. That’s a huge blow for a film that won Best Comedy at the recently-held Golden Globe Awards.

All hope is not lost, though, for The Martian. Argo won the Oscar for Best Picture back in 2013 even though Ben Affleck wasn’t nominated in the Best Director category. Argo was the first Best Picture winner not to be nominated for Best Director since 1989’s Driving Miss Daisy. The Martian is pegged at +1,000 to duplicate that feat.

Long Shot: Room

Room may be a long shot (+3,000) in this year’s Best Picture race but you can never discount this film from grabbing a stunning win in next month’s Oscars. Room has solid support within the Academy as evidenced by the four Oscar nominations it received on Thursday morning. Lenny Abrahamson shocked many Oscar pundits by grabbing a surprise nomination in the Best Director category for his work in Room. He was the only nominee in that category who did not receive a crucial Director’s Guild of America nomination. That bodes well for Room’s chances in one of the most wide-open Oscar races in living memory.

Writer’s Prediction

The Big Short (+700) wins to give Plan B Entertainment its second Best Picture Oscar in the last three years.
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