A look at the online casino betting odds for the 2021 Oscars
Officially known as the Academy Awards, the Oscar ceremonies are held annually. The celebrations are focussed on honouring the finest achievements of the film industry during the previous 12 months. The nominees and winners are chosen by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts from a wide range of categories, but of course the stars of the show are the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Actor awards. The Academy Awards have been held since 1929, and they are a firm tradition in the movie industry.
The excitement of the Academy is shared by the punters, too. The odd for Oscar winners are available for all categories, but especially for the biggest awards. Why not participate in the glamour and fun of the night by placing bets on the winners? In these crazy times, it would be a great occasion to dress up and have a bit of fun!
Today, we thought we would share an article with you on this year’s nominees and favourites, to make it easier for you to enjoy yourself. Read on for the latest information about 93rd Academy Awards!
When is the best time to bet on the Oscars?
The winners of the Academy Awards are decided on well in advance of the event. So it’s always a good idea to wait late, and place bets just before the event – but use this time to do your research and watch out for useful titbits of information. This way, you can bet with the highest degree of certainty. And of course, while you are waiting, why not watching the movies and take a spin at your favourite online casino in New Zealand?
What are the Best Picture runner ups?
The official list of Oscar nominees has not been announced yet, but there are a few very strong runner ups. Why not catch up on your viewing, and decide for yourself?? The movies of 2020, vying for the Best Picture Academy Awards include the deep story of a woman travelling across the American West in Nomadland and a thrilling feature One Night in Miami, about power and winning in a fight. Other hot nominees are Minari, a story of a Korean-American family in pursuit of their American Dream, and The Father, starring Anthony Hopkins and based on an award-winning play – a moving story about dementia and family dynamics. To add a lighter touch, The Prom is a musical comedy, and for the lovers of historically-based drama, there are the absorbing story of seven people on trial, surrounding the uprising during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago in The Trial of the Chicago 7, and a film about Fred Hampton and the Black Panther Party in the 1960s, beautifully presented in Judas and the Black Messiah. Finally, an excellent choice is News of the World, a story of journeys and tribulations as a Civil War veteran and a storyteller journeys across America to deliver a girl home.
When choosing your online casino bets for the Best Picture, it’s useful to keep in mind the following tip – films with a strong main character, exploring human themes, and those that highlight mainstream social issues are usually the winners. So, this year the bets most likely will be strong for The Father and Nomadland, the odds are looking good!
What are the contenders for the Best Director?
It’s rare that a film wins the Best Picture award and doesn’t at least receive a nomination for the Best Director too. One two films in the history of the Oscars have managed this – Green Book (2019) and Argo (2013). So, it’s a good bet to choose a film and bet on the Best Director as well, we’d say it’s a sure-fire way to pick up good odds at an online casino In New Zealand.
The best runner ups for this year’s Awards are Chloe Zhao for Nomadland, David Fincher for Mank, Regina King for her outstanding production of One Night in Miami, Lee Isaac Chung for Minari and Aaron Sorkin for The Trial of the Chicago 7.
As you can see, most of these movies are also in the runner up list for the Best Picture!
To make sure that you are betting on a winner, make sure to keep an eye out on the Critic’s Choice Awards! These are a fantastic predictor of who will win the Best Oscars, and especially the Best Supporting Oscars.
And how about the Best Actress of 2020?
The title of the Best Actress is often awarded to actresses that portray a character with mental health issues, if one is to go by the 60% or more of the Oscars that have been awarded in this category since the commencement of the awards. In 2020, the actresses currently favourite for taking this title are Frances McDormand in the epic journey Nomadland, the famous Sophia Loren for her role in The Life Ahead, Viola Davis for her role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Vanessa Kirby in Pieces of a Woman, and Meryl Streep in The Prom. Many of these actresses have taken multiple awards through their career, and the choice is tough!
The second round of contenders are the fabulous Michelle Pfeiffer for French Exit, Carey Mulligan for her outstanding performance in Promising Young Woman, Kate Winslet in Ammonite, Elisabeth Moss in Shirley and last, but not least, Andra Day in the United States vs. Billie Holiday.
The current bookie favourite is Viola Davis, for her role in an upcoming American drama Ma Rainey’s Bottom. It’s a story of a fearless African American female musician taking on her white manager and the producer, over the control of her music. This film is highly rated, even though its only due to release in December for the school holidays, because this year’s demonstrations over Black Lives Matter have brought the issues of power and racism in the USA to the forefront of media, and into people’s hearts. Oscar awards often reflect mainstream social issues, especially controversial ones like #metoo, and the Black Lives Matter has been one of the most prominent movements of 2020.
Who will take home Best Actor Award this year?
The bookie tip for choosing the Best Actor is to remember that the Best Actor Oscar has been won in the last decade six out of 10 times by actors portraying a real person. The statistics show that out of the last 17 winners, 12 have portrayed a real person. However, this only applies to the male actors.
To pick a good one, keep an eye out for the winners of the Critics’ Choice and the Golden Globes awards, and maybe BAFTAS too! There has been only one Best Actor and three Best Actresses who have won an Oscar but didn’t take home at least one of the other awards.
This year, the best runner ups are Anthony Hopkins, for his masterful portrayal of an elderly man with dementia in The Father, a story that touches many hearts with its realism. And, of course, Hopkins is a stellar actor, well-loved for his many roles, and a winner of many Oscars. Another runner up is Chadwick Boseman, for his role in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, as an ambitious trumpeter, trying to carve his way through the musical industry. Sadly, the actor passed away in August this year, but it wouldn’t be the first time that an Oscar has been issued posthumously – in 1958, Sam Zimbalist, a well-known Hollywood producer, took an Oscar for his work on Ben-Hur.
Other runner ups this year, and ones to keep an eye on, are Delroy Lindo for his role in Da 5 Bloods, Steven Yeun in Minari, and Kingsley Ben-Adir in One Night in Miami. All of these performances are fantastic and rich, with great potential for winning a juicy bet for the Best Actor Academy Award.
What to choose??
With this many stars and fabulous storylines, it’s very hard to know which to choose. As we wrote above, a really big mover of the Oscar betting odds are the three other major awards, which are announced a month or two before the Academy Awards. In 2021, Oscars will be held on the 25th April, Golden Globes award ceremony on the 28th February, Critics Choice Awards on the 8th March, and the Screen Actors Guild Awards on the 14th March. This time spread gives everyone more time to plan their bets ahead!
How do winner’s odds behave?
As soon as the Oscar nominations open, the betting markets open as well. This gives the punters a month to look at the contenders, research as much as they need to, and analyse any trends that would help them form their bets. It’s a race around the world, as the other bettors on the market are gathering the same information, before the bets adjust.
This makes Oscars betting a very interesting game, with plenty of potential profit to the punters! But the bettor needs to make a move at just the right time, so it’s well worth it to get ready ahead of nominations. But how to use this information to your best advantage?
It’s important to know that short favourites will usually get shorter as the date of the Academy Awards ceremony gets closer. By the end of the last week, there is almost no movement at all. And sometimes the winner is obvious right from the start.
For example, in 2019, Rami Malek and Christian Bale started at almost the same odds for the Best Actor award, at 2.350 and 2.390 respectively. However, as the betting research gathered steam, the odds changed dramatically. The star of the Bohemian Rhapsody Malek closed at 1.115, but Bale for his role in Vice drifted down to 5.530. This shows that the bettors didn’t take long to figure out that Malek would win – and he did take home the Best Actor Award that year.
Aside of the other major award ceremonies, it’s key to listen in to the “talking heads”. A Hollywood community is very tightly knit, and information about movies trickles out into the wider media. It’s only natural that people want to have their opinions to be heard and express their opinions in the media and social media, to earn expert status. There are many channels for this information – official critics articles and media shows, social media, and even Twitter.
For example, this happened with the movie Birdman (2015), which had catapulted from the long list to the favourites in barely a month. At 2015 Academy Award ceremony, it took Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director and Best Cinematography, with four other nominations. Even though this film didn’t take any awards at the Golden Globes and Critics’ Choice Awards, there was a lot of hype around it, and the people were favouriting it over the assumed winner Boyhood. Soon, the betting market heard what the critics were saying, and the bets changed. Birdman flew to the Oscars glory that year.
We hope you have enjoyed reading this short guide, and even though there is a lot more we could write about the current favourite movies, perhaps it would be much more fun to cook yourself a bowl of popcorn and watch them on a Sunday afternoon! And, while you are relaxing, don’t forget that there is another way to kick back and practice your odd-placing skills at the New Zealand’s favourite online casino!