The 89th edition of the Academy Awards will be televised on Sunday and movie buffs the world over are getting their picks in for the various awards. Sarah Huggins, in an article at the homepage for The Oscars, explains how showbiz fans can watch the program on live streaming.
According to Huggins if you "Can't be near a TV on Oscar day? Never fear, ABC has you covered!...live stream the Oscars at ABC.com or the ABC app." The fine print is that the stream is only "available with a participating TV provider" and in "select markets." My guess is that most people will simply have to tune into the running of the program on television.
Best Picture goes to
The film that is expected to take Best Picture is "La La Land," a musical. Back in December I wrote an article about the flick and what was then its emerging status as favorite. As of December 6th, Bet365 "(made) the film an even-odds favorite to win Best Picture against the field with 'Manchester by the Sea' the 2nd favorite at 4 to 1."
Since December the odds on "La La Land" winning the coveted Best Picture award have shortened drastically. Bet365 now make the flick -700 (1/7) to win the award while "Manchester by the Sea" has drifted out to +500 (5/1). For those that don't understand betting odds, basically -700 implies an 87.5% chance of "La La Land" winning Best Picture.
Best Actor, Best Actress favorites at Oscars
On the eve of the 89th Oscars, the favorite to win the Best Actor award is Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea). Affleck leads the field at -138 by betting odds (about 73% chance) with Denzel Washington a close 2nd favorite at +110 (11/10) for his role in "Fences."
Emma Stone is the current favorite for the Best Actress award.
Bet365 have her priced firmly at -700 (1/7) to win, the same odds that the firm have on the movie she starred in, "La La Land," winning Best Picture. The secondary favorites for this award are all longshots. Natalie Portman is priced at +700 (7/1) for her role in "Jackie," while Isabelle Huppert, Ruth Negga, and Meryl Streep come in much longer than that for their roles in "Elle," "Loving," and "Florence Foster Jenkins" respectively.
Heaviest favorite, biggest underdog
In looking over the favorites for all categories, the stone-cold rock-solid pick to win an Oscar would be Viola Davis. She's priced at -5000 (1/50) to win Best Supporting Actress for her role in "Fences." Odds that short imply a 50-in-51 chance of winning, or math odds of 98.04%.
The biggest underdog designation is one that is shared across multiple categories. "Hacksaw Ridge," "Arrival," "Fences," and "Hell or High Water" are all +10000 (100/1) to win Best Picture. The same odds are available for Viggo Mortensen to win Best Actor for "Captain Fantastic." Lastly, in the Best Foreign Language Film category "Tanna" is also 100 to 1 to win. Betting odds that long imply less than a 1% chance of hitting.
