With the 2011 Academy Awards only a day away, The King's Speech is expected to to be the big winner, favored by oddsmakers at online betting house Bodog.com as a prohibitive 2/9 odds favorite in an unusually crowded field of 10-movies to win best picture. Kings Speech leads all movies nominated for 12 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Director.
Upsets do happen so there are no guarantees it wins. The Social Network is expected to challenge Kings Speech as top film. Social Network was a big winner in this years Golden Globes winning Best Picture in the drama category.
Best Picture nominees with the best odds of winning other than Kings Speech and Social Network are True Grit (35/1); Black Swan (40/1);The Fighter (40/1) Inception (50/1); 127 Hours (100/1); Winters Bone (150/1); Toy Story 3 (150/1); and The Kids Are All Right (200/1).
David Fincher, who won a Golden Globe for best director in a drama this year, is the odds favorite (17/10) to win Best Director for The Social Network. Tom Hooper is listed on the Bodog Oscars board with second best odds to win Best Director at 7/5. Also nominated are Darren Aronofsky (16/1) for Black Swan; Joel and Ethan Coen (40/1) for True Grit; and David O. Russell (66/1) for the Fighter.
Colin Firth who narrowly missed out on winning Best Actor in 2010 for A Single Man will be the probable winner in 2011 for Kings Speech listed at 1/33 odds. If Firth does not win it will be possibly the biggest upsets in Oscars history. Other Best Actor nominees and their odds are James Franco – 127 Hours (18/1); Jeff Bridges – True Grit (25/1); Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network (25/1); and Javier Bardem – Biutiful (40/1).
Natalie Portman, Best Actress Golden Globe drama winner is favored to take the Oscar at 1/12 odds, but will be challenged by Annette Bening (13/2) who won best actress in a musical or comedy at this years Golden Globes. Other Best Actress nominees and odds are Jennifer Lawrence – Winter's Bone (28/1); Michelle Williams – Blue Valentine (66/1); and Nicole Kidman – Rabbit Hole (66/1).
Check out the full Academy Awards betting board at Bodog.com.
