2016 Oscar Academy Awards Odds Guide

Posted by Eric Williams on Monday,February 22, 2016 4:31, EDT in

If you’re a new millennial movie enthusiast (who isn’t in today’s times?) that is excited about the quickly approaching 88th annual Academy Awards ceremony and the opportunity to cash in with some winning movie wagers, then you’re in luck! Thanks to this fun-filled, yet informative Academy Awards betting breakdown, you’re going to have a great chance to cash in four times on the odds for best picture, best director, best actor and best actress. With Oscar Sunday set for this coming weekend at 8:30 PM ET, let’s get started.

2016 Oscar Academy Awards Information and Odds

Day: Oscar Sunday
Date: February 28, 2016
Red Carpet Start Time: 7pm Eastern Time|4pm Pacific Time
Ceremony Start Time: 8:30pm Eastern Time|5:30pm Pacific Time
Network: ABC
TV Stream: ABC Live

Best Picture

  • “The Revenant” -163
  • “Spotlight,” +188
  • “The Big Short” +450
  • “The Martian,” +10000
  • “Mad Max: Fury Road” +10000
  • “Bridge of Spies,” +25000
  • “Room” +15000
  • “Brooklyn” +20000

Analysis: Okay move lovers, the most competitive category for this year’s Oscars is definitely the ‘Best Picture’ category. While Spotlight opened as the favorite to snag the Oscar for Best Picture despite losing out on the Golden Globe award for Best Move earlier on this awards season, The Revenant has moved ahead for the Oscars hardware at -163. Personally, I like The Revenant to win this match up fairly easily. The Spotlight is a film centered on a team of journalists investigating allegations against John Geoghan, a priest accused of molesting more than 80 boys.

The Revenant is a more ‘friendly’ viewing experience that centers on a legendary frontiersman out for revenge on a former confidant who betrayed and abandoned him. The Revenant cleaned up at the Golden Globes and should do the same at the Oscars.

Best Director

  • Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (“The Revenant”) -600
  • Tom McCarthy (“Spotlight”) +1600
  • Adam McKay (“The Big Short”) +1000
  • George Miller (“Mad Max: Fury Road”) +550
  • Lenny Abrahamson (“Room”) +10000

Analysis: Oddsmakers are clearly expecting Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu to win this award after moving him from a -300 favorite to a whopping -600 fave. Inarritu has already gobbled up a ton of awards this ceremony season and bagged last year’s best Director award for his work on last year’s Birdman . Right now, I’m thinking this one is a wrap!

Best Actor

  • Leonardo DiCaprio (“The Revenant”) -5000
  • Michael Fassbender (“Steve Jobs”) +2000
  • Eddie Redmayne (“The Danish Girl”) +1600
  • Matt Damon (“The Martian”) +8000
  • Bryan Cranston (“Trumbo”) +6600

Analysis: If you’ve got a wheel-barrel full of extra money lying around – or you simply like sure things – then you might as well lay your cash on Leonardo DiCaprio to win his first Oscar…it’s that simple!

Best Actress

  • Brie Larson (“Room”) -2000
  • Saoirse Ronan (“Brooklyn”) +1000
  • Cate Blanchett (“Carol”) +2800
  • Jennifer Lawrence (“Joy”) +2800
  • Charlotte Rampling (“45 Years”) +5000

Analysis: Brie Larson has gone from a pretty solid favorite at -1600 to an even bigger fave at -2000, so that seems to signal that she is the likely winner, though both, Saoirse Ronan (“Brooklyn”) and Cate Blanchett (“Carol”) could pull off the big upset here if you ask me!

The main thing you need to know about the annual Academy Awards is that generally, the winner of each category is an almost certifiable lock by mid-December. For instance, last year, every moviegoer and critic knew Julianne Moore, J.K. Simmons and Patricia Arquette would win their respective nominations by Christmas.

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The bad news: For the second straight year the Oscars will be an all-white affair that misrepresents Hollywood and the nation and has spurred drastic change. Fantastic actor Idris Elba did not land an expected supporting nomination for Netflix pickup “Beasts of No Nation,” which was shut out. Universal Studios’ mega-hit “Straight Outta Compton” scored only a Screenplay nod (for its white writers), but no Best Picture slot or any nominations for the actors that portrayed the now legendary rap group

Global blockbuster “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which scored five technical nominations including VFX and Score was also shut out of any actors nominations.