The biggest night in film is just hours away, with Hollywood’s finest set to descend upon Dolby Theatre on Sunday night for the 96th edition of the Academy Awards.
Jimmy Fallon is set to return as Oscars host for the fourth time and will be on hand to celebrate or console with the nominees during the glittering ceremony.
A total of 10 films are battling it out for Best Picture while lesser known stars such as Lily Gladstone and Colman Domingo are up against seasoned actors like Robert De Niro and Jodie Foster in the acting categories.
The most hotly anticipated movies of the past year – Oppenheimer and Barbie – lead the nominations, with Christopher Nolan’s wartime epic leading the way with 13 nominations, while Greta Gerwig’s box office smash follows on with eight nods.
But who looks set to walk away with awards this year and who will be left disappointed? MailOnline takes a look at the runners and riders tipped for Oscars success.
The biggest night in film is just hours away, with Hollywood’s finest set to descend upon Dolby Theatre on Sunday night for the 96th edition of the Academy Awards, with Jimmy Fallon set to return as Oscars host for the fourth time
The most hotly anticipated movies of the past year – Oppenheimer and Barbie – lead the nominations, with Christopher Nolan ‘s wartime epic leading the way with 13 nominations, while Greta Gerwig ‘s box office smash follows on with eight nods
But who looks set to walk away with awards this year and who will be left disappointed?
Best Picture
American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, The Holdovers, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, Oppenheimer, Past Lives, Poor Things and The Zone of Interest are up for the top honour on the night, Best Picture.
According to Oddschecker there is a clear frontrunner, however, with odds of 1/100, Oppenheimer boasts an impressive 99 percent implied probability of winning.
This overwhelming confidence from betting markets and industry insiders is mirrored by the public’s opinion, as evidenced by the percentage of bets placed on each film.
Nolan’s latest epic tells the story of the theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, also known as ‘father of the atomic bomb’, with Cillian Murphy nabbing the titular role, in which he delivers a chilling performance.
The film received a perfect five stars from Daily Mail’s Brian Viner, who wrote that Nolan ‘magnificently’ balances thriller elements with ‘profound questions about the morality of laying Hiroshima and Nagasaki to nuclear waste.’
Best Actor
For best actor in leading role, Oppenheimer’s Cillian Murphy and The Holdovers’ Paul Giamatti are set to duke it out for the award along with Rustin’s Colman Domingo, and American Fiction’s Jeffrey Wright.
With Oppenheimer predicted to sweep the board in most categories, the same can be said here, with Murphy’s odds of winning an impressive 1/10, translating to a 91 percent implied probability.
The Irish actor captured a remarkable 61.7 percent of the bets placed, with his nearest rival, Giamatti securing 33 percent.
Wright, Cooper and Domingo have all garnered less than 3 percent of the bets each.
Despite being frontrunner, Murphy recently revealed he ‘hasn’t really thought about winning’, telling The Mirror: ‘I haven’t really thought about it to be honest. I just want to go in and have a good time.
‘I’m sure we’ll have a party of some sort. It’s really not competitive. It might appear that way but it’s really not’.
He added: ‘None of us expected that the film would do so well. The thing that always strikes me is when people come and say they’ve seen the film five or six times, that’s kind of phenomenal and young and old and boys and girls, it’s amazing.’
Lily Gladstone is the first Native American nominated for best actress, for her performance in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon
Da’Vine Joy Randolph was nominated for best actress in a supporting role for her part in The Holdovers
Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo were both nominated for their roles in Poor Things
Best Actress
The Best Actress race has become a captivating battle between newcomer Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon) and Hollywood heavyweight Emma Stone (Poor Things), who are up against Anatomy of a Fall’s Sandra Hüller, Maestro’s Carey Mulligan and Nyad’s Anette Bening.
According to Oddschecker’s most recent data, Gladstone is the clear frontrunner with the lowest odds of 8/15, translating to a substantial 65.2 percent implied probability of winning.
Stone, meanwhile, trails with 7/4 odds (36.36 percent implied probability), despite winning Best Actress at the BAFTAs last month.
Huller comes up third with 2/1 odds, while Mulligan and Bening are distant long shots at 66/1 odds.
Gladstone has achieved a meteoric rise to fame as many viewers likely were not familiar with her e prior to her appearance in the critically praised historical epic and her accomplishments as the first Native American woman to be nominated for the Best Actress Oscar.
The 37-year-old screen star only got her first screen credit in 2012, and she appeared in a string of underseen but well-reviewed films for years before coming to the attention of Martin Scorsese and being paired on screen with superstar Leonardo DiCaprio.
Best Director
Responsible for bringing the Oscar-nominated films to life are a bumper crop of directors, with Anatomy of a Fall’s Justine Triet, Killers of the Flower Moon’s Martin Scorsese, Oppenheimer’s Christopher Nolan, Poor Things’ Yorgos Lanthimos and The Zone of Interest’s Jonathan Glazer battling it out.
There is a clear frontrunner, however, with Betway’s Chad Yeomans revealing: ‘Christopher Nolan appears to be an absolute shoo-in to win his first Oscar for Best Director at 1/33, which means he has a 97 percent chance of victory.
‘Anyone but Nolan scooping the Best Director award would be a seismic shock, but Scorsese is also in the running at 16/1 for Killers Of The Flower Moon, alongside Yorgos Lanthimos (16/1) for Poor Things.’
Despite phenomenal box office and critical success, Nolan has never picked up an Oscar.
He has however, been nominated five times prior to this year’s ceremony for Memento, Dunkirk and Inception.
Best Supporting Actor
In the running for best actor in a supporting role is Sterling K. Brown, Robert De Niro, Robert Downey Jr., Ryan Gosling and Mark Ruffalo.
Downey Jr. is heavily favorite at 1/40 odds to win his first-ever Oscar for Best Supporting Actor thanks to his performance as Rear Admiral Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer.
According to Paddy Powers most recent data, Ryan trails with 12/1 odds for his portrayal of Barbie, while Mark comes up third with 16/1 odd.
Best Supporting Actress
Emily Blunt, Danielle Brooks, America Ferrera, Jodie Foster and Da’Vine Joy Randolph all received nominations for best actress in a supporting role.
Randolph is the clear frontrunner for her role in The Holdover, with 1/33 odds.
She has won every major award so far – the prestigious Bafta, the less prestigious Golden Globe, the SAG Award.
Meanwhile, Brooks is in second place for her part in The Color Purple with 16/1 odds, while Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer) has 16/1 odds.
How to watch the 2024 Oscars
In the US, ABC starts its coverage with The Oscars Red Carpet Show at 15:30 PT/, before the ceremony begins at 16:00 PT.
Meanwhile, UK viewers can join Jonathan Ross live on ITV1 and ITVX for The Oscars as he hosts the ultimate Oscars party with a special show bringing all of Hollywood’s action to UK viewers.
He’ll be joined by a panel of movie-loving stars and special guests, including actor Richard Armitage comedian Ben Bailey Smith, actress Fay Ripley and TV and radio presenter Yinka Bokinni.
