92nd Academy Awards Betting Odds: 1917 Best Pic Fave After SAG Award Win

The pinnacle of the film industry for 2019 will be recognized at the 92nd annual Academy Awards on February 9 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The official nominees have been released for each category and after some upsets and shocking results from the 77th Golden Globes, oddsmakers have had to move quickly in updating their Oscars betting options, especially with more results coming in from the SAG Awards ceremony.

Best Picture

“Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood” opened as the betting favorite to win Best Picture at +155 after taking the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Musical Or Comedy but the odds have completely shifted following the SAG Awards. That film is now being offered at +500 because the First World War epic “1917” shot up to -165 to take home the Oscar.

The Sam Mendes-directed flick has gotten major steam since hitting theaters in December but it may face some stiff competition from South Korean film “Parasite,” which is offered at +200 and is being hailed as one of the best foreign movies of all time.

Why these props are so fun to track and bet on is “1917” was a +1400 underdog in that category a week prior to the Golden Globes. It’s worth noting last year’s Best Picture winner “Green Book” was +300, upsetting the -280 fave, “Roma.”

Odds as of January 23 at Bovada

Best Director

Best Director also has some heavy hitters with some of the most influential filmmakers ever. The SAG and Golden Globes effect may be a key indicator with Sam Mendes being the odds-on favorite at -225 to take the Oscar for “1917.” The WW1 epic employs long cuts to make it seem like a continuous shot and has earned unanimous praise for cinematography.

Following Mendes is Boon Joon Ho for “Parasite” at +180 along with Quentin Tarantino at +1000 for “Once Upon A Time … In Hollywood.” Martin Scorsese was nominated for “The Irishman” at +2000 and Todd Phillips rounds out the list at +5000 for his work directing “Joker.”

Mendes won the Best Director category at the Globes and the winner from that awards show has gone on to win the Oscar in five of the last six years. If he wins, it would be his second Best Director win in his career after winning one in 1999 for “American Beauty.”

Odds as of January 23 at Bovada

Best Actor and Actress

In the “Best” acting categories, online sportsbook Bovada has two incredibly huge odds-on favorites to win Best Actor and Best Actress: Joaquin Phoenix for his stunning portrayal of the titular character in “Joker” and Renee Zellweger in the biopic “Judy” based on the life of singer/actress Judy Garland.

Phoenix’s odds are currently hovering around -2200 while Zellweger’s are -2000. Both took home the Golden Globe and SAG acting awards for these roles. It’s hard at this point to call them anything but locks, so bettors should be very careful about trying to find angles when handicapping these props.

Odds as of January 23 at Bovada

Odds as of January 16 at Bovada

Best Supporting Actor and Actress

Much like the Best Actor and Actress categories, the supporting categories have massive favorites to take the Oscar.

For Best Supporting Actor, Brad Pitt opened as -650 chalk to win his first Academy Award for his work in “Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood” and is now up to -2500. He also won the Golden Globe and SAG award for this role. Following Pitt is Joe Pesci for “The Irishman” at +900 along with Al Pacino at +1800 for the Martin Scorsese epic.

In the Best Supporting Actress category, Laura Dern opened at -700 to win the Oscar and is now all the way up to -2000. This is the third nomination in her career as she portrayed the marriage counselor in the critically acclaimed “Marriage Story” that is also nominated for Best Picture. Following Dern is Margot Robbie for portraying Fox News anchor Kayla Pospisil in “Bombshell” at +800 and the third option is Florence Pugh at +1000 for her role in “Little Women.”

Odds as of January 23 at Bovada

Odds as of January 23 at Bovada

Best Of The Rest

Odds as of January 23 at Bovada

Odds as of January 23 at Bovada

Odds as of January 23 at Bovada

Odds as of January 23 at Bovada

Odds as of January 23 at Bovada

Odds as of January 23 at Bovada

Odds as of January 23 at Bovada

Odds as of January 23 at Bovada

Odds as of January 23 at Bovada

Odds as of January 23 at Bovada

Odds as of January 23 at Bovada

Odds as of January 23 at Bovada

Odds as of January 23 at Bovada

Odds as of January 23 at Bovada

Odds as of January 23 at Bovada

Odds as of January 23 at Bovada

Odds as of January 23 at Bovada

I’ll give out my betting picks for each category as we get closer to the ceremony but bettors should expect odds to move again following the BAFTA Awards on February 2. I would also recommend seeing as many as these movies as possible before February 9 to assist in your handicapping.

Bonne Chance!