Oscars Betting Trends: Jojo Rabbit Bounces Up The Ranks
Oscars night is less than a week away.
The voting process for the Academy Awards closed on Feb. 4, which means it’s a matter of tallying the preferential ballots and determining the Best Picture winner.
It also means time is running out for NJ bettors to place their Oscars bets.
This past weekend, though, the final leg of awards season has shaken up a few of the key races. While 1917 basked in its homecoming at the British Academy of Film and Television Awards (BAFTA), an unexpected film picked up some key awards that give it signs of life after being written off as mostly dead.
Trending up: 1917 and Jojo Rabbit
Let’s get the 1917 talk out of the way. The BAFTA win for Best Picture and Best Director are the latest major awards for the film.
Parasite, meanwhile, did manage to win Original Screenplay, the same category it won at the Writers Guild of America (WGA) awards.
The screenplay of 1917 was never in the running for these awards, but the fact that it did pick up a screenplay nod at these awards is a crucial notch in its belt.
However, it is extremely unlikely to win Best Picture without at least a nod in one of the two screenplay categories.
While Parasite swept the two original screenplay awards this weekend, a surprising winner nabbed both of the adapted categories, too.
That film was Jojo Rabbit, which, this time last week, it looked like it may not win anything on Oscars night. Now, it looks poised to potentially win both the Best Costume Design Oscar and the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar.
Moreover, this surge in support for the absurdist World War I film might translate into better chances in the Best Picture category than expected.
What the sudden support for Jojo Rabbit means is that this film is perhaps more beloved than initially believed. The film, which drew mixed criticism about how it handles the serious subject matter of Nazis with an irreverent tone that includes a boy with an imaginary friend that is Hitler.
It seemed like the critics would put Jojo Rabbit near the bottom of its preferential ballot, while it languished in the middle of the pack elsewhere.
Now it is clear that people are backing the film. So, this means its chance for Best Picture, while still slim, is slightly stronger than we thought last week.
Trending down: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood could only win one award
Quentin Tarantino is not a member of the WGA, so he was not eligible for his Once Upon a Time in Hollywood screenplay.
He was in the field at the BAFTAs and lost, though. This doesn’t bode well for what seemed like Tarantino’s third-screenplay Oscar.
The mounting support around Parasite could result in it taking the Best Original Screenplay Oscar instead. Like Best Director, Best Original Screenplay is a way to honor a favorite film with a key award besides Best Picture.
Since directors seem firmly behind Sam Mendes, Parasite’s gain could be Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’s loss. In fact, Brad Pitt may be the only winner of the film on Sunday night.
The other writer who had a rough weekend is Greta Gerwig, who seemed poised to win her first Oscar for her unique adaptation of Little Women.
The support for Jojo Rabbit throws her chances into disarray, though. Like Gerwig, Jojo Rabbit helmer Taika Waititi is a beloved new voice in filmmaking.
Two years ago, Gerwig lost a similar race in the original screenplay category to Jordan Peele for Get Out. Given that most screenwriters are male, could she be doomed to repeat history?
Betting on Best Picture at DraftKings
New New Jersey sports betting customers at DraftKings Sportsbook can earn an additional $100 with their $10 bet on the movie that wins the Best Picture category.
Click here to take part in the Oscars Best Picture special at DraftKings.
To qualify for the promotion, the Best Picture wager must be the very first bet a player makes on DraftKings. For instance, you can’t create a new DraftKings’ account, place a bet on another sport and then make a Best Picture bet. Your Best Picture bet must be the first bet on the mobile app.
A few more details:
- Your bet must be placed before 7:59 p.m. ET on Feb. 9
- The wager must be $10
- You must sign up and create your account with this link to play
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