An Early Look at 2021 Academy Awards Betting Odds

Location: Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles

Time: Sunday, April 25, 8:00 p.m. ET

Host: None

Television: ABC

Live Stream: ABC Live

2021 Academy Awards Betting Odds

Best Picture

• Nomadland -550
• The Trial of the Chicago 7 +750
• Minari +1400
• Promising Young Woman +1100
• Mank +1800

Nomadland is the heavy favorite here. Based on the 2017 non-fiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder, Nomadland tells the story of Fern (Frances McDormand),  who loses both her husband and her job. She decides to sell most of her belongings and purchase a van to live in and travel the country.

It’s directed by Chloe Zhao, who previously directed Songs My Brothers Taught Me and The Rider. She also directed Eternals for Marvel Studios. Nomadland already won several awards, including Best Picture (Drama) at the Golden Globe Awards and Best Picture at the People’s Choice Awards.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 comes next. Originally, the movie was going to be directed by Steven Spielberg — which would have had better odds — but Aaron Sorkin took over due to some budget concerns.

Last year, Best Picture went to Parasite, the first foreign film to win the big one.

Best Animated Feature Film

• Soul -650
• Wolfwalkers +375
• Onward +1200
• Over the Moon +2500
• A Shaun and Sheep Movie: Farmageddon +2500

No surprises here. Disney’s Soul leads the way as the heavy favorite, while the gorgeous-looking Wolfwalkers comes next.

Soul presents the journey of Joe Gardner, who refuses to die without doing anything meaningful, and at the end, he receives another chance to really enjoy life. The voice cast includes Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey and Graham Norton, among others.

Disney’s number one horse — Onward also represents Disney here — already won Best Animated Film at the Golden Globe Awards, Critic’s Choice Super Awards, and the Alliance of Women Film Journalists Awards.

As we already mentioned, Wolfwalkers is gorgeous, but is the third and final installment of an “Irish Folklore Trilogy” by Tomm Moore, and that could not be ideal for an animated movie competing against Mickey Mouse.

Last year, Toy Story 4 won the award. A Disney picture has won the award in seven of the last eight ceremonies. The last animated picture not related to Disney to win the award was Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2019); eight years after Rango claimed the statue.

Best Documentary Feature

• Time -125
• Collective +300
• Crip Camp +1000
• My Octopus Teacher +150
• The Mole Agent +2000

Time is directed by Garrett Bradley, who got a nomination back in 2017 for “Alone” (Short Film) and worked as second unit director in four episodes of When They See U, a Netflix series with a lot of success.

The documentary follows Sibil Fox Richardson, who’s trying to get his husband out of a 60-year jail sentence after he was linked to a bank robbery. The film combines original footage with some home videos.

Time debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and won the U.S. Documentary Directing Award. Time has also won Best Non-Fiction Film at the National Society of Film Critics’ Awards, and Best Documentary film at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards.

Collective, My Octopus Teacher and The Mole Agent are internationally co-produced films. Watch out for My Octopus Teacher which is climbing up the odds board and represents a real dark horse in this category.

Last year, American Factory (first film produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company) won Best Documentary Feature.

Best Visual Effects

• Tenet -450
• The Midnight Sky +250
• Mulan +1400
• Love and Monsters +2500
• The One and Only Ivan +3300

Tenet’s director Christopher Nolan is very well known for pushing the boundaries of the visual effects to the max (Dark Knight trilogy, Dunkirk, Inception) and Tenet is not an exception. Among many curious facts, we have that scenes of time manipulation were filmed both backwards and forwards, while over one hundred vessels and thousands of extras were used.

Tenet already won Best Visual Effects at the Critics’ Choice Awards and Satellite Awards.

Believe it or not, not every Disney movie comes in as the favorite. Mulan has very good visual effects, but not great, same with The Midnight Sky (Netflix).

Last year, the Best Visual Effects Award went to 1917, who beat Avengers: End Game and The Lion King, precisely our point with The Midnight Sky and Mulan.

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Nomadland -450
• Borat Subsequent Moviefilm +500
• The Father +600
• One Night in Miami +1200
• The White Tiger +2500

Yes, Nomadland once again, and the picture already won Best Adapted Screenplay at the Critics’ Choice Awards. Director Chloe Zhao also managed the screenplay adaptation duties from the novel Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder.

As his predecessor, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, but it’s also going to lose, just as his predecessor did (against The Departed).

The White Tiger is also based on a novel of the same name, while The Father and One Night in Miami are based on a play.

Last year, Best Adapted Screenplay went to Jojo Rabbit, based on Caging Skies’ novel.

You can check the complete Nominees list on Oscars.org, while you can place your entertainment bets at our online sportsbook, it’s not America’s Favorite Sportsbook for nothing, read our sportsbook reviews and learn what customers have to say about betting online at BetUS.