- Oppenheimer (-800) is heavily favored to win the Oscar for Best Picture
- Christopher Nolan (-3000) is also the chalk pick to be honored as Best Director for the first time in his legendary career
- The 96th Academy Awards will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California on March 10, 2024
Oppenheimer is the overwhelming favorite to win the Academy Award after earning 13 nominations in categories including: Director, Actor, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay and Cinematography.
With a month of Oscar campaigning still ahead of us, is Christopher Nolan’s film is a lock for Best Picture? Before we look at the odds, here’s where you can check out the top betting sites for Entertainment in 2024 and the latest betting odds for the 2024 Oscars.
96th Academy Awards – Best Picture
Can Oppenheimer be beat?
Oppenheimer (-800) won five Golden Globes, including best motion picture drama, best actor, best supporting actor and best director. While Christopher Nolan films have picked up 49 nominations and 11 wins at the Oscars to date, he’s never brought home the top honors in the Best Picture or Best Director category.
Nolan’s historical epic about the race to create the first atomic bomb grossed almost $1 billion at the worldwide box office while receiving critical acclaim. The film’s top competition (if we can call it that) appears to be Poor Things (+1200), The Holdovers (+1200) and Barbie (+2000).
Christopher Nolan says the first person he showed #Oppenheimer to was Steven Spielberg
“When I first got the 70mm print, I showed it to Steven Spielberg … I sat behind him and watched him watch the film. It was an extraordinary experience” pic.twitter.com/REOF1cTqdO
— Culture Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) February 8, 2024
Upset alert?
Academy Award history is littered with shocking upsets – Shakespeare In Love over Saving Private Ryan in 1999, Crash topping Brokeback Mountain in 2006 and Moonlight winning over La La Land in 2017.
If there’s a potential upset to keep an eye on this year, it’s Barbie (+2000). With almost $1.5 billion in worldwide box office, the feel-good popcorn flick was the No. 1 film on planet earth in 2024. Aside from the sizable cultural impact it made, Oscar voters (especially female voters) may be galvanized by the snubs of Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie in the Best Director and Best Actress categories.
96th Academy Awards – Best Director
Nolan double dip?
The Best Picture and Best Director winners have correlated at the Academy Awards in 68 of 95 years – or 72% of the time. However, since the academy expanded the Best Picture race in 2010, the two awards have aligned only eight of 13 times (62%). This occurred just two years ago when CODA claimed Best Picture and Jane Campion captured Best Director for Power of the Dog.
With Christopher Nolan at -3000 to win Best Director, it’s looking an Oscar sweep is in store for Oppenheimer. With his dark comedy Poor Things surging at the box office, Yorgos Lanthimos (+1500) probably has the best chance to play spoiler of all the nominees, but we wouldn’t count on it.
Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ (2023) Cast:
Reel vs Real- A thread (1/14):
Cillian Murphy – Robert Oppenheimer pic.twitter.com/5NVk4U009s
— DepressedBergman (@DannyDrinksWine) February 9, 2024
Best Bets
While we recommend sprinkling a little on Barbie (+2000) for Best Picture just in case, both Oppenheimer (-800) and director Christopher Nolan (-3000) look like sure bets in their respective categories.
See below the top sportsbooks where you can wager online and choose the best one for you:
