Oscars predictions including picking Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress for 2021 Academy Awards

The 95th Academy Awards are live from Hollywood tonight, but if you’re not a cinematic wizard or on-screen presence, you can still take home something from the ceremony with DraftKings Sportsbook’s Oscars Pool for Sunday night’s ceremony with $25,000 available to the field.

All you’ll have to do is answer who the winner will be in 10 Oscars categories, and you’ll go home with your share of the prize!

We make a few picks ourselves below, and

Which film will win Best Picture?

The Father
Judas and the Black Messiah
Mank
Minari
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7

We’re going big upset early! Yes Nomadland is an overwhelming favorite, but the later votes might come in on the Aaron Sorkin project as the conventional wisdom begins to pick nits at Chloe Zhao’s masterwork. We’ll never know the final tabulations, and it’s possible Hollywood has no interest in rewarding Aaron Sorkin because acceptance speech might end up being a 20-minute monologue. But there’s enough counter-value here to consider it.

Who will win Best Lead Actor?

Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal)
Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
Anthony Hopkins (The Father)
Gary Oldman (Mank)
Steven Yeun (Minari)

There’s times to run away from the massive public favorite, and then there’s times where that running leads to falling off a cliff. This would be one of those times. The posthumous lifetime achievement award is a given here.

Who will win Best Lead Actress?

Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom)
Andra Day (The United States vs. Billie Holiday)
Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman)
Frances McDormand (Nomadland)
Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman)

This one is close, but we think Mulligan’s vengeful performance gets it done. By far the toughest category to handicap of the Big Six.

Who will win Best Supporting Actor?

Sacha Baron Cohen (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah)
Leslie Odom Jr. (One Night in Miami…)
Paul Raci (Sound of Metal)
Lakeith Stanfield (Judas and the Black Messiah)

A meaty role played beautifully. Lock it up.

Who will win Best Supporting Actress?

Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm)
Glenn Close (Hillbilly Elegy)
Olivia Colman (The Father)
Amanda Seyfried (Mank)
Yuh-Jung Youn (Minari)

This is no knock to Youn, who is tremendous as the hilarious grandmother in Minari, but what Bakalova did was a true feat. She affected the 2020 campaign for President while in character, and completed one of the true challenges of cinema this year. We’ll give it to her for her work in luring Rudy Giuliani to a hotel room for great national shame.

Who will win Best Director?

Thomas Vinterberg (Another Round)
David Fincher (Mank)
Lee Isaac Chung (Minari)
Chloe Zhao (Nomadland)
Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman)

Here’s how the Academy can still reward Zhao, but not give her film the biggest award. Directors vote for directors, and they’ll be happy to honor the true achievement of how Zhao blended script and reality in what might be the most beautifully shot film of the year.

Which film will win Best Original Screenplay?

Judas and the Black Messiah
Minari
Promising Young Woman
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7

There’s a chance other screenwriters might dislike or be jealous of the commercial success of Sorkin enough to keep him from this one. But we think he gets it done anyway.

Which film will win Best Adapted Screenplay?

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
The Father
Nomadland
One Night in Miami…
The White Tiger

Nomadland had plenty of unscripted actors, and Borat is here because it’s a sequel. So we’ll go with the adaptation of Kemp Powers screenplay of Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown in a hotel discussing the future of civil rights and their role in it.

Which film will win Best Animated Feature?

A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
Onward
Over The Moon
Soul
Wolfwalkers

This might be the biggest lock on the board.

Which song will win Best Original Song?

Fight for You (Judas & the Black Messiah)
Hear My Voice (The Trial of the Chicago 7)
Husavik (Eurovision Song Contest: Song of Ice and Fire)
Io Si (The Life Ahead)
Speak Now (One Night in Miami)

We’ll be rooting for Husavik, but Speak Now is apparently better musically. Color us offended.

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