2023 Academy Awards Picks

With the NBA, PGA, NHL and MMA all occupying our attention, one area outside of sports is overlooked this time of year — The Oscars. 

Below, I’m predicting all winners and highlights his favorite values ahead of Sunday’s 95th Academy Awards. 

Everything Everywhere All at Once leads all motion pictures with 11 nominations and has had a dominant awards season, which should conclude with another big hardware night. In my initial Oscars Betting Guide, I predicted the film to take at least two of the Big Six awards. Now? With Yeoh making the anticipated leapfrog of Blanchett for Best Actress and the Daniels (Kwan and Scheinert) building a shocking lead over Spielberg for Best Director, the film should clean up Sunday. 

Meanwhile, Brendan Fraser and Austin Butler continue to pound the carpet in their campaigns to take home Best Actor. For Fraser, whose career has had multiple setbacks and comebacks, this award would cement him as a mainstay in Hollywood history for an accomplished career. Butler, on the other hand, has picked up momentum in a final push to make this category a boat race between the two actors, all while maintaining his “Method-Elvis” persona. Very interesting, indeed.

(All odds are from DraftKings Sportsbook)

2023 Academy Awards Best Bets

Best Actor: Austin Butler

(+120)

Austin Butler has closed the gap since nominations were announced over a month ago. The odds opened with Brendan Fraser at -165 (has not moved) and Butler behind Colin Farrell at +300. I loved Butler at +300, but I still like the near-even odds, especially with Fraser being a static favorite thus far. I noted in my first article that I think Butler is interesting for multiple reasons including “the Presley family’s endorsement of the film, the Best Picture nomination, the streaming availability, and the passing of Lisa Marie.” For me, not much has changed. I’m rolling with Butler. 

Best Actress: Michelle Yeoh

(-140)

This is tough because I think Blanchett’s depiction of Lydia Tár, a fictional classical music conductor with real flaws, is a seminal performance of the decade. That said, this is Michelle Yeoh’s year. Like Al Pacino (Scent of a Woman) and Leonard DiCaprio (The Revenant), expect Yeoh to take home her lifetime achievement award for Best Actress after being the lead in a film that has caught more momentum heading into Oscar Sunday than any in recent memory. 

Best Supporting Actress: Jamie Lee Curtis

(+150)

This is fun. Both favorites are plus-money, so that should create a nice moment of excitement in the middle of the show when Angela Bassett and Jamie Lee Curtis face off for Best Supporting Actress, a potential first for both actresses. I thought this was Bassett’s to lose a few weeks ago but didn’t love the odds at the time (-250). Enter Jamie Lee Curtis. The actress, a fabulous villain in Everything, Everywhere, seems to have caught the momentum of the behemoth of the season and has put together a nice campaign bolstered by a win at the Screen Actors Guild for Best Supporting Actress. This is a bet on Everything, Everywhere and a longtime actress’ who has never been nominated for an Academy Award. I think she ekes this one out in the closest contest of the night. 

Best Makeup & Hairstyling: The Whale

(+150)

Brendan Fraser loses Best Actor but the team that got him nominated gets theirs, edging out Elvis, whose costume team should take home a win for Best Costume Design. 

Best Original Screenplay

The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh)

(+110)

The beloved film wins its only award of the night but completes a nice sweep for Martin McDonagh after taking home the BAFTA and the Golden Globe for the same category. 

Best Score: All Quiet on the Western Front

(+175)

Babylon is not a good film, and the Academy knows that. Yes, they could vote simply for the mystique of a lost time in Hollywood, but I think the best international film of the year edges out Babylon in a minor upset for Best Score. 

Below is the entire Oscars slate.