Academy Awards La La Land Prop Bets
–’La La Land’ has received 14 Academy Award Nominations.
–The fourteen nominations ties ‘La La Land’ with ‘Titanic’ and ‘All About Eve’ for most ever.
–’La La Land’ added the BAFTA ‘Best Picture’ award over the weekend.
‘La La Land’ has been the dominating film of the year with the critics and on the awards circuit. It received a massive vote of approval from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with 14 nominations for Academy Awards including ‘Best Picture’, ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Actress’. It has an outside shot at tying the record for most wins by a single film–11 awards jointly held by ‘Ben Hur’, ‘Titanic’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’. It’s unlikely to do what LOTR did and sweep all of the awards for which it is nominated–no other film in history has done that either.
As is typically the case at this stage of the Academy Awards season there’s starting to be a bit of reconsideration about ‘La La Land’s’ prospects for a landslide performance. The other two films in Oscars history that had 14 nominations don’t give us much to go on. ‘Titanic’ won 11 awards but ‘All About Eve’ took only six of the fourteen categories in which it had been nominated. The BAFTA Awards held on February 12 appear to have provided some grist for the contrarian mill–at least if that’s the opinion you were trying to validate.
BOOM OR BUST AT THE BAFTA AWARDS?
Heading into the BAFTA Awards–aka the British version of the Academy Awards–there was a sense of enthusiasm surrounding ‘La La Land’. It had been nominated for 11 awards and some observers thought it had a good chance to tie the record of 9 awards from 10 nominations set by ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ in 1971. Interestingly, the Brits were far more enthusiastic about ‘Butch Cassidy’ than their American counterparts. Back in the USA, it received only 7 nominations winning only four for music, cinematography and screenwriting. It lost out for ‘Best Picture’, George Roy Hill lost out for ‘Best Director’ as well as losing out for ‘Best Sound. ‘Midnight Cowboy‘ took the ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’ Oscars though to be fair it did well at the BAFTA Awards winning six.
‘La La Land’ ended up winning five awards including several big ones including ‘Best Film’, ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Actress’. CNN reported it as a big night for the film and mentioned that the BAFTA ‘Best Film’ winner has gone on to win the Academy Award for ‘Best Picture’ six times in the past decade:
“La La Land” has some major fans across the pond.The modern musical walked away with five awards — more than any other movie — at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards Sunday, including best film and individual honors for Emma Stone and director Damien Chazelle.
“La La Land” had been up for seven awards. Its BAFTA success came one day before the final Oscar ballot opens up, further consolidating its position as frontrunner for top honors at the 89th Academy Awards, which are being held on February 26.
In the last decade, the recipient of the BAFTA for Best Film has gone on to win the Oscar for Best Picture six times.
The tone was a stark contrast to the one found in the reporting of the British newspaper ‘The Guardian’. First, there was an article that reported the same thing that CNN did in a completely different light entitled “La La Land fails to win Baftas landslide in night of diversity“. A more curious article accompanied the BAFTA wrapup entitled ‘The La La Land backlash: why have critics turned on the Oscar favorite?‘
It’s not apparent that this has really happened. There have been some critics such as Deadline: Hollywood’s Pete Hammond that have given a very balanced assessment of what the BAFTA results mean. There have been fringe ‘critics’ from the ranks of the perpetually offended that have issue with the fact that the film’s male protagonist has the temerity to be a) a jazz musician and b) white. Although it might come as news to Chet Baker, Gene Krupa, Gerry Mulligan, Benny Goodman, Dave Brubek, Bix Beiderbecke, Buddy Rich, Bill Evans and countless others there are people that have a problem with this. While the significance of African Americans throughout the history of jazz is clear–starting at the very top with Louis Armstrong whose impact on the history of music and popular culture just can’t be overstated–it’s silly to expect a light hearted film to stop their narrative to put their protagonist’s craft into a broader historical context.
If anything, however, this ersatz ‘backlash’ provides another plotline for the 89th Academy Awards to be held on February 29. We’ve already posted our full card rundown of the nominees in every category along with our odds to win. The odds that follow are specific to ‘La La Land’ and offer a number of propositions that attempt to quantify just how well they’ll do. Stay tuned for more Academy Awards proposition bets over the next two weeks:
89TH ACADEMY AWARDS ‘LA LA LAND’ PROP BETS
La Land Domination–La La Land to win?
Best Picture: -750
Best Actor OR Actress: -300
Best Picture/Actor/Actress: +1750
Best Director/Actor/Actress: +1750
Best Picture/Actor/Actress/Director: +2250
Best Picture/Actor/Actress/Director/Original Screenplay: +3100
Best Picture/Actor/Actress/Director/Original Screenplay/Cinematography: +3500
Best Picture/Actor/Actress/Director/Original Screenplay/Cinematography/Costume Design: +5100
Best Picture/Actor/Actress/Director/Original Screenplay/Cinematography/Costume Design/Film Editing: +5600
Best Picture/Actor/Actress/Director/Original Screenplay/Cinematography/Costume Design/Original Score: +5800
Best Picture/Actor/Actress/Director/Original Screenplay/Cinematography/Costume Design/Original Score/Original Song: +6500
Best Picture/Actor/Actress/Director/Original Screenplay/Cinematography/Costume Design/Original Score/Original Song/Sound Editing: +30000
Best Picture/Actor/Actress/Director/Original Screenplay/Cinematography/Costume Design/Original Score/Original Song/Sound Editing/Sound Mixing: +33000
Best Picture/Actor/Actress/Director/Original Screenplay/Cinematography/Costume Design/Original Score/Original Song/Sound Editing/Sound Mixing/Production Design +40000
‘La La Land’ must win all listed awards to win bet. Ties lose. Either nominated song from ‘La La Land’ in the ‘Best Original Song’ category can win
La La Land Technical Awards Only
Best Cinematography: -750
Best Cinematography/Costume Design: +100
Best Cinematography/Costume Design/Film Editing: +175
Best Cinematography/Costume Design/Original Score: +185
Best Cinematography/Costume Design/Original Score/Original Song: +250
Best Cinematography/Costume Design/Original Score/Original Song/Sound Editing: +750
Best Cinematography/Costume Design/Original Score/Original Song/Sound Editing/Sound Mixing: +900
Best Cinematography/Costume Design/Original Score/Original Song/Sound Editing/Sound Mixing/Production Design: +1025
‘La La Land’ must win all listed awards to win bet. Ties lose. Either nominated song from ‘La La Land’ in the ‘Best Original Song’ category can win
La La Loser–La La Land *doesn’t* win
La La Land doesn’t win ‘Best Picture’: +750
La La Land doesn’t win ‘Best Picture’ or ‘Best Director’: +1500
La La Land doesn’t win ‘Best Picture’, ‘Best Director’ or ‘Best Actress’: +3250
La La Land doesn’t win ‘Best Picture’, ‘Best Director’, ‘Best Actress’ or ‘Best Actor’: +3500
‘La La Land’ must not win any of the listed awards to win bet. Ties lose.
‘La La Land’ to win ‘Best Actor’ and ‘Best Actress’?
Yes: +700
No: -1400
How many of the ‘Big Four’ awards will ‘La La Land’ win? (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress)
Zero: +6600
One: +600
Two: +175
Three: -150
Four: +1200
How many total Oscars will ‘La La Land’ win?
Over 10.5: +600
Under 10.5: -900