With 4/11 odds from our 28 movie Experts, “La La Land” is predicted to win Best Sound Mixing at Sunday’s Academy Awards. Andy Nelson is a past two-time Oscar winner (“Saving Private Ryan,” “Les Miserables”), and this is his 20th nomination. He is joined by Ai-Ling Lee and Steven Morrow, both nominated for the first time. This trio is up for their efforts on the modern-day movie musical, which scored an additional 13 nominations including Best Picture at the 2017 Oscars airing on ABC hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.
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Twenty-two of 28 Experts are predicting a “La La Land” victory: Thelma Adams (Gold Derby), Matt Atchity (Rotten Tomatoes), Eric Deggans (NPR), Edward Douglas (Weekend Warrior), Joyce Eng (TV Guide), Bonnie Fuller (Hollywood Life), Michael Hogan (Vanity Fair), Dave Karger (IMDb), Tariq Khan (Fox News), Scott Mantz (Access Hollywood), Jack Matthews (Gold Derby), Michael Musto (Out.com), Tom O’Neil (Gold Derby), Christopher Rosen (Entertainment Weekly), Paul Sheehan (Gold Derby), Nicole Sperling (Entertainment Weekly), Anne Thompson (Indiewire), Peter Travers (Rolling Stone), Brian Truitt (USA Today), Adnan Virk (ESPN), Glenn Whipp (La Times) and Susan Wloszcyna (RogerEbert.com).
In second place is “Hacksaw Ridge” with 7/2 odds and the backing of six Experts picking the WWII drama to win: Erik Davis (Fandango), Tim Gray (Variety), Matthew Jacobs (HuffPo), Kevin Polowy (Yahoo), Keith Simanton (IMDb) and Sasha Stone (Awards Daily). Its audio master Kevin O’Connell is on his 21st nomination and still looking for his first win. He’s joined by Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace, all nominated for the first time this year.
Oscar Best Picture Gallery: History of Every Academy Award-Winning Movie
In third place is “Arrival” with 50/1 odds and not backed by any Experts. It’s mixed by Bernard Gariepy Strobl and Claude La Haye, both nominated for the first time for their work creating the alien language in this sci-fi film. They recently picked up the BAFTA Award for Best Sound, where they were awarded with sound editor Sylvain Bellemare.
Further back in fourth place is “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (David Parker, Christopher Scarabosio, and Stuart Wilson) with 66/1 odds. Parker is a past two-time winner (“The English Patient,” “The Bourne Ultimatum”). Scarabosio is a past two-time nominee and Wilson is a past three-time nominee; both of them are looking for their first win.
In a distant fifth place is “13 Hours” (Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Mac Ruth) with 100/1 odds. This is Russell’s 17th nomination, and he’s still looking for his first win. Summers is a past four-time winner (“Terminator 2,” “Jurassic Park,” “Titanic,” “Saving Private Ryan”) looking for his first victory in 18 years. Haboush is a four-time nominee, and Ruth is a two-time nominee; both are looking to win their first Oscar.
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According to our overall combined odds featuring the predictions of all Experts, Editors, Top 24 Users (those who did the best at their winner picks last year), All-Star Top 24 (who got the highest scores when you combine the last two years’ Oscars) and All Users, the rankings are nearly the same. The favored pick of over 2,700 people is “La La Land” with 1/4 odds. “Hacksaw Ridge” remains in second place with 8/1 odds. “Arrival” has stronger combined 18/1 odds. “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” gets slightly better 50/1 odds and “13 Hours” remains in fifth place with 100/1 odds.
One can only hope that a first-time winner from any of the nominated films will be selected to speak on their film’s behalf. The silver lining for the first-time nominees is that Sound Mixing contenders typically receive additional nominations throughout their careers, so they’ll possibly have more chances at Oscar glory.
Predict the Oscar winners now; change them till February 26
Be sure to make your Oscar predictions. Weigh in now with your picks so that Hollywood insiders can see how their films are faring in our Oscar odds. You can keep changing your predictions right up until just before winners are announced on February 26 at 5:00 pm PT/8:00 pm ET. And join in the fierce debate over the 2017 Oscars taking place right now with Hollywood insiders in our forums.
