With 1/3 odds from our 28 movie Experts, “The Jungle Book” is predicted to win Best Visual Effects at Sunday’s Academy Awards. This live-action re-imagining of the classic Disney movie recently dominated the Visual Effects Society Awards, winning five trophies including Best Effects Driven Film. Now it’s poised to follow up those victories at the 2017 Oscars airing live Sunday on ABC and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.
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Twenty-three of our 28 of our Experts are predicting a “The Jungle Book” victory for Best Visual Effects: Thelma Adams (Gold Derby), Erik Davis (Fandango), Edward Douglas (Weekend Warrior), Joyce Eng (TV Guide), Bonnie Fuller (Hollywood Life), Tim Gray (Variety), Matthew Jacobs (Huffington Post), Dave Karger (IMDb), Tariq Khan (Fox News), Scott Mantz (Access Hollywood), Jack Mathews (Gold Derby), Michael Musto (Out.com), Kevin Polowy (Yahoo), Christopher Rosen (Entertainment Weekly), Paul Sheehan (Gold Derby), Nicole Sperling (Entertainment Weekly), Sasha Stone (Awards Daily), Anne Thompson (IndieWire), Peter Travers (Rolling Stone), Brian Truitt (USA Today), Adnan Virk (ESPN), Glenn Whipp (LA Times) and Susan Wloszczyna (RogerEbert.com).
In second place is “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” with 7/1 odds, based on the support of three experts: Matt Atchity (Rotten Tomatoes), Michael Hogan (Vanity Fair) and Tom O’Neil (Gold Derby). “Rogue One” actually went home empty-handed at the VES Awards earlier this month.
Oscar Best Picture Gallery: History of Every Academy Award-Winning Movie
The only Oscar Expert who believes that “Doctor Strange” will win is Eric Deggans (NPR). This results in 18/1 odds for the Marvel superhero flick. “Doctor Strange” earned the trophy for Best Created Environment at the VES Awards.
“Kubo and the Two Strings” is next in line in fourth place. Keith Simanton (IMDb) is predicting the animated film will prevail, resulting in odds of 20/1. “Kubo” is also up for the Best Animated Feature Oscar, where it’s predicted to lose out to “Zootopia.”
Rounding out the category at 80/1 odds is “Deepwater Horizon.” “You need to stay inside the story, and the effects can’t be noticed as effects at all,” visual effects supervisor Craig Hammack told Gold Derby during our recent webcam chat.
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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 same. The favored pick of more than 2,500 people is “The Jungle Book” with 2/7 odds over “Rogue One” with 7/1 odds. “Doctor Strange” follows with 22/1 odds, and then “Kubo and the Two Strings” at 25/1 and “Deepwater Horizon” at 80/1.
Last year’s Oscar champ for Best Visual Effects was “Ex Machina.” What will join it in the Oscar winner’s circle this year?
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.
