The surprise win by the film Bohemian Rhapsody at last weekend’s Golden Globes has shot its odds for an Oscar win much lower. The biopic about the rock band Queen, and its lead singer Freddie Mercury, has seen its odds drop from 20/1 to 7/1 at several internet sportsbook sites.
The actor that played Mercury, Rami Malek, also saw his odds to win Best Actor at the Academy Awards go lower. He was a 18/1 pick before winning the similar award at the Golden Globes. He is now the 4/7 favorite at Corel.
A spokesman for the internet betting site told the Daily Express that Malek is a strong favorite for not only the Oscars, but the British Academy of Film and Television Arts award.
“Bohemian Rhapsody star Rami Malek is in line to win the Best Actor at the BAFTA Film Awards next month and we make him odds on to add the award to the Golden Globe he won recently,†the spokesman said. “If our odds are right it’s going to be a few months to remember for the 37-year-old as he is also odds on to scoop the Oscar for Best Actor.â€
Tough Competition
It appears more likely that Malek will win the Oscar for Best Actor than the film winning Best Picture. While Malek is the pick of oddsmakers for his category, Bohemian Rhapsody is the fourth choice.
The favorite for Best Picture is Roma at 6/5. The film is about writer/director Alfonso Cuarón’s upbringing in Mexico City in the early 1970s. It has been hailed by critics.
Manohla Dargis of the New York Times wrote: “Alfonso Cuarón’s masterpiece Roma, an autobiographical movie set in Mexico City in the 1970s, uses both intimacy and monumentality to express the depths of ordinary life.â€
A popular choice with fans is the Lady Gaga-Bradley Cooper remake of A Star is Born. It has odds of 11/4. Green Book is next at 5/1, and is about an African-American pianist traveling the Deep South with an Italian-American bouncer as his driver and bodyguard.
New Twist May Help Bohemian Rhapsody
The producers of the film about the formation of Queen and their turbulent time as a band, have added a new feature they hope will gain even more votes before the Academy Awards, which will be Feb. 24. They have rereleased the movie in 750 theaters in the US on Friday that will allow audiences to sing along with the band’s hits.
International patrons have already experienced the format, and it has been well received. One moviegoer in South Korea told ABC News that it has become extremely popular.
“The audience was singing, clapping and stamping their feet as if we were at a concert,” Kim Jeong-hwa.
What may hurt the film’s chances of getting the Oscar for Best Picture is the criticism by some that the movie glosses over Mercury’s sexuality and his death from AIDS.
Malek’s performance, however, has been praised by many critics. Variety’s Owen Gleiberman wrote: “ Rami Malek, the 37-year-old Egyptian-American actor from “Mr. Robot,†takes on the role of Freddie Mercury as if born to it.â€
