Hosted by Conan O'Brien for the second consecutive year, the 98th Academy Awards ceremony is ready to kick off a star-studded night this weekend.
Set to take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday, March 15, the Oscars ceremony is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated events of the year.
As fans around the globe eagerly await who will be going home with one of the biggest awards of the season, prediction market platforms have made the predictions more exciting, which previously only focused on critics' discussions and film fans' forums.
Prediction market platforms like Kalshi aggregate thousands of opinions into real-time probabilities, representing market opinion on potential outcomes.
Here's a look at the predictions for the major categories of Oscar Awards:
Best Picture
While many critics are betting on Sinners, Kalshi has named One Battle After Another as the potential winner for the Best Picture category with a 74 per cent probability.
Leonardo DiCaprio-led drama-thriller has been predicted to win over Sinners; however, things are looking positive for Ryan Coogler-helmed horror thriller, as it was reported that one of the musical performances for the ceremony would be inspired by Sinners, "the most nominated film in Oscars history."
Miles Caton and Raphael Saadiq will perform the Oscar-nominated original song I Lied To You, and they will be joined by Misty Copeland, Eric Gales, Buddy Guy, Brittany Howard, Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li, Bobby Rush, Shaboozey and Alice Smith in an homage to the film's singular visual style.
Best Actor
Michael B. Jordan is likely to win the Best Actor category for his role(s) in Sinners.
According to the platform, Jordan is favoured by a narrow margin, with contracts at $0.50 for "yes" results.
Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme) trails slightly at $0.40, with DiCaprio coming in third, with $0.06 for a Yes result.
Best Actress
Jessie Buckley has been having a phenomenal award season this year because of her breathtaking performance in Hamnet, the film adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's novel that follows the aftermath of Shakespeare's son's tragic death.
Kalshi predicted that Buckley will be going home with the Oscars, with the probability of a whopping 95 per cent.
Best Animated Feature
KPop Demon Hunters, the Netflix film which became a pop cultural phenomenon, is the leading contestant in the animation category, as Kalshi has it at 94 per cent.
Best Supporting Actor
As per the market prediction platform, Sean Penn has a 71 per cent chance of winning the Best Supporting Actor award for his performance in One Battle After Another.
The second in the list is Stellan Skarsgard for Sentimental Value (19%).
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Madigan has earned a 45 per cent listing at Kalshi due to her performance in Weapons.
Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another) and Wunmi Mosaku (Sinners) follow at 27% and 24%, respectively.
Best Director
Kalshi predictors have given Paul Thomas Anderson the honour of 91 per cent listing for his work on One Battle After Another.
To make prediction markets fun for yourself, you don't have to engage with them and can only observe the market before the final names for the awards are announced this Sunday.
The Oscars will air live on ABC and stream live on Hulu on Sunday, March 15, at 7 p.m. EDT/4 p.m. PDT, with the official live red carpet show airing at 6:30 p.m. EDT/3:30 p.m. PDT.
