A few weeks ago, we took a look at who Lycos users would choose for the Oscars, based on user searches. It's time to update that list to see if anything has changed since the nominations were announced.
Once again, feel free to use our predictions as guidance when you play Movie Crystal Ball at Lycos Gamesville. You have a chance to predict the Oscar winners and win $2,500.
Below are the rankings of this year's nominees based on your search queries last week. Predicted winners are listed in bold. As you can see only one category has really changed... but it's the big one.
BEST ACTRESS
80.3% Julia Roberts
15.1% Juliette Binoche
2.0% Ellen Burstyn
1.8% Laura Linney
0.8% Joan Allen
It's still Julia, by a landslide. She's lost a little bit of her lead to Juliette Binoche, whose Chocolat has gained a lot of attention since the nominations came out, but Julia still owns this category.
BEST ACTOR
73.1% Russell Crowe
15.1% Tom Hanks
6.1% Javier Bardem
5.0% Ed Harris
1.7% Geoffrey Rush
Russell Crowe has actually increased his lead since February, as interest in Tom Hanks has waned a bit after Cast Away left the theaters. The major change here is a rise in interest in Javier Bardem of Before Night Falls. Like Binoche, he shows that foreign actors often see more interest after the Oscar nominations because beforehand, most people haven't even heard of their movies.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
87.4% Kate Hudson
6.8% Judi Dench
3.6% Marcia Gay Harden
1.4% Frances McDormand
0.8% Julie Walters
Six weeks ago, we wrote, "This is the one award where Lycos users' choice goes entirely against conventional wisdom." Since then, conventional wisdom has actually moved towards Lycos users. Despite the fact that she is competing with another actress from the same movie (Frances McDormand), many Oscar watchers now feel Kate Hudson will take this award. If she does, remember that you heard it from the Lycos users first.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
65.5% Benicio Del Toro
28.3% Joaquin Phoenix
2.5% Jeff Bridges
1.9% Willem Defoe
1.8% Albert Finney
We look forward to Benicio Del Toro's acceptance speech. After all, though his entire performance in Traffic was in Spanish, most people don't know it isn't his first language. He went to prep school in Pennsylvania, after all.
BEST PICTURE
30.3% Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
28.6% Gladiator
15.1% Traffic
13.7% Chocolat
12.2% Erin Brockovich
We were surprised back in February to see Crouching Tiger topping our list instead of Gladiator, and the race has tightened considerably as the Oscars approach. Crouching Tiger has been losing searches each week, and while Gladiator hasn't been rising, the other three movies have? particularly Chocolat. As a result, we are guessing that the upset win of Crouching Tiger isn't going to happen. It is more likely that Gladiator will pull one out from the underdog? just the opposite of how the movie ended.
MONDAY: The latest hot young thing? is a boy.
