It might almost be the plot of a movie: low budget musical, crafted with love and born out of an affection for the Golden Age of Hollywood slays the giants of films past and emerges as the most successful Oscar winner in film history.  And according to statistical analysis by bwin, it could happen.  Only two other films have garnered as many nominations: Titanic, which bagged eleven of its fourteen nominations and All About Eve, which came away with only six.  Three films have won eleven Oscars, Ben Hur 1960, Titanic 1998 and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King 2004.  So, what are the chances that La La Land will succeed where All About Eve failed?


Well, for one thing, there’s a huge amount of affection for this escapist confection, after 2016 it’s just what the doctor ordered: it’s a plucky little underdog and we all love a plucky little underdog.  Of the eight awards that all three record holders have won La La Land is favorite to win seven of them.  Although La La Land does not have nominations for supporting actors neither did the record holders, however, although Emma Stone may be a firm favorite for Best Actress, Ryan Gosling may well lose out to Casey Affleck, whose performance in Manchester by the Sea makes him a firm favorite.

Perhaps the strongest indicator that La La Land is set to break records is its performance at the Golden Globes: it picked up seven Globes, which when compared with the four picked up by Titanic and Return of the King would suggest that it’s a really strong contender.  Add to that the fact that it’s Golden Globes are those with the highest percentage of conversion to Oscars and the case looks even stronger.

Damien Chazelle is nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.  There have been plenty of previous Best Director winners under forty, but if Chazelle wins it will make him the youngest ever winner.  La La Land has a clutch of nominations which relate to the look and sound of the film and it’s in these categories that it could really sweep the board.  The look of this film is something that audiences and critics have admired and enjoyed and the categories of Cinematography, Production Design, Editing and Costume are all there for the taking.  The film’s other great strength is of course its sound: two of its songs are nominated and it’s also got nominations for Best Original Score, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing.

La La Land could lose out on the Best Picture and Best Actor Awards and still land those record breaking twelve Oscars.  When you look closely at the category nominations and you look at the opposition you realize that this might just be the year when a film made for a tenth of the cost of Titanic breaks all the records.  We’ll find out on the 26th.

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