BEIJING, Feb. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- With only
one day to go before the 79th annual Academy Awards, there are widespread
predictions about who will win the world's top film awards, which are coveted by
filmmakers, actors and actresses around the globe.
This time, the best-picture race is as
wide open as it has been in years, lacking the usual front-runner or two that
everyone just knows will end up winning.
In the best film race, director Martin Scorsese's crime
thriller "The Departed" and road comedy "Little Miss Sunshine" face stiff
competition from cultural drama "Babel," Japanese World War Two saga "Letters
From Iwo Jima" and "The Queen," about the British royal family in a time of
crisis.
Unlike the previous two years, this season's best-picture
crop has a 100 million U.S. dollars hit going into Oscar night, the
cops-and-mobsters epic "The Departed." The other nominees have ranged from about
12 million dollars to 60 million dollars at the box office.
Collectively, the five best-picture nominees had taken in
a modest 256 million dollars through last weekend, translating to about
38.5 million moviegoers.
Eddie Murphy's and Jennifer Hudson's roles as soul singers
are expected to win them the supporting Oscars, with Helen Mirren as British
monarch Elizabeth II in "The Queen" and Forest Whitaker as Ugandan dictator Idi
Amin in "The Last King of Scotland" the favorites for the lead-acting prizes.
Perpetual runner-up Martin Scorsese seems a safe bet to
finally win the best-directing Oscar for "The Departed."
There will be drama on the red carpet outside the Kodak,
too, as some of the world's most beautiful and best-dressed actresses including
Penelope Cruz and Nicole Kidman arrive dripping in diamonds and wrapped in
couture gowns.
The star-studded lineup of Oscar presenters features Tom
Cruise, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tom Hanks and Nicole Kidman, while musical performers
include Beyonce, Melissa Etheridge, Randy Newman and James Taylor.
(Agencies)
