Having called the results for Best Animate Feature and Achievement in Directing over the past two days, we're ready to announce a projected winner for the big prize... Best Picture. Our projections are based on the entries in our Predict the Academy Awards competition.

Best Picture
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King			(91%)
Lost in Translation			(2%)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World			(4%)
Mystic River			(2%)
Seabiscuit			(2%)

While very slightly closer than the two previous races we've called, Lord of the Rings is still an overwhelming favorite in this race. Like the prediction for Peter Jackson, Numbers readers evidently feel that the Academy will finally honor the trilogy with a major award.

Master and Commander lies in a very distant second place, but seems to be the bet for people who don't believe the Academy will ever give a Best Picture Oscar to a fantasy movie.

We'll be back tomorrow with another prediction, and by Sunday afternoon we'll have called the winners in each Oscar category.

Date posted: 2004-02-26