'The Artist' vs 'Hugo': Which will win the 'Best Picture' Oscar?

Published Jan 24 2012, 18:17 GMT  |  By Simon Reynolds

The 2012 Oscar nominations are finally in, and it's shaping up to be a two-horse race between Martin Scorsese's Hugo and black-and-white movie The Artist. With 11 and 10 nominations apiece, the films have left the likes of Moneyball, War Horse, The Descendants and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trailing in the dust.

Hollywood loves a good flick that honours the legacy of cinema, so it's no surprise that Hugo, about pioneering filmmaker Georges Méliès, and The Artist, which sees a silent movie star faced with the prospect of talkies, get some love from Academy voters.

But who will take home the coveted 'Best Picture' Oscar?

Bookmakers are already tipping Michel Hazanavicius's ode to a bygone cinematic era to win, but we'd maybe go a little bit further than that and say The Artist is a nailed-on certainty to win 'Best Picture'.

Critically, both movies fared outstandingly well - The Artist is 97% on the Tomatometer against Hugo's 94% - with the pair featuring prominently in many critics' end of year lists. Even the BBC's esteemed film critic Mark Kermode reckons The Artist is the hot favourite as "everyone's favourite film around the world".


> The Artist review
> Hugo review

Crucially in the Hugo vs. The Artist Oscar scrap, the latter has acting nods for its stars Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo, while Hugo's main cast of Sir Ben Kingsley, Asa Butterfield and Chloe Moretz fail to make the cut. Perhaps it signifies the fact that The Artist is more well-regarded among Academy voters?

The Artist is also still very much in the public eye - selling out arthouse cinemas around the UK and seeing dog Uggie hit the publicity trail. With three Golden Globes under its belt and 12 nominations at the BAFTAs, all the momentum is with The Artist.

Furthermore, Michel Hazanavicius's comedy is unlike any other movie in theatres right now. Films as unique as The Artist don't come along too often, so we're expecting voters to plump for it when the time comes for the final say.

More Oscars coverage:
> Oscars 2012: Academy Awards nominations - in full
> Gary Oldman on first Oscar nomination: 'It's so gratifying'
> Oscars 2012: Academy Awards nominations - in pictures
> Oscars 2012: What did the Academy Miss?