February 13, 2001

Although Gladiator's (OAGLA) 12 nods led all films when nominations for the 73rd Academy Awards were announced this morning, filmmaker Steven Soderbergh stole the show with an unprecedented Director's Double Double. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (OACRO) earned a record 10 nominations for a foreign language entry, and once again, Miramax proved its might with 10 nods, including a sweet Best Pic nom for Chocolat (OACHO).

With NominOptions cashing out, traders now have the chance to purchase Award Options. Award Options allow traders to buy and sell the Academy Award nominees they feel have a good chance at nabbing an Oscar. HSX Award Options will be issued for the five nominees in each of the eight major categories on Feb. 13. Each Award Option is offered at H$5.00. The Award Options will halt trading at 3 p.m. PST on Sunday, Mar. 25, in preparation for the awards ceremony to be held that evening.

On the Hollywood Stock Exchange®, traders correctly forecast 85 percent of the nominations in Oscar's top eight categories: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay, and Adapted Screenplay.

In the top race for Best Picture, HSXers predicted the nods for Gladiator, Crouching Tiger, Traffic (OATRA), and Erin Brockovich (OAERI). Fifth nominee Chocolat was a surprise to Movie Market™ traders, who had opted for Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous as their final choice.

The nomination of Stephen Daldry (OASDA) for Billy Elliot was the only misfire among HSX choices in the Best Director category. The other four, Gladiator's Ridley Scott (OARSC), Crouching Tiger's Ang Lee (OAALE), and a pair of nods for Soderbergh (for Traffic (OASSO) and Brockovich (OASSE)), were accurately predicted by HSX NominOption trading.

Soderbergh's two directing nominations, coupled with his two films in the running for Best Picture, give the Louisiana filmmaker an Academy Award first. While a few have won double directing nods, and few have directed two Best Pic contenders, no director before Soderbergh has pulled off both doubles in the same year.

Although everyone in Hollywood was sure that Julia Roberts (OAJRO) would receive a nomination for her role in Erin Brockovich, the HSX Movie Market did well to correctly select the other four nominees. In the Best Actress category, traders predicted that Juliette Binoche (OAJBI), Joan Allen (OAJAL), Laura Linney (OALLI), and Ellen Burstyn (OAEBU) would all receive the same honor.

The Best Actor category proved to be the most unpredictable of the eight with HSX traders correctly picking just three of the nominees. The market had pegged Michael Douglas and Jamie Bell as the favorites, though Oscar nominees Javier Bardem (OAJBA) and Ed Harris (OAEHA) were overlooked. HSX traders did identify the two heavyweights in the Best Actor category, Tom Hanks (OATHA) and Russell Crowe (OARUC), but also made an insightful call with a not-so-obvious choice, Geoffrey Rush (OAGRU).

Among the Best Supporting nominees, HSX traders were nearly perfect, choosing each of the five Best Supporting Actor nominees, and just missing one of the Best Supporting Actress honorees. As with the Best Actor category, traders overlooked a performance in Pollock, which helped earn Marcia Gay Harden (OAMGH) a nomination. The Movie Market predicted that Catherine Zeta Jones had a better shot for her work in Traffic.