Best Bets: Academy Award Likely Winners

Now that the Oscar nominations are out, the bets are on for who will emerge as winners.

After Seth MacFarlane and Emma Stone announced the nominees this morning, the deck appears to be stacked for "Lincoln," which led with 12 nominations, followed by 11 for "Life of Pi," and 8 each for "Les Miserables" and "Silver Linings Playbook." Two critical favorites, "Argo" and "Zero Dark Thirty" got fewer nominations than expected. Their directors, Ben Affleck and Kathryn Bigelow, were shut out of the best director category.

FULL LIST: 2013 Oscar Nominees

One film that did surprisingly well with four nominations was the indie favorite "Beasts of the Southern Wild." The film's 9-year-old star, Quvenzhane Wallis, received a best actress nod, making her the youngest nominee ever. She will be competing against the oldest best actress nominee in Oscar history, "Amour" star Emmanuelle Riva, who is 85.

It has been a very good year for movies, not to mention a diverse one.

"You have these serious movies like 'Zero Dark Thirty' and 'Lincoln.' Then there's 'Argo' in the middle and 'Les Miserables' and 'Silver Linings Playbook' on the other end," Yahoo! Movies contributing editor Thelma Adams told ABCNews.com. "It's almost like apples and oranges. How do you compare?"

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That's the job of the Academy. But it won't stop us from guessing who will take home the Oscar before the names are read on Feb. 24 on ABC.

Click through for our list of likely winners

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Source: http://www.news.theusalinks.com/2013/01/10/best-bets-academy-award-likely-winners/