Oscars 2010: odds on best film

The 10 films in the running for best movie are:
Jeremy Renner starring in The Hurt Locker
Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana in Avatar
Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana in Avatar Photo: REUTERS
Brad Pitt in this year's Oscar contender 'Inglourious Basterds'
Brad Pitt in this year's Oscar contender 'Inglourious Basterds'

The Hurt Locker (8-11)

Heart-stopping drama about a US Army bomb disposal unit in Iraq, directed by Kathryn Bigelow. Despite several controversies, including criticism from some Iraq war veterans, it is the favourite.
James Cameron's 3-D spectacle silenced the doubters to become the biggest grossing film of all time. Set on a faraway moon with a strong environmental message and eye-popping special effects. New voting system means it may lose out.

Inglourious Basterds (10-1)

Set in Nazi-occupied France the film provided director Quentin Tarantino with his biggest ever box office opening and could pull off a shock win at the Oscars.

Up in the Air (33-1)

George Clooney stars as a corporate downsizer who travels America firing employees and racking up air miles only to then face redundancy himself.

Up (66-1)

A landmark in animation which tells the tale of Carl Fredricksen, a 78-year-old widower who hitches balloons to his house and floats away to explore the jungles of South America.

Precious (80-1)

An early favourite for the Oscars, the film was based on Push, a novel by New York poet Sapphire. Newcomer Gabourey Sidibé stars as an illiterate, obese teenager who is abused by her mother and made pregnant by her father.

The Blind Side (125-1)

Based on the true story of Leigh Anne Tuohy, played by Sandra Bullock, a wealthy white woman from Memphis who adopted a homeless black teenager and helped him become a professional American Football player.

District 9 (125-1)

A South Africa science-fiction film made on a budget of just $30 million (£20 million) and with a cast of unknowns. Set in a world in which aliens have been confined in Johannesburg.

An Education (125-1)

Stars British actress Carey Mulligan in an adaptation of the journalist, Lynn Barber's, memoir about a bright, suburban schoolgirl who falls under the spell of an older man. The screenplay is by Nick Hornby.

A Serious Man (150-1)

A black comedy from film-makers Joel and Ethan Coen which stars Michael Stuhlbarg as a 1960s physics professor whose personal life is falling apart.

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