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Jinni uses the Movie Genome to predict this year's Best Picture winner

Posted Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 2:40 PM Central
Last updated Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 2:43 PM Central

by Tim Briscoe

Everyone wants to know who the big winner will be at this Sunday's Academy Awards. Jinni has a pretty good idea.

Jinni isn't a person, it's a web site. It's a movie recommendation tool that uses the Movie Genome Project. The Movie Genome catalogs the various traits, or genes, of a movie. Jinni uses those to discover movies similar to those you already like.

In a recent blog post on their site, Jinni posted some interesting findings on this year's Oscar nominees. For instance, at least half of the 10 Best Picture films have the following characteristics: profanity, parents and children, and stylized.

To predict the Best Picture winner, Jinni identified the traits most common to previous winners. Conversely, it found the characteristics least represented amongst winners from 1950 to present.

Jinni says all but one of the last 59 winners were "realistic" rather than "fantastic." The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was the odd ball Best Picture fantasy. Also, a science fiction film hasn't taken the big prize in that period. Neither has an animated movie.

The all-knowing Jinni identified "controversial" as an unlikely Best Picture gene. Only two of those kind have won. The site also noted that 49 of the previous 49 Best Picture winners have been in the drama genre. The top prize is usually won by a popular film; only a quarter of them weren't blockbusters.

So, what does all this information tell us? Well, let's tally it up and see what we get:

By process of elimination, Jinni points to The Blind Side and Up in the Air as likely Best Picture winners. As they admit, this study doesn't factor in buzz like that surrounding Avatar or The Hurt Locker.

Can Jinni be right? We'll find out Sunday. Meanwhile, I'll be searching Jinni for some new movies to watch.

Source: Jinni