Groundbreaking superhero blockbuster “Black Panther” on Sunday won the top prize at the Screen Actors Guild Awards — a major boost to its campaign for Oscars glory next month. This year, the SAG Awards come at a key point in the race to next month’s Academy Awards — just after the Oscars nominations, and well before voting for the winners begins. The Screen Actors Guild accounts for a major percentage of the 8,000-odd Oscar voters, so the SAG winners will earn a lot of awards season momentum. One major absentee at the 25th edition of the SAG Awards was Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” — the top Oscar nomination getter was left out of SAG contention. Sure bets and surprisesWhile SAG-winning casts have only gone on to win a best picture Oscar about half the time, the awards are better at predicting best actor winners (79 percent) and best actress (75 percent).

Source: Egypt Independent January 28, 2019 14:07 UTC