Formula for Oscar winning movie revealed

Researchers have developed a recipe for Oscar success — cast a 45-year-old actor and a 38-year-old actress in a 140-minute film.

The figures, collated from the last half-century of winners, could be bad news for the 33-year-old Eddie Redmayne, who is currently favourite to be named best actor.

Crunching the numbers back to 1965 reveals the average age of the best actor winner was 45, which could spell success for American Sniper star Bradley Cooper who, at 40, is the closest in age.

Henry Fonda, 76, was the oldest winner when he triumphed with On Golden Pond and Richard Dreyfuss has the honour of being the youngest, winning at 31 for his role in The Goodbye Girl.

The best actress is most likely to be aged 38 which will please Wild’s Reese Witherspoon, who is that age exactly, though her Oscar rival Marion Cotillard is only a year older.

The research, commissioned by myvouchercodes.co.uk, also reveal the average best picture winner was 140 minutes long, which could be more good news for American Sniper which comes closest to that with a running time of 132 minutes.

At 201 minutes, The Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King is the longest winner, beating The Godfather Part II by 60 seconds. Woody Allen’s 93-minute comedy Annie Hall is the shortest ever winner.

The firm’s founder, Mark Pearson, said: “Given the amount of British talent nominated for awards, we’re expecting lots of late nights as the nation tunes into Oscars coverage on Sunday night.”