The Oscars in the Arabian Gulf

• 'Iron Man 3' most enjoyed movie of the year among nominees
• 16% say '12 Years a Slave' deserves to win Best Picture
• Nearly one-quarter (22%) agree Sandra Bullock should win Best Actress

Ahead of this year's Academy Awards, we set out to see who would win if it were up to residents of the GCC. The Oscars are increasingly popular in the region, with nearly one-quarter (24 percent) planning to watch the award ceremony this year, while 38 percent remains unsure if they will watch it this year. Further, 65 percent of online respondents in the GCC saying they are more likely to watch a movie if it is nominated for an Academy Award.

However, despite interest in the Academy Awards ceremony, and a partiality towards Oscar-nominated films, respondents seemed unimpressed with many of the nominees. While most commonly 'Iron Man 3' (14 percent) was selected as the film online respondents enjoyed the most, '12 Years a Slave' was most often selected as deserving the award for Best Picture (16 percent). Similarly, online respondents most commonly said Steve McQueen should win Best Director for '12 Years a Slave' (16 percent). Interestingly, Shane Black came in second for the Best Director win for 'Iron Man 3' (14 percent), despite not being nominated.

Online respondents agree Sandra Bullock’s performance in 'Gravity' should win her Best Actress this year (22 percent) and Tom Hanks should receive Best Actor for his performance in 'Captain Phillips' (18 percent). Leonardo DiCaprio came in second, with 12 percent saying he should win Best Actor for his role in 'The Wolf of Wall Street'.

Data collected using YouGov's Omnibus online panel from January 28 – February 2, 2014 among 823 GCC residents. Results are broadly representative of the online population in the GCC.

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