"Slumdog Millionaire" a favorite for the Oscars

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Via AP:

LOS ANGELES – "Slumdog Millionaire" is arriving at the last stop in its rags-to-riches journey, steaming into the Academy Awards as the surefire favorite.

In keeping with its theme of bottomless optimism amid adversity, "Slumdog Millionaire" has led a charmed life, dodging a flirtation with straight-to-DVD, winning over critics and climbing toward $100 million hit status. The film has won top honors at all key earlier awards ceremonies, with one to go.

As Sunday dawned steel-pot gray in Los Angeles, where rain threatened to dampen the red carpet for the second year in a row and Hollywood's latest labor feud kicked up fresh news of another contract rejection, it seemed like nothing could drag down the year's most bummer-proof storyline.

Now its cast of unknowns — from new celebrities Dev Patel and Freida Pinto to kids plucked by director Danny Boyle from the slums of Mumbai, India — are all getting a trip to Hollywood's glitziest party.

For best picture, "Slumdog Millionaire" faces off against the romantic epic "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," the Richard Nixon saga "Frost/Nixon," the Harvey Milk tale "Milk" and the Holocaust-themed drama "The Reader."

Shot in India on a modest budget of $14 million, "Slumdog Millionaire" traces the life of a Mumbai orphan who overcomes poverty, betrayal, police torture and other hardships on his way to a reunion with his childhood love and success on India's version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."

The film nearly got lost in the shuffle as Warner Bros. folded its arthouse banner, Warner Independent, which had been slated to distribute "Slumdog Millionaire." It was rescued from the direct-to-video scrap heap when Fox Searchlight stepped in to release the film.

It's not all sunshine for "Slumdog Millionaire" going into the Oscars, though. A few raindrops fell on the red carpet at midmorning amid forecasts of a 30 percent chance of showers on Hollywood's big night. And hope of warm feelings between the Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers was lost late Saturday night when SAG's board of directors rejected the producers' "last, best and final offer" for a new contract.

Slumdog Millionaire