You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the telling numbers tucked inside the news.
2.29 points
With a best picture win at the BAFTA awards on Sunday, “The Revenant” will go into the Academy Awards the front-runner among the best picture nominees. Our Oscars model, which assigns points to nominees based on performance in historically predictive award shows, gives “The Revenant” the lead with 2.29 points, followed by “The Big Short” with 1.78 points and “Spotlight” with 1.64 points. [FiveThirtyEight]
4-4
Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead of natural causes at a Texas ranch this weekend, throwing the future of the Supreme Court into chaos as an outgoing president and unsympathetic Congress both seek to leave their stamps on the court for a generation. In the short term, this means that a lot of cases where Scalia’s vote would have been of consequence are going to shift to a tie, with potential positive impacts for unions and voting rights advocates. [FiveThirtyEight]
5 Grammys
Kendrick Lamar pulled in five Grammy awards Monday night but lost album of the year to Taylor Swift, her second such prize. “Uptown Funk,” which keep in mind was first released in the fall of 2014, also somehow won a Grammy in 2016. [Bloomberg]
73 percent
Probability Donald Trump wins the South Carolina GOP primary on Feb. 20, according to our polls-plus forecast (the polls-only forecast gives Trump an 85 percent chance). [FiveThirtyEight]
$225
Cost of the cheapest season ticket package for the Oakland Raiders; the team won’t raise prices for season ticket-holders for the 11th consecutive season. [SB Nation]
338 days
How many days President Obama has remaining in office, and to appoint a Supreme Court justice. The administration plans a public campaign focusing on the fact that none of the past 12 confirmed Supreme Court nominees waited more than 100 days for a vote. [The New York Times]
$325,000
Amount a Wilmington couple paid for a license plate with the number 14 in Delaware, where it’s considered prestigious to have a low license plate number for some reason. A few years ago the license plate number 6 sold for $675,000. [NBC Philadelphia]
$18 million
The National Park Service announced that David Rubenstein, the billionaire and philanthropist, has contributed $18 million toward fixing up the Lincoln Memorial, which I think we can all agree has looked like total garbage lately. [Associated Press]
$135 million
Estimated amount “Deadpool” made over its three-day opening weekend, shattering a whole bunch of records, including biggest February opening, biggest R-rated opening and biggest opening for 20th Century Fox. [Box Office Mojo]
1 billion euros
The Green Party in the European Parliament is alleging that Ikea avoided 1 billion euros in taxes from 2009 to 2014. This could be a big miscommunication — maybe the furniture company files tax forms with exciting names like “Karl” and “Mjøllnir” instead of the boring “Form No. 2065” in France or “Modelo 303” in Spain. [CNN]
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