Sunday is the biggest night of the year in Hollywood. The 92nd Academy Awards will be held this weekend. Stars will walk the red carpet and will then wait anxiously to find out who will be taking home all the hardware.
This week, we present five things you need to know about this year’s Oscars.
Leading the Way
Joker leads the way with 11 nominations this year. The film is nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director (Todd Phillips), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor (Joaquin Phoenix), Best Cinematography, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing. The Oscars are presented in 24 unique categories.
Meanwhile, The Irishman, 1917, and Once Upton a Time in Hollywood all received 10 nominations, while Jojo Rabbit, Little Women, Marriage Story, and Parasite each received six nods.
Success at the box office this year did not impress the Academy— the five highest-grossing films of the year grabbed just eight nominations between them. Those films include Avengers: Endgame (1), The Lion King (1), Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (3), Frozen II (1), and Toy Story 4 (2).
The films with the most nominations in history are Titanic and All About Eve, which garnered 14 nominations in 1998 and 1951, respectively. Titanic went on to win 11 Oscars. It is tied with both Ben-Hur and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King for the most wins by a single film.
The Snubs
Of course, there are only so many nominations to go around so, as is the case every year, some films, actors, and directors are left on the outside looking in.
This year, many people were expecting Adam Sandler to receive a Best Actor nod (no, really) for Uncut Gems, while others felt Jennifer Lopez should have been nominated for Hustlers. Other performances that went unrecognized include Lupita Nyong'o for Us and Taron Egerton for Rocketman. In fact, the Elton John biopic received just one nomination (Best Original Song), despite last year’s similarly themed Bohemian Rhapsody earning five nominations and four wins.
Critical darling Knives Out grabbed just one nomination (Best Original Screenplay).
The Netflix film, Dolemite is My Name, which has been described as Eddie Murphy’s Hollywood comeback, did not earn a single nomination.
Beyoncé’s song, Spirit, from the remake of The Lion King was not nominated for Best Original Song.
Frozen II, which is now the highest grossing animated film ever, was shut out from the Best Animated Feature category.
All the nominees are for Best Director are men this year, as noted by Issa Rae when announcing the nominees. Greta Gerwig, director of Little Women, was one of this year’s notable snubs.
Of course, many feel the Academy still lacks diversity.
The Favourites
Right now, it appears as the war film 1917 is the favourite to take home Best Picture. Parasite might have an outside shot. Certainly, it seems likely to win Best International Feature Film.
Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) is expected to win Best Supporting Actor, while Laura Dern should win Best Supporting Actress (Marriage Story). Rene Zellweger (Judy) is seen as the favourite to take home Best Actress. Best Actor will no doubt go to Joaquin Phoenix (Joker).
Best Director may go to Bong Joon Ho for Parasite. Quentin Tarantino may win Best Original Screenplay, while Greta Gerwig is expected to take home the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Who’s in Charge?
For the second year in a row, the Oscars will not have a host. Last year, the plan was for comedian Kevin Hart to host, but plans were put on hold after concerns were raised over the controversial nature of some of his old jokes. Hart stepped down and the Academy opted not to replace him. The new format led to a shorter telecast and higher ratings. It appears as though last year’s experiment was a success.
It likely won’t matter though, as there will be plenty of celebrity presenters on hand, including Salma Hayek, Ray Romano, James Corden, Penélope Cruz, Diane Keaton, Steve Martin, Keanu Reeves, Sigourney Weaver, Gal Gadot, Will Ferrel, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and last year’s winners Rami Malek, Olivia Coleman, Regina King, and Mahershala Ali.
For the record, no one has hosted the Oscars more than Bob Hope, who did so on 19 different occasions, with his last appearance in 1978. Billy Crystal has hosted nine times, with his last appearance back in 2012.
Oscars by the Numbers
The average age of the nominees in the Best Supporting Actor category is 71. Brad Pitt (56) is the youngest, while Anthony Hopkins is the oldest at 82.
The total cost of the ceremony is $44 million. The red carpet is 16,500 square feet in size and will require 900 hours to install. It will cost $105,000 for two tickets to the Vanity Fair Oscar Party. The Oscars goodie bag is valued at $148,000.
Winning an Oscar is big business; actors can expect to receive a 20 per cent increase in pay for their next film after taking home a statue. On average, the film named Best Picture will receive a 15 per cent boost at the box office after winning.
Whether you’re interested in the movies, the stars, the red carpet fashion, or you are just hoping for an envelope mix-up like in 2017, the Oscars will surely be a can’t-miss event this Sunday. The red carpet show starts at 5:30 p.m. and the award broadcast itself airs at 7 p.m. on CTV.
