Oscars 2020: Biggest snubs and surprises

For a minute there, it seemed like we were in for #OscarsSoPredictable with Oscars 2020.

Award season had up ‘til now been a slow march to the inevitable, with the same four actors (Renée Zellweger, Joaquin Phoenix, Brad Pitt and Laura Dern) and two films (“1917” and “Once Upon A Time In . . . Hollywood”) scooping up almost every industry award. The Oscars seemed, at first, to follow suit.

But after, ahem, a few hours on Sunday night, the Academy Awards began to dish out some delicious surprises at the Dolby Theatre.

Here, we present the night’s biggest snubs and surprises.

“Parasite” wins best picture

Yes, Bong Joon Ho’s thriller masterpiece has had a solid shot at victory for weeks, but so did last year’s Mexican movie “Roma,” which eventually lost out to “Green Book.” Everybody went into the evening expecting big wins for director Sam Mendes and his also-excellent “1917.” But the continuous string of “Parasite” wins — original screenplay, director, international film — made it clear the happy crowd, and us, would be treated to a historic best picture win. It was a special moment.

“1917” loses best picture and director

First off, award season has been very good to Mendes’ WWI movie. After its Golden Globes victory and subsequent Producers Guild and Directors Guild wins, it cleaned up at the box office, taking in nearly $300 million so far worldwide. That’s pretty rare for a best picture nominee these days (“Moonlight,” which won in 2017, made just $65 million domestically and internationally). Still, it will sting for Mendes and Co. that after all those predictive victories, their film didn’t go home with the most coveted prize in all of moviemaking.

“The Irishman” was totally shut out

The Irish did very little fightin’ Sunday night. What was once the front-runner for best picture, “The Irishman” lost all 10 of the Oscars it was nominated for: picture, director, supporting actor (Al Pacino and Joe Pesci), adapted screenplay, editing, costumes, production design, visual effects and cinematography. It was a rough end to a rougher award season for Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed mafia film.

Netflix flops

Netflix just can’t catch a break. The streaming service with big cinematic dreams brought New York’s beloved Paris Theatre back to life last year, had two best picture nominees (“The Irishman” and “Marriage Story”) and another (“The Two Popes”) with several nominations. And yet the academy still refuses to give it much love. With 24 nods, the most of any studio, it won just two, for Laura Dern (“Marriage Story”) and best documentary (“American Factory”).

“Ford v Ferrari” sneaks in

Perhaps an early indicator that “1917” wasn’t the top choice of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, “Ford v Ferrari” managed a couple of technical awards early on: sound editing and film editing. Some extra gold for their swag bags.

“Toy Story 4” rebounds

Bong Joon Ho isn’t the only winner getting drunk tonight — so is Woody. Last month’s shocker Golden Globes loss to the lesser-known “Missing Link” surely hurt Disney and Pixar’s resolve, but their third sequel to the 1995 original family movie came back roaring Sunday night when it took home the Oscar for best animated feature. To infinity and… the Vanity Fair Oscars party!

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