Updated Monday 2/10 with additional reviews of the show
Predictable, until the end

1 | Parasite | 4 wins |
2 | 1917 | 3 wins |
3 | Ford v Ferrari | 2 wins |
Joker | 2 wins | |
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood | 2 wins |
Heading into Sunday evening's broadcast of the 92nd Annual Academy Awards, pundits were in rare agreement about their predicted winners in nearly every one of the 24 categories, suggesting that the ceremony was going to be one of the most uneventful Oscar broadcasts in recent memory. That indeed turned out to be true—with the exception of the evening's two biggest awards.
Capping a night in which it received a year-leading four Oscar trophies altogether, Korean director Bong Joon-ho's thrilling tale of class warfare, Parasite, was the upset winner (over 1917) in the best picture category, becoming the first ever foreign-language film to receive the Academy's highest honor (after becoming just the 11th such film nominated for best picture). Bong was also an upset winner (over 1917's Sam Mendes) for best director. Parasite, by the way, was 2019's highest-scoring (and thus best-reviewed) film, and it was the first time since 2016's Moonlight that a film with the year's highest Metascore took home best picture honors. Parasite is also the first best picture winner in 11 years (since Slumdog Millionaire) without a single nomination in any of the four acting categories.
Below, find a complete list of this year's Oscar winners, followed by a look at how well experts and Metacritic users did with their Oscar predictions this year. You'll also find reviews of the broadcast from a variety of TV critics a bit further down the page.
The winners and losers
Listed below are the 2020 Academy Award winners in each of the 24 categories, compared to the consensus predictions of over 110 industry experts (more on that below).
Category | Predicted Winner | Actual Winner | |
---|---|---|---|
Best Picture | ![]() |
1917 | Parasite |
Director | ![]() |
Sam Mendes 1917 |
Bong Joon-ho Parasite |
Lead Actress | ![]() |
Renée Zellweger Judy |
Renée Zellweger Judy |
Lead Actor | ![]() |
Joaquin Phoenix Joker |
Joaquin Phoenix Joker |
Supporting Actress | ![]() |
Laura Dern Marriage Story |
Laura Dern Marriage Story |
Supporting Actor | ![]() |
Brad Pitt Once Upon a Time in Hollywood |
Brad Pitt Once Upon a Time in Hollywood |
Original Screenplay | ![]() |
Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin-won Parasite |
Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin-won Parasite |
Adapted Screenplay | ![]() |
Taika Waititi Jojo Rabbit |
Taika Waititi Jojo Rabbit |
Animated Feature | ![]() |
Toy Story 4 | Toy Story 4 |
Documentary Feature | ![]() |
American Factory | American Factory |
Foreign-Language Feature | ![]() |
Parasite | Parasite |
Animated Short | ![]() |
Hair Love | Hair Love |
Documentary Short | ![]() |
Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (if you're a girl) | Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (if you're a girl) |
Live-Action Short | ![]() |
The Neighbors' Window | The Neighbors' Window |
Original Score | ![]() |
Hildur Guðnadóttir Joker |
Hildur Guðnadóttir Joker |
Original Song | ![]() |
“(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from Rocketman |
“(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from Rocketman |
Cinematography | ![]() |
Roger Deakins 1917 |
Roger Deakins 1917 |
Costume Design | ![]() |
Little Women | Little Women |
Film Editing | ![]() |
Michael McCusker & Andrew Buckland Ford v Ferrari |
Michael McCusker & Andrew Buckland Ford v Ferrari |
Makeup & Hairstyling | ![]() |
Bombshell | Bombshell |
Production Design | ![]() |
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood | Once Upon a Time in Hollywood |
Sound Editing | ![]() |
1917 | Ford v Ferrari |
Sound Mixing | ![]() |
1917 | 1917 |
Visual Effects | ![]() |
1917 | 1917 |
How accurate were the predictions?
Experts
As indicated above, our panel of 117 industry experts, as a group, correctly forecast 21 of the 24 categories (despite getting the night's two biggest awards wrong). That's an impressive 87.5% success rate, which marks a considerable improvement over last year's 62.5% accuracy rate.
The top indivudal expert was Collider's Adam Chitwood, who matched the consensus by getting 21 of 24 categories correct. Several other experts had 20 correct picks, including Gautam Anand (The Cinemaholic), Edward Douglas (Weekend Warrior), Joyce Eng (Gold Derby), Peter Howell (Toronto Star), Scott Mantz (Collider), Matt Mueller (OnMilwaukee), and Glenn Whipp (Los Angeles Times). The worst-performing expert (among those making selections in all 24 categories) was Fansided's D.J. Rivera, who had just 10 correct picks, followed by NPR's Eric Deggans (with 11 of 24 correct) and a panel of writers at Consequence of Sound (also 11 of 24).
Metacritic users
As a group, Metacritic users performed worse than the experts and managed to correctly name just 16 of the 24 winners, good for a 67% accuracy rate. The top-performing users each had 20 correct picks; their names are:
- Nick Chianese
- Jonathan Ferber
- Carlos Gómez
- CJ Johnson
- Matt S
How was the telecast?
How did critics react to the second straight hostless telecast, which managed to run only 32 minutes over schedule and featured a surprise (but well-received) performance of a 17-year-old Oscar-winning song by Eminem for no particular reason? Below are selections from TV critics' assessments of this year's Oscars (in no particular order); click any link to read the full review. More reviews will be added Monday morning.
The New York Times James Poniewozik
One thing a host can do is give the broadcast a shape and a voice when nothing else provides them. And this year’s show seemed to feel the vacuum more, turning out a grab bag of emotional high moments and perplexing uses of time. ... The ceremony was most effective when it simply got out of the way of its stars’ shine.
Deadline Dominic Patten
The 2020 Oscars bellowed out for a ringmaster to harness what soon became a lackluster circus. ... To bring out ex-SNL duos like Bridesmaids co-stars Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig or Downhill‘s Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Farrell and have them caught in a leg hold trap of bad writing and clear network time killing is a sin on any Sunday, but especially Oscar night.
Vanity Fair Richard Lawson
Sure, the Academy has been sheepishly apologetic about the length of the ceremony for decades now. But now that they’re actually concretely addressing it, it almost plays as a too-guilty concession, an eschewing of self-serious pomp and grandeur that makes the whole thing feel a little thin. I know; it’s unfair to rag on the Oscars for being so bloated for so many years, and then rag on them for attending to that complaint, but there it is. Maybe this show is damned either way.
The Washington Post Hank Stuever
Hostlessness is not the Oscar’s problem, not really. ... The more rote the Oscars become, the more they stand in contrast to what has perhaps become the most entertaining movie awards show — the Film Independent Spirit Awards, which took place Saturday afternoon and aired on cable channel IFC. Held under a big tent near the beach in Santa Monica, the Spirit Awards have much of what viewers say they want from these affairs: spontanaiety, diversity and the general idea that going to a star-studded event (even vicariously, on television) ought to be a lot of fun.
The Hollywood Reporter Daniel Fienberg
Like the Emmys back in the fall, this year's Oscars were a roller coaster of bizarre producing and directing decisions, a few of which paid entertainment dividends, but most of which contributed to a show that ran far over the allotted three hours and gained more of its highlights from off-the-cuff moments than scheduled bits. ... Maybe every award show doesn't need a host? This one sure did. The structure and fluidity that a host can help provide was exactly what this telecast was missing, which doesn't mean that a Billy Crystal or Ricky Gervais would have solved everything that was weird about what was a telecast without a clear theme, message, agenda or cohering purpose.
The Oregonian Kristi Turnquist
If the 2020 Oscars broadcast was competing for a “Most Confusing Mess of an Awards Show” trophy, it really hit the mark. But that’s the best that can be said for the 92nd Annual Academy Awards, which, despite a few surprises, was mostly predictable and seemed to go on forever.
Time Andrew R. Chow
While the Oscars were also hostless last year, it really felt like this time there was no one in charge. Award winners were allowed to drone on for minutes, with the producers seemingly too meek to try to play anyone off.
Gold Derby Tony Ruiz
While last year’s ceremony was more of a daring experience, this year’s comparatively by-the-numbers event showed signs that the [host-free] experiment might need to come to an end. Thankfully the ceremony was saved by a little historic Korean film, whose presence injected some much-needed joy and energy into an otherwise listless ceremony.
Variety Caroline Framke
The 92nd annual Academy Awards quickly lost its own plot amid a million distractions courtesy of ABC’s frenetic, often baffling production decisions. But then, through the sheer pleasure of the groundbreaking winners of “Parasite” breaking through the expected narrative to triumph, the show became something far more beautifully chaotic than the show’s producers could have hoped for.
IndieWire Ben Travers
So much of what was put forth during the 2020 Oscars simply didn’t work, and it would’ve added up to an ugly failure on all fronts — if not for our Lord and Savior, Director Bong.
Boston Globe Matthew Gilbert
Sometimes, a few good moments are enough to get you there. And there were a few good ones throughout the Oscarcast Sunday night, which, like every Oscarcast ever, hosted or host-free, predictable or filled with surprises, jubilant or downbeat, was longer than it needed to be. Just when you thought it was time to jump ship, for instance right at the top of the night when Janelle Monáe led dancers and Billy Porter through a largely unnecessary musical number, they pulled you back in with something small.
Star Tribune [Minneapolis] Neal Justin
Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph, who used their stage time to “audition” for dramatic roles, were dynamite; they always are. In fact, the case has never been stronger that they — or some other female combo from the “Saturday Night Live” family — should be front and center throughout the evening, especially if your goal is to throw a feel-good party that won’t trigger internet trolls.
Sioux City Journal Bruce Miller
Because it lacked focus (a host was needed), this year’s Academy Awards rambled as much as Zellweger and Phoenix. Someone like Jimmy Kimmel or Ellen DeGeneres could have prevented some of the train wrecks and made more of its wins.
Los Angeles Times Lorraine Ali
This year’s Oscars showed an art form in dire need of a relevancy check. Instead we got the biggest rap act of 2002 and a whole lot of jokes about the industry’s inability to see its own stasis.
Entertainment Weekly Darren Franich
[Grade: B+] Certain elements seemed to be awkwardly straining for youth appeal. ... There were other hiccups in the production that felt like problems somebody decided to invent. ... The 2020 Oscars were a bit of a shambles, and we can definitely lose all the introducers next year. But the last hour had the quality of a well-deserved coronation.
Vox Emily Todd VanDerWerff
But where the 2019 awards were sprightly and largely entertaining, the 2020 awards felt like they had absolutely no focus. As it became more and more clear that the Academy would award Best Picture to an international film for the first time, less-anxious viewers could instead focus on the curious choices in how the show was staged and produced. ... It’s entirely possible that the problem with this year’s award show wasn’t the lack of a host, but its inability to decide which elements of a traditional host to keep and which to jettison.
Vulture Jen Chaney
The most maddening thing about this year’s Oscars, which featured many delightful moments, including a semi-surprising Best Picture win for Parasite, wasn’t that it ran late. It was that there was absolutely no reason it needed to run late. If just a few segments had been snipped and some awkward transitions had been finessed, this could have been one of the best Oscar broadcasts in recent memory. It came close, but didn’t quite get there.
The Telegraph Ed Power
[4 of 5 stars] It was glamorous and surreal, indulgent and heartfelt. ... The most memorable moments were also the most orthodox.
Slate Willa Paskin
Without a host and with so many musical performances, the show felt different than usual, a little less grueling, but also a little weirder.
What do you think?
Were you happy with the Academy's choices? What did you think of the broadcast? Let us know in the comments section below. And be sure to check out our updated 2019-20 Film Awards Scorecard to get our final updated tally of the big winners from throughout the past awards season.
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