The 92nd Academy Awards were presented on February 9, 2020 in the Dolby Theater in LA. This is the first time in the last decade the ceremony took place in early February – in past years they have been held later in the month. Following the precedent from the previous year, the Oscars once again went without a host, and instead opened with a musical number by Janelle Monae and a comedy bit by Steve Martin and Chris Rock.

   Parasite, a South Korean film, dominated the Awards with four wins, including Best Director for Bong Joon-ho and Best Picture – the first time an international film has ever won in the category, and the first time a Korean movie has won any Oscar. The next for most wins was the film 1917, which earned three awards, including Best Cinematography for its effect of the entire film being made to seem like a continuous shot. Renne Zellweger won for Best Actress in her role as Judy Garland in the movie Judy, Joaquin Phoenix won for Best Actor for his work in the Joker as Arthur Fleck, Brad Pitt won for Best Supporting Actor for Once Upon a Time  in Hollywood as Cliff Booth, and Laura Dern won for Best Supporting Actress as Nora Fanshaw in Marriage Story.

   As for entertainment, there was a performance of the animated movie, Frozen II’s, most popular song, “Into the Unknown,” sung by Idina Menzel (who voices Elsa in the English film) and nine other voice actresses who portray Elsa from around the world. Elton John took to the piano to perform the track “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again,” which won the Oscar for Best Original Song, from a movie about his life,  Rocketman. James Cordon and Rebel Wilson dressed as cats to present the award for Best Visual Effects. Their costumes were a nod to the very poor, widely criticized visual effects of the movie Cats, which both Cordon and Wilson starred in. By far the most surprising of the entertainment sector of the Awards was Eminem’s performance of “Lose Yourself.” 

   The viewership of this year’s Oscar’s of 23.6 million was 20% less than that of the previous year – making the 92nd Academy Awards ceremony the least viewed ceremony of all-time.