And the Nominees for the 92nd Academy Awards Are…

Oscar front runners (clockwise from top left): Joaquin Phoenix in “Joker” (Copyright: WB), Renee Zellweger in “Judy” (Copyright: LD Entertainment), Brad Pitt in “Once Upon a Time…” (Copyright: Sony), and Laura Dern in “Marriage Story” (Copyright: Netflix)

At 5:18am PST this morning the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominations for the 92nd Annual Academy Awards, which are set to air on ABC at their earliest date ever — February 9. There were some shocking snubs and surprise inclusions, but ultimately it played out largely as expected. Below I list the key takeaways and the nominees in the major categories, along with their Oscar history.

10 Key Headlines from This Morning’s Oscar Nominations

1. Best Picture nominees Joker, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, The Irishman, and 1917 had an outstanding morning. As expected, the Academy went head over heels for Todd Phillips’s tepidly reviewed comic book blockbuster Joker (11 nominations including Best Picture and Best Director), Quentin Tarantino’s 1960s-set buddy comedy Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood (10 nominations including Best Picture and Best Director), Martin Scorcese’s long-gestating mafia epic The Irishman (10 nominations including Best Picture and Best Director), and Sam Mendes’s WWI epic 1917 (10 nominations including Best Picture and Best Director). All remain strong contenders for the win in the top category.
2. Best Picture nominees Parasite, Marriage Story, Little Women, and Jojo Rabbit had a good enough morning. Four of the films that joined them in the Best Picture race had very…