The nominations for the 92nd Academy Awards have been announced and they are full of snubs and surprises. “Joker” led nominations with 11 total, including Best Picture, Director and Actor. 

War film “1917”, Martin Scorcese’s “The Irishman,” and Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon A Time in Hollywood” each received 10 nominations, including Best Picture. 

Other contenders for Best Picture include “Jojo Rabbit,” “Little Women,” “Marriage Story,” “Parasite” (6 nominations for each film) and “Ford v Ferrari” (4 nominations). 

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Here are some of the many snubs and surprises that came with the nominations this year. A full list of nominees is available at the end of this article.

Surprise: Netflix Dominates

It wasn’t long ago that the Academy was against Netflix and its expansion into the world of filmmaking and getting awards for their work. 

Now, Netflix has the most nominations of any other distributor this year with 24. 

This marks the first time Netflix has led nominations. “The Irishman” and “Marriage Story” made up 16 of the nominations on their own, with films like “The Two Popes” and surprise Animated Feature contender “Klaus,” as well as multiple documentary narratives filling in the remaining nominations. 

Still, many wonder if the streaming giant can turn those nominations into wins. Neither film is expected to win more than a couple awards each, so it may be just another year of recognizing the service without giving it a ton of awards. 

Snub: Female Directors

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It’s hard to find a year with as many amazing films by female directors as 2019. Studios gave women so many amazing opportunities to tell beautiful stories and they did so with talent to spare. 

In the Documentary Feature category, four of the five nominees are directed or co-directed by women. Yet, in the Best Director category, there were no women nominated. 

The filmmakers who were nominated all turned in some great work, but comparably, the showcase of talent and power by female directors this year outshone many of the nominees. 

The most obvious omission is Greta Gerwig for her work directing “Little Women,” but filmmakers like Lulu Wang (The Farewell), Celine Sciamma (Portrait of a Lady on Fire), Lorene Scafaria (Hustlers), Alma Har’el (Honey Boy), Olivia Wilde (Booksmart) and Marielle Heller (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood), among many others, all deserved far more recognition and love for their work. 

It’s a disgrace to Hollywood that this has happened time and time again, but hopefully, with the majority of the major comic book blockbusters coming out in 2020 directed by women, people will start to see the power that a woman behind the camera has and hopefully we won’t end up having this same conversation again in the coming years (we probably will, but I still have hope).

Surprise: Joker

If you’d told me four months ago when I saw this film that it would be nominated for eleven Oscars, I’d have told you that you were crazy. But here we are. 

There are a lot of things in “Joker” that do work that are worthy of this kind of acclaim, but there’s no universe where “Joker” needed or deserved eleven nominations. 

These kinds of nominations ignore the work of many others who are much more deserving of their work, especially in costume design. Ruth E. Carter’s work on “Dolemite is My Name” deserved to win this category. She was not nominated. 

I think “Joker” will likely only walk away with two or three awards (hopefully), but it still robs those who did far better and more complex work of the chance to be recognized. 

Snub: People of Color

It’s another year of the Academy ignoring people of color, both in front of and behind the camera. The entire cast of Bong Joon-Ho’s masterwork “Parasite” was completely ignored, despite being one of the best ensemble casts assembled in recent memory, with each performance arguably worthy of being nominated. 

Jennifer Lopez, who almost everyone expected to get nominated, was snubbed in the supporting actress category. Eddie Murphy and the entire “Dolemite is My Name” cast and crew were snubbed, as was the team behind “The Farewell,” specifically Lulu Wang for directing and writing and Awkwafina and Zhau Shuzen for their performances. 

SAG nominee Jamie Foxx (Just Mercy) was shut out in favor of Anthony Hopkins and Lupita Nyong’o’s incredible performance in “Us” was completely ignored, as was the rest of the film.

The only non-white acting nominee is Cynthia Erivo for “Harriet,” in which she plays Harriet Tubman. Her inclusion allows the Academy to avoid another #OscarsSoWhite backlash, but 1/20 in a year where the breakdown easily could have been so much higher and better is just disheartening and upsetting.

Surprise: Frozen 2

I never would have expected Frozen 2 to not receive a Best Animated Feature nomination. The first film won the prize and also took home Best Original Song. 

This follow-up has gotten nearly every major precursor award nomination for the animation branches thus far, and it just became the highest grossing animated film of all time, surpassing the first. Still, this wasn’t enough, and the film was shut out of the Animated Feature category. 

The song “Into The Unknown” from the film did receive a nomination, while another Disney track, “Spirit” by Beyonce, was snubbed. 

The powers that be at Disney surely aren’t too upset (they got 22 nominations overall), but the notable lack of Frozen 2’s presence in the Animated Feature race, especially considering the amount of love Disney received this year, is interesting to say the least and could very well affect “Frozen 2”’s chances in the Original Song category this year.

Full List of 92nd Academy Award Categories and Nominees

Best Picture

“Ford v Ferrari” (Disney/Fox)

“The Irishman” (Netflix)

“Jojo Rabbit” (Fox Searchlight)

“Joker” (Warner Bros.)

“Little Women” (Sony)

“Marriage Story” (Netflix)

“1917” (Universal)

“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (Sony)

“Parasite” (Neon)

Best Director

Martin Scorsese (“The Irishman”)

Todd Phillips (“Joker”)

Sam Mendes (“1917”)

Quentin Tarantino (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”)

Bong Joon Ho (“Parasite”)

Best Actor

Antonio Banderas (“Pain and Glory”)

Leonardo DiCaprio (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”)

Adam Driver (“Marriage Story”)

Joaquin Phoenix (“Joker”)

Jonathan Pryce (“The Two Popes”)

Best Actress

Cynthia Erivo (“Harriet”)

Scarlett Johansson (“Marriage Story”)

Saoirse Ronan (“Little Women”)

Charlize Theron (“Bombshell”)

Renee Zellweger (“Judy”)

Supporting Actor

Tom Hanks (“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”)

Anthony Hopkins (“The Two Popes”)

Al Pacino (“The Irishman”)

Joe Pesci (“The Irishman”)

Brad Pitt (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”)

Supporting Actress

Kathy Bates (“Richard Jewell”)

Laura Dern (“Marriage Story”)

Scarlett Johansson (“Jojo Rabbit”)

Florence Pugh (“Little Women”)

Margot Robbie (“Bombshell”)

Adapted Screenplay

Taika Waititi (“Jojo Rabbit”)

Steve Zaillian (“The Irishman”)

Anthony McCarten (“The Two Popes”)

Greta Gerwig (“Little Women”)

Todd Phillips and Scott Silver (“Joker”)

Best Original Screenplay

Rian Johnson (“Knives Out”)

Noah Baumbach (“Marriage Story”)

Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns (“1917”)

Quentin Tarantino (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”)

Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won (“Parasite”)

Animated Feature

“How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World”

“I Lost My Body”

“Klaus”

“Missing Link”

“Toy Story 4”

International Feature Film

“Corpus Christi”

“Honeyland”

“Les Miserables”

“Pain and Glory”

“Parasite”

Best Documentary

“American Factory”

“The Cave”

“Edge of Democracy”

“For Sama”

“Honeyland”

Best Cinematography

Rodrigo Prieto, “The Irishman”

Lawrence Sher, “Joker”

Jarin Blaschke, “The Lighthouse”

Roger Deakins, “1917”

Robert Richardson, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”

Best Costume Design

Sandy Powell and Christopher Peterson, “The Irishman”

Mayes C. Rubeo, “Jojo Rabbit”

Mark Bridges, “Joker”

Jacqueline Durran, “Little Women”

Arianne Phillip, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”

Film Editing

Michael McCusker and Andrew Buckland, “Ford vs. Ferrari”

Thelma Schoonmaker, “The Irishman”

Tom Eagles, “Jojo Rabbit”

Jeff Groth, “Joker”

Yang Jinmo, “Parasite”

Makeup and Hairstyling

“Bombshell” (Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan and Vivian Baker)

“Joker” (Nicki Ledermann and Kay Georgiou)

“Judy” (Jeremy Woodhead)

“Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” (Paul Gooch, Arjen Tuiten and David White)

“1917” (Naomi Donne, Tristan Versluis and Rebecca Cole)

Original Score

Hildur Guðnadóttir, “Joker”

Alexandre Desplat, “Little Women”

Randy Newman, “Marriage Story”

Thomas Newman, “1917”

John Williams, “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”

Original Song

I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away,” “Toy Story 4”

“I’m Gonna Love Me Again,” “Rocketman”

“I’m Standing With You,” “Breakthrough”

“Into the Unknown,” “Frozen 2”

“Stand Up,” “Harriet”

Production Design

“The Irishman”

“Jojo Rabbit”

“1917”

“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”

“Parasite”

Sound Editing

“Ford v Ferrari” (Donald Sylvester)

“Joker” (Alan Robert Murray)

“1917” (Oliver Tarney and Rachael Tate)

“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (Wylie Stateman)

“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” (Matthew Wood and David Acord)

Sound Mixing

“Ad Astra” (Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson and Mark Ulano)

“Ford vs. Ferrari” (Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Steven A. Morrow)

“Joker” (Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic and Tod Maitland)

“1917” (Mark Taylor and Stuart Wilson)

“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (Michael Minkler, Christian P. Minkler and Mark Ulano)

Visual Effects

“Avengers: Endgame” (Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Matt Aitken and Dan Sudick)

“The Irishman” (Pablo Helman, Leandro Estebecorena, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser and Stephane Grabli)

“The Lion King” (Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Elliot Newman)

“1917” (Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler and Dominic Tuohy)

“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” (Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach and Dominic Tuohy)

Documentary (Short Subject)

“In the Absence”

“Learning to Skateboard in a War Zone If You’re a Girl”

“Life Overtakes Me”

“St. Louis Superman”

“Walk Run Cha-Cha”

Short Film (Animated)

“Daughter”

“Hair Love”

“Kitbull”

“Memorable”

“Sister”

Short Film (Live Action)

“Brotherhood”

“Nefta Football Club”

“The Neighbor’s Window”

“Saria”

“A Sister”

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