The 2021 Oscars did turn out to have a shocking conclusion — but not because of what film won Best Picture.
At Sunday's Academy Awards, Nomadland took the Oscar for Best Picture, as had been widely predicted. But there was still a shocker involved with this category. Despite the fact that Best Picture has in the past been presented at the very end of the show seeing as it's, you know, the top prize of the night, it was actually presented third to last, being handed out prior to Best Actress and Best Actor.
Viewers were fairly baffled by the decision, though there was immediately some speculation that producers may have decided to change up the order in hopes of ending on the note of Chadwick Boseman posthumously winning the Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. But if that was the plan, it didn't exactly work out, seeing as Boseman ended up losing to Anthony Hopkins in a shock upset.
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The result was the Academy Awards not ending on the triumphant note of Chloé Zhao going on stage to accept Best Picture for Nomadland, but of Boseman losing an Oscar for his final role and the person who won the award, Hopkins, not even being there to accept the trophy. Needless to say, whoever came up with the idea to shuffle the order of the categories must be seriously regretting that decision.
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