Oscars 2021 recap: Highlights from the 93rd Academy Awards

Yahoo Finance's Alexandra Canal breaks down the biggest takeaways from the 2021 Oscars.

Video Transcript

JULIE HYMAN: It was a very different Oscars that were held last night. There was a live component, a live in-person component to the show, which was moved to a train station from a theater because of COVID-19 protocols. A lot of remote aspects to the program as well. And then there was the increased focus on diversity, both explicitly and implicitly, within the show with a lot of diverse winners, although the Best Actor in the Best Actor category, there was an upset. Chadwick Boseman did not win. Anthony Hopkins did. Our Allie Canal has been covering all of this. Let's talk about the diversity aspect first, Ali, because, you know, it seems like there's progress being made. And the movie business is trying to get more inclusive, but there's still a ways to go.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Definitely, and you're right, there is progress. This was the most diverse acting slate. Nine non-white actors were nominated. But only two of those walked away with actual trophies. That was Daniel Kaluuya for his role in "Judas and the Black Messiah," along with "Minari's" Yuh-Jung Youn. And she had a really cute acceptance speech. She was sort of fawning over Brad Pitt. That was one of the moments. Other standout diversity moments also included Chloé Zhao winning Best Director. Not only is she the second woman ever to win the Best Director Award, but she is also the first woman of Asian descent.

So women certainly playing a big role here, diversity at the forefront. We saw Pixar's "Soul" win for Best Animated Feature Film. That featured the studio's first Black lead character. So there are big strides being made in diversity. But there is still a long way to go. Overall, I think this was a very weird award season. Obviously, within the context of the coronavirus pandemic, a lot of theaters have been shut down. That forced more of the big budget films to push their release dates.

But that made room for streaming. And streaming certainly shined as well. You take a look at the studio wins. We have Netflix coming in at number one, seven total wins. That was led by "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," along with [INAUDIBLE]. And they also had a few wins in the short categories, along with the documentary, "My Octopus Teacher," which I thought was pretty cool as well. And then we have Disney coming in at number five. Obviously, Searchlight Pictures' "Nomadland" was a big winner. Not only do we have Chloé Zhao, but the film also won Best Picture, along with a Best Actress win for Frances McDormand.

So a big moment for streaming here. But, you know, it'll be interesting to see what happens with the ratings when they come in because overall, I felt that the production fell a little flat to me. It was a bit chaotic. They, once again, went hostless. And I think they need to retire that. I think we need someone to man the ship. We need to crack a couple jokes. There were no musical performances this year, which I always think separate things.

And then you mentioned Anthony Hopkins winning Best Actor. The production actually changed it up this year. Instead of ending the show with Best Picture, they ended with Best Actor. And Anthony Hopkins wasn't even there to win the award. So it was overall a bit awkward, a bit anticlimactic at the end. And it went really long. It wrapped up around 11:20 PM. So, overall, I'm not too happy with the production aspect. But we'll see if this changes anything in the future.

JULIE HYMAN: Well, probably not. I mean-- and you're-- I suspect you're not the only person who didn't really enjoy watching it that much. Even before this year, the ratings have been going down for the Oscars telecast, right? And so, I don't know what they can do to sort of get those numbers back up. When do we-- do we have any early indications for the numbers yet?

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Not yet. They should be trickling in over the next couple of hours, at least preliminary data from Nielsen. But you're right, Oscar viewership has been on a very steady decline. 2020 last year was a record low. Only around 23 million people tuned in. And if you look at the rest of the award shows throughout the course of this pandemic, the Golden Globes, the Grammys, they have also been on a very steady decline. So I don't have high expectations for this year's Oscars.

And you and I were talking in the commercial break. You don't really need to watch the show anymore. You can just catch the highlights. You can see who the winners are after. It's very long. It's very drawn out. And they just need to find a way to make it more engaging for the viewer. But like you said, I'm not quite sure that they even know what that answer is. And I'm not sure if anything's going to change. But if the ratings plummet, which I think they're going to, it might force them to reevaluate some things.

JULIE HYMAN: Well, in my case, the first place I go, maybe even before learning who the winners are, are those red carpet photos, which I like to look at.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: The dresses. Of course.

JULIE HYMAN: Allie, thank you so much. We need a little glamor right now for sure. Thanks so much, Allie. Appreciate it.