A winter of discontent for the Academy Awards will culminate on Sunday in an Oscar ceremony that may lack a host but isn't missing intrigue.
The run-up to the 91st Academy Awards has been a series of missteps and backtracks by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
A new best 'popular film' category was in, and then it was out. Kevin Hart was host and then he wasn't. Some categories were removed from the live broadcast, and then they were back in.
But if the script for this Oscar season has been constantly rewritten, the film academy is hoping for a Hollywood ending - as well as much better ratings than the all-time low viewership last year.
A winter of discontent for the Academy Awards will culminate on Sunday in an Oscar ceremony that may lack a host but isn't missing intrigue. Pictured: Workers set up an Oscars statue as preparations are made ahead of the 91st Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood
The run-up to the 91st Academy Awards has been a series of missteps and backtracks by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Pictured: TV host Tanika Ray, left, and Kristin Cavallari attends the 91st Annual Academy Awards
This includes a new best 'popular film' category that was in, and then it was out, and Kevin Hart being host and then host no longer. Pictured: Zuri Hall arrives for the 91st annual Academy Awards ceremony
Black Panther, which has been nominated in six categories, could become the first superhero film ever to win Best Picture at the 91st Academy Awards
Even if Black Panther doesn't win, Marvel is sure to win its first Oscar for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, considered the overwhelming favorite for best animated film
After some unlikely Los Angeles weather - to much local fanfare, it snowed in parts of the city on Thursday - sunny skies emerged for red carpet arrivals.
Producers Donna Gigliotti and Glenn Weiss have pledged that the show - being broadcast on ABC beginning at 8pm - will be speedier this year, even though its initial goal of a three-hour broadcast has faded.
Kicking things off will be a performance by Queen, featuring Adam Lambert, to celebrate the best picture-nominee Bohemian Rhapsody.
In the academy's favor is a popular crop of nominees. Bohemian Rhapsody, A Star Is Born and Black Panther have all amassed huge sums in ticket sales. Typically, when there are box-office hits - a la Titanic - more people watch the Oscars.
But just how many people have seen one of the top nominees and the film favored to win best picture - Alfonso Cuaron's Roma - remains unknown.
Netflix has declined to give box-office results or steaming viewership. It remains a nominee unlike any other.
Should Roma - a black-and-white, Spanish and Mixtec language film about a domestic worker in a Mexican family - win, it will be both the first Netflix movie to win best picture and the first foreign language film to do so.
Yet this year's race has been maddeningly unpredictable, with the usual predictive awards being spread across contenders such as Peter Farrelly's Green Book, a divisive period dramedy about a black pianist and his white chauffeur; the royal romp The Favourite; and Ryan Coogler's Marvel sensation Black Panther, which could become the first superhero film ever to win Hollywood's top award.
Bohemian Rhapsody, A Star Is Born and Black Panther have all amassed huge sums in ticket sales. Typically, when there are box-office hits - a la Titanic - more people watch the Oscars. Pictured: A worker removes a plastic cover from an Oscars statue as preparations are made ahead of the 91st Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood
After some unlikely Los Angeles weather, sunny skies emerged for red carpet arrivals. The show is being broadcast on ABC beginning at 8pm. Pictured: Scott Evans, left, and Sibley Scoles attends the 91st Annual
