Anora triumphs with 5 Oscars, including best picture, at safe but steady Academy Awards

The 97th Academy Awards, hosted by Conan O'Brien and led by Anora with five wins, didn't just avoid the traditional Oscars pitfalls — they were actually surprisingly successful. 

The ceremony kicked things off with a Wizard of Oz inspired tribute to an L.A. ravaged by fires featuring an impressive vocal medley by Wicked stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.

O'Brien followed that up by showing off his skills as host, dancing through the dizzying number of scandals that plagued this awards season. He built in jokes about the Catholic thriller Conclave potentially mirroring the Pope's current medical crisis, and made an extended reference to Emilia Pérez actress Karla Sofía Gascón's racist tweet debacle. 

After O'Brien noted that Anora used the f-word 479 times — just three times more than Gascón's publicist — the camera focused directly on her. Addressing the actress personally, he advised her that if she chose to tweet about him, "Remember, my name is Jimmy Kimmel."

He also managed to squeak in a reference to the rap feud that will never die. 

"Well, we're halfway through the show, which means it's time for Kendrick Lamar to come out and call Drake a pedophile," O'Brien said. "Don't worry, I'm lawyered up."

It was all par for the course for an awards season seemingly defined by shifting narratives, negative headlines and bad blood. Going into the Oscars with a gigantic 13 nominations, Emilia Pérez ended the night with a new kind of record. After only taking home two awards, it is now tied as the losingest movie in the ceremony's history.

But it wasn't a night defined by losses. Emilia Pérez's Zoe Saldaña took home the best supporting actress award — tearfully proclaiming "I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award, and I know I will not be the last."

And Anora pulled in five trophies, including the night's biggest award, best picture. Though it trailed Emilia Pérez's 13 nominations and Wicked and The Brutalist's 10, it had a somewhat historic night. A film hasn't won five of six nominations since The Bad and the Beautiful in 1952.

Those wins included one that was somewhat of a surprise. Demi Moore was expected to earn her first Oscar win for best actress off the strength of her performance in The Substance, but Anora star Mikey Madison ended up pulling out the win, thanking the cast, her family and specifically her twin brother and "best friend — not that you have a choice." 

Despite Madison's triumph, Anora's big winner was director Sean Baker. Due to his personal hand in the film, Baker took home four awards himself. Before him, only Walt Disney had accomplished the same feat, though he won for four different titles in 1954. 

After winning the Palme d'Or at Cannes, Anora had somewhat faded from the awards conversation as Emilia Pérez took the front spot. But its dominant performance on Sunday cemented the indie film's place in the Hollywood system, despite being one of the lowest grossing best picture winners of all time.

Baker also had the opportunity to share the stage with his wife, Vancouver-born producer Samantha Quan, making them the second husband-wife team to take home best picture in a row, following last year's win by Oppenheimer's Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas. 

In Baker's triumphant speech after winning best director, he made a plea for the future of films released in theatres — possibly a subtle jab at Netflix and the general rise of streaming platforms.