In a survey conducted by Fandango, the majority of moviegoers want Parasite to win Best Picture at this Sunday’s Academy Awards. The Bong Joon Ho-directed film has become a massive hit after winning over critics and audiences and is one of the biggest films in this awards season. It’s nominated for six Oscars, including Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film. Parasite also won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language film, as well as the SAG Award for Best Ensemble, making it the first foreign film to receive that honor.
Parasite follows a poor family who gradually insert themselves into the lives of a wealthy family, leading to events no one could have predicted. HBO plans to adapt Parasite into a limited series, and it has a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score of 99% as of this writing. Its competition for Best Picture includes 1917, Ford v Ferrari, The Irishman, Jojo Rabbit, Joker, Little Women, Marriage Story, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Ahead of the Oscars ceremony, Fandango conducted its survey by asking over 2,000 millennial moviegoers who they would pick to win in certain categories. For Best Picture, Parasite was the winner, though it beat fellow front-runner 1917 by just one percent. Bong was also the top pick for Best Director, though again he beat 1917 director Sam Mendes just by a hair. This indicates there’s a lot of love to be found for both Parasite and 1917, though Fandango also noted that among the nominees, many have expressed love for Parasite in a video posted on Twitter, which can be seen below:
On the acting side, moviegoers are rooting for Joaquin Phoenix (Best Actor, Joker), Saoirse Ronan (Best Actress, Little Women), Brad Pitt (Best Supporting Actor, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), and Florence Pugh (Best Supporting Actress, Little Women). As Fandango’s Managing Editor, Erik Davis, noted, “Fans are more excited to watch the Academy Awards because they’ve actually seen the nominated movies.” Moviegoers surveyed seemed to throw their support behind several box office hits, such as Little Women, Knives Out (in the Best Original Screenplay category), and Toy Story 4 (for Best Animated Feature).
This year’s Oscar race has been a slightly controversial one, with many taking issue at the lack of diversity among the nominees. However, it can’t be denied that several of the movies nominated have been seen by a good portion of general audiences, and that has sparked some interest in the ceremony. Parasite’s inclusion in the awards race beyond the Best International Feature category is quite the achievement, a testament to just how good the film is. Parasite undoubtedly deserves all the praise it has received, and in the end, it just might score Best Picture like many want it to.
More: Oscars 2020 Best Picture Nominees, Ranked
Source: Fandango/Twitter