82nd Academy Awards

Kathryn Bigelow, Best Director winner and Best Picture co-winner

Jeff Bridges, Best Actor winner

Sandra Bullock, Best Actress winner

Christoph Waltz, Best Supporting Actor winner

Mo'Nique, Best Supporting Actress winner

Mark Boal, Best Original Screenplay winner

Pete Docter, Best Animated Feature winner

Fisher Stevens, Best Documentary Feature co-winner

Roger Ross Williams, Best Documentary Short Subject co-winner

Michael Giacchino, Best Original Score winner

Ray Beckett, Best Sound Mixing co-winner

Sandy Powell, Best Costume Design winner

Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface and indicated with a double dagger ().[20]

The Academy held its 1st Annual Governors Awards ceremony on November 14, 2009, during which the following awards were presented.[21][22][23]

• Lauren Bacall — In recognition of her central place in the golden age of motion pictures.
• Roger Corman — For his rich engendering of films and filmmakers.
• Gordon Willis — For unsurpassed mastery of light, shadow, color and motion.

• John Calley

For the first time since 2003, the field of major nominees included at least one blockbuster at the American and Canadian box offices. Five of the nominees had grossed over $100 million before the nominations were announced.[32] Many critics, reporters, and entertainment industry analysts cite the AMPAS's decision to expand the roster of Best Picture nominees from five to ten films as one of the reasons for this.[32][33]

Three of the ten Best Picture nominees were among the top ten releases in box office during the nominations. At the time of the announcement on February 2, Avatar was the highest-grossing film among the Best Picture nominees with $596 million in domestic box office receipts.[32] Other top-ten domestic box office hits nominated were Up with $293 million, and The Blind Side with $237.9 million.[32] Among the remaining seven nominees, Inglourious Basterds was the next highest-grossing film with $120.5 million followed by District 9 ($115.6 million), Up in the Air ($73 million), Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire ($45 million), The Hurt Locker ($12 million), An Education ($9.4 million) and finally A Serious Man ($9.2 million).[34]

Of the top 50 grossing films of the year, 46 nominations went to 13 films on the list. Only Avatar (1st), Up (5th), The Blind Side (8th), Inglourious Basterds (25th), District 9 (27th), The Princess and the Frog (32nd), Julie & Julia (34th), Coraline (42nd) and Up in the Air (43rd) were nominated for directing, acting, screenwriting, Best Picture or Animated Feature.[35] The other top-50 box office hits that earned nominations were Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2nd), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (3rd), Star Trek (7th) and Sherlock Holmes (11th).[35]

On March 1, 2010, WABC-TV New York, ABC's flagship station, announced that it would likely end its services with cable television company Cablevision on March 7, 2010,[36] the weekend of the 82nd Academy Awards. The station was removed from Cablevision's lineup at 12:01 a.m. ET on March 7.[37][38][39] Over 3.1 million viewers in the New York City viewing area, the nation's largest media market, would have been unable to watch the Oscars (and other station-related and ABC-related programming), and it was projected to cause a devastating blow to advertisers and viewership for the Oscars.[40] At about 8:43 p.m. ET, thirteen minutes after the awards ceremony began, Cablevision resumed transmission of the WABC feed.[38][41][42]

Shortly after Music by Prudence director Roger Ross Williams began his speech accepting the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject, he was suddenly interrupted by Elinor Burkett, his co-producer. The scene was described as the ceremony's weirdest or most awkward moment, and was compared by Williams and others to Kanye West's interruption of Taylor Swift's acceptance of the Best Female Video Award at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards five months earlier.[43]

Burkett, who lives in Zimbabwe where most of the film was shot, had sued Williams over the finished film, a suit that had been settled by the time of the ceremony. She explained to Salon.com, to which she was once a contributor, that the film had been her idea. "Roger had never even heard of Zimbabwe before I told him about this." She had been upset that Williams and HBO chose to focus on one person instead of the entire band, as the members had been led to believe. "I felt my role in this has been denigrated again and again, and it wasn't going to happen this time." She hustled onstage because, she claimed, Williams' mother had blocked her from going down with her cane to prevent her from sharing the stage.[44]

"She just ambushed me", said Williams, "I just expected her to stand there. I had a speech prepared." He said it was made clear by the Academy that only one person can give an acceptance speech. He said his mother had merely gotten up to hug him.[44]

The show received a mixed reception from media publications. Some media outlets were more critical of the show. Film critic Roger Ebert criticized the opening monologue of Baldwin and Martin saying it was "surprisingly unfunny". He later went on to say that there was joy that The Hurt Locker won, but choice of Baldwin and Martin as host was wrong.[45] Los Angeles Times columnist Mary McNamara quipped that the show had no sense of timing saying, "Despite everyone's best efforts, this year's Oscars seemed to suffer from a crisis of confidence."[46] Time television critic James Poniewozik also criticized "the choppy paced" ceremony stating, it was "a classic Oscar failing". He also noted that having two hosts was a disadvantage.[47]

Other media outlets received the broadcast more positively. The Boston Globe television critic Matthew Gilbert lauded the hosts performance saying that "The delivery was expert and warmly conversational, like one of those old-school comedy teams."[48] Hank Stuever of The Washington Post remarked that the telecast "moved along with precision and smart decisions." He also praised Baldwin and Martin writing that they "proved to be classy and quippy throughout the night."[49] Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune gave an average critique of the ceremony but acclaimed the cast.[50]

The American telecast on ABC drew in an average of 41.62 million people over its length, which was a 13% increase from the previous year's ceremony.[6] An estimated 79.68 million total viewers watched all or part of the awards.[51] The show also drew higher Nielsen ratings compared to the two previous ceremonies with 24.89% of households watching over a 36.69 share.[52] In addition, the program scored a higher 18-49 demo rating with a 12.71 rating over a 31.51 share among viewers in that demographic.[53] It was the highest viewership for an Academy Award telecast since the 77th ceremony held in 2005.[54][55]

In July 2010, the ceremony presentation received 12 nominations at the 62nd Primetime Emmys.[56] The following month, the ceremony won one of those nominations for Outstanding Art Direction for Variety, Music or Nonfiction Programming (David Rockwell and Joe Celli).[57]