3 storylines to watch for at the 2020 Oscars

Dive into just a couple of the stories worth paying attention to at 2020 Oscars on Sunday.

There’s a good reason the Oscars are called Hollywood’s biggest night. From shocking upsets and long-overdue recognition to beautiful gowns and viral acceptance speeches, the best Academy Awards are the ones with lots to storylines to watch for.

The 2020 ceremony is nearly a month early this year, and conveniently enough, it comes just one week after the Super Bowl. Did the Academy do that on purpose as a means to reel in the football fans? Presumably, their Sundays will be wide open after the big game. Time will tell if it will help the show in the ratings. Fans have already expressed mixed reactions about it, but it’s better to be early than not there at all, right?

Here now is a rundown of three of the most exciting things to look out for in this year’s telecast of the 2020 Oscars.

1. The future of the no-host ceremony

The trend of having no one host the ceremony may not last very much longer. The 2020 Oscars will, once again, be without a host, repeating what started last year when Kevin Hart declined to host after being re-offered the position following his removal. Perhaps the bad press around that whole affair led the Academy to decide to not have anyone take on master of ceremony.

Instead, the Academy wish to focus on comedy bits and musical performances from presenters and performers. That’s all well and good until it isn’t. One of the biggest traditions surrounding the Academy Awards is anticipating who will host.

The success of Sunday night’s host-less show may determine how long this trend lasts.

2. Parasite‘s shot at history

After its Best Ensemble victory at this year’s Screen Actors Guild Awards and picking up two additional trophies at the BAFTAs, the Korean film Parasite is generating more buzz than ever as a potential dark horse contender for Best Picture.

Typically, foreign language films made by a non-mainstream filmmaker don’t garner the same kind of attention as English language Oscar campaigners do. A perfect example of this was 2018’s Roma, directed by Alfonso Cuarón. True, Roma was the Best Foreign Language Film favorite by a mile. No doubt, we can expect Parasite to end up with that award, at the very least.

However, the film is very much making its case Oscar’s top prize and a victory in the Best Picture category Sunday could set a new precedent for foreign language recognition.

3. Joaquin Phoenix’s acceptance speech soapbox

It’s no secret that Joaquin Phoenix is the absolute shoo-in for Best Actor for his morbidly riveting performance in Joker. It’s all but a certainty, as much as the other nominees deserve it. So how about the speech he plans to make?

Phoenix has garnered quite a bit of attention for his acceptance speeches this award season. At the Golden Globe Awards, he spent a good portion of the speech talking about the environment and veganism. He even went so far as to mention that this ceremony was the first one where he partook in the dinner because of the vegan-friendly menu. At the SAG Awards, he made the speech primarily about his fellow nominees and took the time to highlight each one of them separately.

His latest foray into gratitude expression came during this year’s BAFTA awards. Phoenix took this time to point out the racial inequality that still exists during awards season.

So what will be he talk about during the acceptance speech for his almost-certain win at the 2020 Oscars? Only time will tell.

You can catch the ceremony on ABC on Feb. 9 at 8 p.m ET.