The 90th Academy Awards felt like a fever dream. It was 2018, the world was still reeling from the Harvey Weinstein revelations, and the "Time's Up" movement was the only thing anyone wanted to talk about. Jimmy Kimmel was hosting again, and everyone was terrified of another "Moonlight/La La Land" envelope disaster. But looking back at the winners of Oscars 2018, the narrative isn't just about the fish-man movie or the "Inclusion Rider" speech. It was actually the year the Academy tried to prove it could finally grow up.
It was a weird time for movies.
You had The Shape of Water, a literal fairy tale about a woman falling in love with a swamp creature, going head-to-head with Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, a gritty, polarizing drama about grief and police brutality. People were fighting on Twitter. Critics were divided. Honestly, most fans were just happy Get Out was even in the conversation because, for a long time, the Academy treated horror like a contagious disease.
The Night the Fish Man Stole the Show
Guillermo del Toro is a treasure. We all know this. But in 2018, seeing him stand on that stage with the Best Picture trophy for The Shape of Water felt like a massive shift in how the industry viewed "genre" films. Usually, the big prize goes to a historical biopic or a heavy-duty drama. Fantasy is for the technical awards, right? Not this time.
The Shape of Water ended the night with four wins. It took Best Picture, Best Director, Production Design, and Original Score. Alexandre Desplat’s music was everywhere that year. But if you look at the winners of Oscars 2018 data, the win for Del Toro as Best Director was perhaps the most "locked" bet of the night. He had swept the DGA, the BAFTAs, and the Golden Globes. It wasn't a surprise, but it was a relief.
There’s this misconception that The Shape of Water was a "weak" Best Picture winner. People say it only won because it was "weird." That's kind of reductive. When you rewatch it, the craft is insane. The way Dan Laustsen used green and blue lighting to make the entire world feel underwater even when they were in a dry hallway? That's high-level filmmaking.
Frances McDormand and the Speech That Changed Contracts
If you remember anything about the 90th Academy Awards, it’s probably Frances McDormand. She won Best Actress for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. It was her second win (after Fargo), and she didn't just give a thank-you list. She put her trophy on the floor and asked every female nominee in the room to stand up.
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Then she dropped two words: "Inclusion Rider."
Most people watching at home had no idea what that meant. Google searches spiked immediately. For the record, an inclusion rider is a clause in an actor's contract that requires the production to meet certain levels of diversity in the cast and crew. It was a call to action that actually had legs. In the years since those winners of Oscars 2018 were announced, we’ve seen major stars like Michael B. Jordan and Brie Larson actually start using these clauses. It wasn't just awards-show fluff; it changed how business is done in Hollywood.
The Acting Sweeps Were Weirdly Predictable
Usually, there's at least one upset in the acting categories. Not in 2018. The four winners had won basically every precursor award leading up to the ceremony. It was a steamroller.
- Gary Oldman (Best Actor): He played Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour. The Academy loves a transformation. He was unrecognizable under all that Kazu Hiro makeup.
- Frances McDormand (Best Actress): Her performance as Mildred Hayes was fierce. Even if you hated the movie’s redemption arc for Sam Rockwell’s character, you couldn't deny McDormand was a force of nature.
- Sam Rockwell (Best Supporting Actor): He played a racist, dim-witted cop. It was a controversial win for some, especially with Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project) in the mix, but Rockwell’s character arc was exactly what Oscar voters eat up.
- Allison Janney (Best Supporting Actress): She was terrifying as LaVona Golden in I, Tonya. She even brought a (fake) bird to some of her earlier acceptance speeches. She was the definition of "overdue."
Why Jordan Peele’s Win Actually Mattered
We need to talk about Get Out. Specifically, we need to talk about Jordan Peele winning Best Original Screenplay. This was a massive moment. Peele was the first African American to win in that category.
Get Out was released in February 2017. In "Oscar time," that’s ancient history. Usually, movies released that early are forgotten by the time voting starts in January. But the cultural impact was so huge that the Academy couldn't ignore it. It changed the "social thriller" genre forever. When you look at the winners of Oscars 2018, Peele’s win is the one that has aged the best. It feels modern. It feels like the start of a new era of filmmaking where horror can be "prestige."
The Technical Wins and the Snubs We Still Talk About
Blade Runner 2049 finally got Roger Deakins his Oscar. Can you believe it took that long? The man is a legend. He had been nominated 13 times before 2018 and always went home empty-handed. His win for Best Cinematography was probably the most emotional moment for the "below-the-line" crews. The orange-hued, dusty landscapes of a futuristic Las Vegas were breathtaking. It would have been a crime if he hadn't won.
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Dunkirk also cleaned up. Christopher Nolan’s war epic took home three awards: Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Film Editing. It’s a loud movie. If you saw it in IMAX, your teeth were probably rattling. The editing win was particularly deserved because of how Lee Smith juggled those three different timelines (land, sea, and air) without making the audience lose their minds.
But then there were the misses. Lady Bird had five nominations and won zero. Greta Gerwig’s solo directorial debut was a massive critical darling, but it got shut out. Mudbound was another one. Mary J. Blige made history by being nominated for both Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Song for the same film, but she didn't take home either.
The Full Picture: Major Wins at a Glance
If you're just looking for the hard data on who took home the "Big Five" and other notable categories, here is how the landscape shook out.
- Best Picture: The Shape of Water
- Best Director: Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water)
- Best Actress: Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
- Best Actor: Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour)
- Best Supporting Actress: Allison Janney (I, Tonya)
- Best Supporting Actor: Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
- Best Original Screenplay: Get Out (Jordan Peele)
- Best Adapted Screenplay: Call Me by Your Name (James Ivory)
- Best Animated Feature: Coco
- Best Documentary Feature: Icarus
James Ivory’s win for Call Me by Your Name was also a record-breaker. At 89 years old, he became the oldest Oscar winner at the time. He wore a shirt with Timothée Chalamet’s face on it to the ceremony. Icon behavior, honestly.
The "Icarus" Effect: A Win for Truth?
One of the more underrated stories among the winners of Oscars 2018 was Icarus winning Best Documentary. If you haven't seen it, it starts as a movie about a guy trying to see if he can dope for a bike race without getting caught. It ends up uncovering a massive, state-sponsored Russian Olympic doping program.
The film's subject, Grigory Rodchenkov, had to go into witness protection. It was a documentary that had real-world geopolitical consequences. It was a reminder that the Oscars aren't just about glitz and gowns; sometimes, they highlight stories that actually change international sports policy.
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Was 2018 a Turning Point?
Looking back, the 2018 ceremony was a bridge. It was the bridge between the "Old Academy" (Gary Oldman in a biopic) and the "New Academy" (Jordan Peele and Guillermo del Toro). It was the year they invited a record number of new members to diversify the voting body.
You can see the influence of the 2018 winners in the years that followed. Without Get Out’s success, would Parasite have won Best Picture a few years later? Maybe not. Without The Shape of Water, would the Academy have been as open to Everything Everywhere All At Once? It’s all connected.
People like to complain that the Oscars don't matter anymore. Maybe they're right, maybe they're wrong. But in 2018, the ceremony felt like it was trying to matter. It was trying to be more than just a party. It was a platform for the "Inclusion Rider," a celebration of Mexican cinema through Del Toro and Coco, and a long-overdue "thank you" to veterans like Roger Deakins and James Ivory.
How to Use This Information Today
If you're a film student, a trivia buff, or just someone who wants to understand modern cinema, don't just look at the list of winners. Watch the movies.
- Watch "The Shape of Water" for the production design. Don't focus on the "monster romance" aspect. Look at the textures. Look at how they used water as a metaphor for communication.
- Study "Get Out" for pacing. It’s a masterclass in how to build tension without using cheap jump scares.
- Research the "Inclusion Rider." If you work in a creative field, look into how diversity clauses are being used in modern contracts. It’s not just for actors anymore; it’s a blueprint for any industry trying to fix systemic gaps.
- Check out "Icarus" on Netflix. It’s still one of the most pulse-pounding documentaries ever made, and its relevance to international relations hasn't faded.
The winners of Oscars 2018 represent a specific moment in time when Hollywood was forced to look in the mirror. Some of it was performative, sure. But some of it—like the rise of voices like Peele and Gerwig—was the start of a genuine shift that we are still seeing the effects of today. It wasn't just about who got a gold statue; it was about who finally got a seat at the table.