After eleven days of movie watching in the heart of Toronto, it was announced earlier today that Mike Flanagan’s “The Life Of Chuck” won the 2024 TIFF People’s Choice Award. Voted on by the general public after each film screens, the award has become a strong indicator of what movie would do well with Academy voters because it indicates broad appeal among a diverse group of people.
Past People’s Choice Award winners since the Oscar Best Picture lineup expanded to ten nominees (Best Picture nominees are highlighted in bold):
2023: 1. American Fiction 2. The Holdovers 3. The Boy And The Heron
2022: 1. The Fabelmans 2. Women Talking 3. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
2021: 1. Belfast 2. Scarborough 3. The Power Of The Dog
2020: 1. Nomadland 2. One Night In Miami… 3. Beans
2019: 1. Jojo Rabbit 2. Marriage Story 3. Parasite
2018: 1. Green Book 2. If Beale Street Could Talk 3. Roma
2017: 1. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 2. I, Tonya 3. Call Me By Your Name
2016: 1. La La Land 2. Lion 3. Queen Of Katwe
2015: 1. Room 2. Angry Indian Goddesses 3. Spotlight
2014: 1. The Imitation Game 2. Learning To Drive 3. St. Vincent
2013: 1. 12 Years A Slave 2. Philomena 3. Prisoners
2012: 1. Silver Linings Playbook 2. Argo 3. Zaytoun
2011: 1. Where Do We Go Now? 2. Starbuck 3. A Separation
2010: 1. The King’s Speech 2. The First Grader
2009: 1. Precious: Based On The Novel ‘Push’ By Sapphire 2. Mao’s Last Dancer 3. Micmacs
As you can see, whether it’s the winner or the runners-up, at least one of the three placed films has managed to score a Best Picture nomination, with the exception being 2011 (though one could make the argument that “A Separation” might’ve gotten into the Best Picture lineup in a year of a straight ten but that’s for another conversation). There’s good reason to suggest the same will happen this year. Sometimes, two Best Picture nominees emerge from the TIFF People’s Choice Award placement, and in 2019, all three managed to score Best Picture nominations. The Best Picture winner has placed within the top 3 seven times since the Best Picture lineup expanded to ten nominees in 2009. The runners-up for this year’s prize were Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez” and Sean Baker’s “Anora.” Will one of these be nominated for Best Picture?
Here are the other winners from the year’s Toronto International Film Festival:
Documentary Award: THE TRAGICALLY HIP NO DRESS REHEARSAL (dir. Mike Downie) – Runners-Up: WILL & HARPER & YOUR TOMORROW
Midnight Madness Award: THE SUBSTANCE (dir. Corlalie Fargeat) – Runners-Up: DEAD TALENTS SOCIETY & FRIENDSHIP
Platform Award: THEY WILL BE DUST (dir. Carlos Marqués-Marcet)
Best Canadian Feature Film Award: SHEPHERDS (dir. Sophie Deraspe)
Best Canadian Discovery Award: UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE (dir. Matthew Rankin)
NETPAC Award: THE LAST OF THE SEA WOMEN (dir. Sue Kim)
FIPRESCI Prize: MOTHER MOTHER (dir. K’naan Warsame)
Short Cuts Award for Best Canadian Short Film: ARE YOU SCARED TO BE YOURSELF BECAUSE YOU THINK THAT YOU MIGHT FAIL? (dir. Bec Pecaut)
Short Cuts Award for Best International Short Film: DECK 5B (dir. Malin Ingrid Johansson)
Will “The Life Of Chuck” receive a Best Picture nomination? What does the TIFF People’s Choice Award do for its awards prospects? Please let us know in the comments section below or on Next Best Picture’s X account and check out our latest Oscar predictions here.
