Disney's global hit "Frozen" won best animated film, marking - somewhat remarkably - the studio's first win in the 14 years of the best animated feature category. (Pixar, which Disney owns, has regularly dominated.) With box-office that recently passed $1 billion globally, the film was sure to be the biggest hit to take home an Oscar on Sunday.
"We're all just trying to make films that touch people," said co-director Chris Buck backstage. "Once in a while, you get lucky."
Though the Oscar ceremony is usually a glitzy bubble separate from real-world happenings, international events were immediately referenced. In his acceptance speech, Leto addressed people in Ukraine and Venezuela.
"We are here and as you struggle to make your dreams happen, to live the impossible, we're thinking of you," said Leto.
Russian state-owned broadcaster Channel One Russia said it would not broadcast the Oscars live because of the necessity for news coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula. It will instead transmit the Oscars early Tuesday morning, local time.
Venezuelan protesters, via social media, urged Oscar winners to bring attention to their plight. Anti-government protests have roiled the country in recent weeks.
Italy's "The Great Beauty" won the Oscar for best foreign language film. In accepting the award for his rumination on life and Rome's decadence, director Paolo Sorrentino thanked his heroes, including Federico Fellini, Martin Scorsese and soccer star Diego Maradona.
DeGeneres gently mocked Hollywood's insularity, referring to the headlines that have swamped the Los Angeles area lately with a slightly less serious news event.
"It has been raining," said DeGeneres. "We're fine. Thank you for your prayers."
The talk-show host quickly circulated in the audience, delivering pizza and appealing to Harvey Weinstein to pitch in on the bill. She also crowded in as many stars as she could in hopes of generating the most-tweeted photo ever. Meryl Streep giddily exclaimed: "I've never tweeted before!" In less than an hour, the resulting image had been retweeted more than 880,000 times.
Other early winners included "The Great Gatsby" for best costume design, and best makeup and hairstyling for the low-budget "Dallas Buyers Club."
ABC, which is telecasting the ceremony, hopes the drama of the best-picture race will be enough to entice viewers. The show last year drew an audience of 40.3 million, up from 39.3 million the year before when the silent-film ode "The Artist" won best picture.
