LOS ANGELES -The Iranian hostage drama Argo won the best picture Oscar on Sunday (US time) after its director, Ben Affleck, was snubbed in the best director nominations.
An Oscar statue (AFP Photo)
"You have to work harder than you think you possibly can," Affleck said in his acceptance speech. "It doesn't matter how you get knocked down in life because it's going to happen. All that matters is that you've got to get up."
"I want to acknowledge the other eight films," he said. "They have every right to be here as much as we do."
Affleck also produced the movie with George Clooney and starred in the film that had emerged as the Oscar favourite in the weeks leading up to the awards show.
Daniel Day-Lewis won his third Oscar for best actor for his portrayal of United States president Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's film Lincoln.
"I don't know how this happened," Day-Lewis, 55, said in his acceptance speech, joking that presenter Meryl Streep was actually director Spielberg's first choice for the role.
The award was his third Oscar for best actor after he previously won for his portrayal of Christy Brown in My Left Foot (1989) and Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood (2007).
Jennifer Lawrence won the best actress award for her role as a troubled young widow in the romantic comedy Silver Linings Playbook.
"Thank you to the women here," Lawrence, 22, said in her acceptance speech. "You were so magnificent and so inspiring."
Christoph Waltz won best supporting actor Oscar for his bounty hunter role in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained.
Anne Hathaway won the best supporting actress award, picking up the trophy for her role as an impoverished worker in the film Les Miserables.
"It came true," said Hathaway, 30, in accepting the prize, paying tribute to her fellow nominees and her colleagues in making the hit musical.
Taiwanese-born Ang Lee won the best achievement in directing award for Life of Pi.
Django Unchained directed and written by Quentin Tarantino won the original screenplay.
In Thailand, Argo was not a huge success. Distributed by Rupert Murdoch's Fox company, it opened on the second weekend of October, grossing just 1.55 million baht (US$52,000). By last week, the movie had grossed 6.85 million baht ($229,708), according to the industry monitor Box Office Mojo.
BoxOffice.com said the movie earnings passed $200 million last week, almost half of it outside the US.