Spotlight Takes Best Picture Oscar

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- Director Tom McCarthy's Spotlight was declared the Best Picture of 2015, marking the second year in a row the top award went to a movie starring beloved actor Michael Keaton.

Last year's prize was presented to Birdman, which was helmed by Alejandro G. Inarritu.

Inarritu won the Best Director Oscar for Birdman, then repeated the accomplishment Sunday for The Revenant, the film that also netted Leonardo DiCaprio his first Oscar. The Revenant was recognized for Best Cinematography, as well.

Brie Larson took home the Best Actress Oscar for her performance in Room and Mark Rylance scored the Best Supporting Actor trophy for his work in Bridge of Spies, beating out Sylvester Stallone, who was favored to win the honor for his turn in Creed.

Alicia Vikander picked up the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in The Danish Girl.

Another big winner Sunday was Mad Max: Fury Road, which swept the technical categories and garnered the Oscars for Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, Best Sound Mixing, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Hair and Makeup.

The award for Best Adapted Screenplay went to The Big Short, while Spotlightreceived the Best Original Screenplay title.

The prize for Best Visual Effects was given to Ex Machina, another film that co-starred Vikander.

Inside Out was deemed Best Animated Feature Film, Amy Best Documentary and Son of Saul Best Foreign-Language Film. Ennio Morricone won the Oscar for Best Score for The Hateful Eight.

Chris Rock hosted the ceremony, which aired on ABC.