Having led the nominations list with 13, The Shape of Water had been considered a strong candidate for the best picture Oscar, and it also won best film at the Critics’ Choice awards and the Producers Guild awards.
The Shape of Water has won the Oscar for best picture at the 90th Academy Awards, defeating strong competition from Get Out, Lady Bird and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri in what had been considered the closest Oscar race in many years.
Directed by Guillermo del Toro, it led to the Mexican film-maker’s first nomination for best picture – though Del Toro was also nominated in 2007 for best original screenplay and best foreign language film for Pan’s Labyrinth.
After the nominations were announced, the family of late playwright Paul Zindel launched legal action over “glaring similarities” between The Shape of Water and Zindel’s 1969 play Let Me Hear You Whisper. The film’s studio, Fox Searchlight, has denied the allegations.