Tremors were felt in the Greek capital of Athens and as far away as the southern island of Crete
"Roma," Cuaron's cinematic ode to his childhood in Mexico City and the women who raised him, led the nominations with 10 overall, tied with offbeat royal romp "The Favourite," about Britain's tragic Queen Anne.
But Rami Malek won respect from his peers - and both a Globe and a Screen Actors Guild award - for his spell-binding turn as late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury.
"If you ask me, they're two totally different qualities of performance," said Variety's chief film critic Peter Debruge.
The best actress race seems to be one of the only contests with a clear favourite.
"It is not her strongest role, but it is an opportunity for her to really own a small film, to carry it on her shoulders, and to remind the industry that here is one of our real treasures as an actress," Debruge said.
"They'll give Glenn Close a long-deserved Oscar."
One of the biggest questions ahead of Oscars night is: what will the show look like?
After Kevin Hart surrendered the host gig amid a backlash over past homophobic tweets, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences opted to go without an emcee for the first time in 30 years.
It's a risky move - the last time organizers went host-less, one of the most infamous moments in Oscars history was born: a song-and-dance number featuring actor Rob Lowe and... Snow White.
"They still don't have an answer to a question that's been around since the first TV showing in 1953: is this a presentation of every category, or is it entertainment?" Gray said. "They want it to be both."
The entertainment factor will be high when Queen opens the show with singer Adam Lambert fronting the iconic band.
Gaga and Cooper will lead the list of A-listers performing Oscar-nominated songs, along with rapper Kendrick Lamar, Jennifer Hudson and Bette Midler.
The Academy - desperate to boost television ratings that have plummeted in recent years - is trying to stick to a three-hour telecast, but it hit a few bumps along the way.
Controversies over its efforts to save time included plans to present a handful of awards during commercial breaks, and to feature only a few of the nominated songs. Both ideas have since been scrapped.
"The Academy's indecision in the past year has left people confused," Gray said.
The 91st Academy Awards take place Sunday at 5:00 pm (0100 GMT Monday). Will the changes made be enough to draw in viewers? Stay tuned.
Here are some fun facts about the 91st Academy Awards, which will take place in Hollywood on Sunday:
Hollywood lore has it that the Academy Award was nicknamed Oscar after Academy librarian Margaret Herrick - who eventually became executive director - saw the trophy for the first time and thought it looked like her uncle Oscar.
Hollywood legend Bette Davis allegedly claimed she had nicknamed the award Oscar as it reminded her of her first husband, musician Harmon Oscar Nelson Jr, but later withdrew that claim, according to IMDB.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences officially adopted the nickname in 1939.
The Oscar statuette is solid bronze and plated in 24-karat gold. It stands 13.5 inches (34 centimeters) tall and weighs 8.5 pounds (3.8 kilograms).
It takes three months for Polich Tallix Fine Art Foundry in New York to manufacture a batch of 50 statuettes. More than 3,140 statuettes have been handed out since 1929.
The trophy represents a knight holding a crusader's sword standing on a reel of film with five spokes that refer to the five original branches of the Academy - actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers.
Meryl Streep holds the record for the most nominations in the acting categories, with 21. She and Jack Nicholson - the most nominated male actor with 12 nominations - each have two statuettes for lead acting and one for supporting roles.
The movie industry figure with the most Oscars is Walt Disney, who won 22, plus four honorary statuettes.
Katharine Hepburn won the most Oscars for a performer, with four. Daniel Day-Lewis is the only person to have three best actor Oscars.
The youngest person to receive an Oscar was six-year-old Shirley Temple in 1935, although it was a non-competitive honorary award for children to honor her work from the year before.
The youngest to win a competitive Oscar was Tatum O'Neal, who was 10 when she bagged best supporting actress for "Paper Moon" in 1974.
The oldest winner of an acting award was Christopher Plummer, who was 82 when he won his first Oscar for best supporting actor in "Beginners" in 2012.
Sound engineer Kevin O'Connell held the record for most Academy Award nominations without a win at 20. But the 21st time was the charm in 2017 when he finally won for best sound mixing for "Hacksaw Ridge."
Here are the nominees in key categories for the 91st Academy Awards, to be handed out on Sunday in Hollywood.
"Roma" and "The Favourite" lead the nominations with 10 each, followed by "A Star Is Born" and "Vice" with eight each:
Best picture:
"Black Panther"
"BlacKkKlansman"
"Bohemian Rhapsody"
"The Favourite"
"Green Book"
"Roma"
"A Star Is Born"
"Vice"
Best director:
Spike Lee, "BlacKkKlansman"
Pawel Pawlikowski, "Cold War"
Yorgos Lanthimos, "The Favourite"
Alfonso Cuaron, "Roma"
Adam McKay, "Vice"
Best actor:
Christian Bale, "Vice"
Bradley Cooper, "A Star Is Born"
Willem Dafoe, "At Eternity's Gate"
Rami Malek, "Bohemian Rhapsody"
Viggo Mortensen, "Green Book"
Best actress:
Yalitza Aparicio, "Roma"
Glenn Close, "The Wife"
Olivia Colman, "The Favourite"
Lady Gaga, "A Star Is Born"
Melissa McCarthy, "Can You Ever Forgive Me?"
Best supporting actor:
Mahershala Ali, "Green Book"
Adam Driver, "BlacKkKlansman"
Sam Elliott, "A Star Is Born"
Richard E. Grant, "Can You Ever Forgive Me?"
Sam Rockwell, "Vice"
Best supporting actress:
Amy Adams, "Vice"
Marina de Tavira, "Roma"
Regina King, "If Beale Street Could Talk"
Emma Stone, "The Favourite"
Rachel Weisz, "The Favourite"
Best foreign language film:
"Capernaum" (Lebanon)
"Cold War" (Poland)
"Never Look Away" (Germany)
"Roma" (Mexico)
"Shoplifters" (Japan)
Best animated feature:
"Incredibles 2"
"Isle of Dogs"
"Mirai"
"Ralph Breaks the Internet"
"Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse"
Best documentary feature:
"Free Solo"
"Hale County This Morning, This Evening"
"Minding the Gap"
"Of Fathers and Sons"
"RBG"
Best original screenplay
"The Favourite" - Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara
"First Reformed" - Paul Schrader
"Green Book" - Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie and Peter Farrelly
"Roma" - Alfonso Cuaron
"Vice" - Adam McKay
Best adapted screenplay
"The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" - Joel and Ethan Coen
"BlacKkKlansman" - Spike Lee, Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott
"Can You Ever Forgive Me?" - Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty
"If Beale Street Could Talk" - Barry Jenkins
"A Star Is Born" - Bradley Cooper, Eric Roth and Will Fetters
Best original score
"Black Panther" - Ludwig Goransson
"BlacKkKlansman" - Terence Blanchard
"If Beale Street Could Talk" - Nicholas Britell
"Isle of Dogs" - Alexandre Desplat
"Mary Poppins Returns" - Marc Shaiman
Best original song
"All The Stars" from "Black Panther"
"I'll Fight" from "RBG"
"The Place Where Lost Things Go" from "Mary Poppins Returns"
"Shallow" from "A Star Is Born"
"When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs" from "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"
Films with more than five nominations:
"Roma" - 10
"The Favourite" - 10
"A Star Is Born" - 8
"Vice" - 8
"Black Panther" - 7
"BlacKkKlansman" - 6
"Green Book" - 5
"Bohemian Rhapsody" - 5
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