Alejandro G. Iñárritu, center, and the cast of “Birdman” accepted the award for best picture.”
LOS ANGELES — For the third time in four years, Hollywood’s top honor went to a story mostly about itself: “Birdman” won best picture at the 87th Academy Awards on Sunday night.
Despite relatively meager domestic ticket sales of $37.8 million, “Birdman” had been the favorite to win best picture, having swept the top prize at banquet after banquet leading up to the Oscars.
Minutes before, Alejandro G. Iñárritu had won best director for “Birdman,” which also collected Oscars for best original screenplay and the cinematography of Emmanuel Lubezki. “Tonight I am wearing the real Michael Keaton tighty whities,” Mr. Iñárritu said, a joke about the long Broadway walk Mr. Keaton, the star, takes in his skivvies during the film.
“Birdman,” about a washed-up actor’s comeback bid, followed two other Hollywood-related winners: “The Artist,” which won in 2012, was the bittersweet story of a silent film actor seemingly left behind by Hollywood’s transition to sound. The next year, “Argo” won with its reality-based tale of a hostage rescue that used a fake film for cover.
Still, no one film this year achieved critical mass in a year that saw all eight of the best picture nominees leave with at least one Oscar.
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In the final days of this year’s Oscar race, inside betting had “Birdman,” as the favored winner. The film, after all, had already collected the top awards from Hollywood’s three most important guilds.
But “Boyhood,” a layered look at a child growing into a man, was kept alive by winning big at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards, signaling support among the British contingent in Hollywood’s film academy, and keeping its hopes alive.
Despite an aggressive campaign that made a last-minute attempt to link arms with the gay rights movement, “The Imitation Game” had an uphill battle in all eight of the categories in which it was nominated, before finally snagging the one for adapted screenplay. That was some consolation for its backer, Harvey Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein, who has a celebrated Oscar past, came up short last year, when he unsuccessfully pulled out all the stops in support of “Philomena.”
Mr. Weinstein’s also got on the board Sunday night with “Citizenfour.” But he was only an ancillary player in its coronation; “Citizenfour” was released by Radius-TWC, a Weinstein Company offshoot, which also looked after the film’s awards prospects.
A version of this article appears in print on February 23, 2015, on page C1 of the New York edition with the headline: ‘Birdman’ Captures Best Picture Oscar . Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe
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