‘Green Book’ wins audience award at Toronto Film Festival

NEW YORK (AP) — Peter Farrelly’s crowd-pleasing Deep South road trip movie “Green Book” has won the Toronto International Film Festival’s audience award.

The award is one of the most closely watched of the fall festival circuit because it often corresponds with Oscar success.

In the past decade, every Toronto People’s Choice winner has scored a best-picture nomination at the Academy Awards.

Few pundits pegged “Green Book” as an awards favorite ahead of its world premiere in Toronto. It is, after all, directed by one-half of the sibling duo best known for broad comedies like “There’s Something About Mary” and “Dumb and Dumber.”

The first runner-up for Toronto’s top prize is Barry Jenkins’ James Baldwin adaptation “If Beale Street Could Talk.” The second runner-up is Alfonso Cuarón’s black-and-white neo-realistic drama “Roma.”