Lenny Abrahamson's latest film "Room" won the Audience's Choice award at the Toronto Film Festival.

The award was a big surprise as many believed that the prize would go to Tom McCarthy's "Spotlight" or John Crowley's period piece "Brooklyn." However, it was the Brie Larson drama that took home the top prize and became a front-runner for a Best Picture nomination.

The Audience Choice award is an important precursor award considering that every film to win the award since 2008 save for "Where do we Go Now?" has gone on to be nominated for the Best Picture Award at the Oscars. Additionally, three of the films have gone on to win the Oscar including "The King's Speech," "12 Years a Slave" and "Slumdog Millionaire."

"Room" opened to rave reviews at the Telluride Film Festival and Brie Larson obtained rave reviews. However, the status of the film as Best Picture was still a question mark. With the Audience Award, the film has now obtained a boost as the Academy will likely take more notice. It is also likely that A24 will be giving the film a huge campaign especially after last year's "A Most Violent Year" was completely shut out of the Academy Awards.

There is always an exception to the rule and if the Academy thinks the movie is too small or different, it could always shut it out.

The award for Abrahamson comes after two previous triumphs. In 2014 the director released "What Richard Did," which won the Best Picture at the IFTAs, the Irish equivalent of the Oscars. That film also premiered at Toronto and later went to Tribeca where it obtained raves. Last year he took "Frank," a dramedy with Michael Fassbender, to Sundance where it obtained rave reviews and later went on to be distributed by Magnolia. "Room" is the director's highest profile film to date.

However, it was not all bad news for McCarthy's "Spotlight" as the film won the runner up trophy. That movie also premiered at Telluride and immediately became an instant Oscar contender. Michael Keaton is already being called a Best Supporting Actor front runner as well as Mark Ruffalo.The movie is also being called a huge Best Picture contender.

Overall, Toronto was not the biggest of successes as most expected. Many Oscar contenders failed to live up to expectations including "Freeheld," "About Ray," "I Saw the Light," and "Stonewall." Films that continued to garner buzz included "Son of Saul," "Dheepan," "The Danish Girl" and "Brooklyn." It seemed like a very uneventful festival with very little buys.

Full list of TIFF winners below:

People's Choice Award: "Room," directed by Lenny Abrahamson

People's Choice Award For Documentary:
 "Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom," directed by Evgeny Afineevsky

People's Choice Award for Midnight Madness: "Hardcore," directed by Ilya Naishuller

Best Canadian Feature Film:
 "Closet Monster," directed by Stephen Dunn

Special Citation, Canadian Feature Film: "My Internship in Canada," directed by Phillippe Falardeau

Best Canadian First Feature Film: "Sleeping Giant," directed Andrew Cividino

Prizes of the International Critics (FIPRESCI Prize) for Special Presentations Section:
 "Desierto," directed by Jonas Cuaron

Prizes of the International Critics (FIPRESCI Prize) for Discovery Section:
 "Eva Nova," directed by Marko Skop

Discovery Programme Filmmakers Award: "Black," directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah

NETPAC Award For Best Asian Film: "The Whispering Star," directed by Sion Sono

Best International Short Film: "Maman(s)," directed by Maimouna Doucoure

Best Canadian Short Film: "Overpass," directed by Patrice Laliberte

Platform Prize: "Hurt," directed by Alan Zweig