‘The Force Awakens’ wins top honors at MTV Movie Awards

BURBANK - Associated Press

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” took the top prize at the 25th annual MTV Movie Awards. 

The audience at Warner Bros. Studios waved what looked like red and blue lightsabers as star Daisy Ridley and director J.J. Abrams accepted the final golden popcorn trophy at Saturday night’s ceremony.

The prize capped off the irreverent awards show, which presents fan-voted film awards and touts upcoming releases.

Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart hosted the show, opening it “Mad Max” style by riding through Warner Bros. Studios strapped to the front of a tricked-out truck. Later, they performed a rap song about the year’s films that repeated the refrain “Leo got (expletive) by a bear” in reference to “The Revenant.”

Will Smith and Melissa McCarthy each received special honors, and their heartfelt speeches were respites of sincerity in an expletive-laden show that featured more F-bombs than awards.

McCarthy, who crowd-surfed her way to the stage to claim the Comedic Genius Award, said that while she is the first woman to receive the recognition, “I am certainly, certainly not the first one to deserve it.”

Charlize Theron won the first award of the night: best female performance for “Mad Max: Fury Road.”

“The story of ‘Fury Road’ is in part a story of the power of women and the power to create our own destinies,” Theron said as she accepted the award in her daughter’s name.

Other winners included Chris Pratt (action performance for “Jurassic World”), Amy Poehler (virtual performance as Joy in “Inside Out”) and “Straight Outta Compton,” which won for true story. Ryan Reynolds won two prizes for “Deadpool”: comedic performance and best fight, which he shared with Ed Skein.

Reynolds said he worked for 10 years to get “Deadpool” made, but he added that “it was not all unicorns and cocaine” during production.