Smaller movies didn’t mean smaller viewer numbers for the Oscars. An estimated 19.7 million viewers watched Sunday night’s 97th Academy Awards ceremony, the biggest audience in five years.

This year's Oscars telecast that celebrated independent film "Anora" brought in 19.7 million U.S. viewers, the largest audience for Hollywood's highest honors in five years, broadcaster ABC said on Tuesday.

It began as a little-known film, but after taking home the Oscar for Best Picture and four other Academy Awards, Anora has catapulted into the spotlight in Hollywood.The movie has many ties to our area and was filmed across several neighborhoods in Brooklyn."For $6 Million and shooting on location in New York City with about 40 crew members, they're all back in New York, this is for you guys," producer Alex Coco said during his acceptance speech.The small budget film is a story of a sex worker marrying an oligarch's son and is set in Brooklyn."It wins an Oscar unbelievable and they were so great to me," Pete Agrapides of William's Candy said.Pete Agrapides says the crew bought out his Coney Island shop for a day in 2022 and William's Candy appears twice in the film."They were just an independent movie, you know, nothing big," Agrapides said.He's tickled they won and so are his customers."Something that I've been coming to all my life, and a movie that just did so well I mean its so awesome, I'm proud," Lisa Schoman said.The film includes the boardwalk and the famous Tatiana in Brighton Beach.The main character Ani lives on Brighton 11th Street where the train rumbling by in the background. In real life, it's Ross Mernyk's home."My brother was like, there's just shooting on the outside, he didn't feel comfortable talking any money, so he was like gave me a donut and some coffee off their catering service and that's it. When they were shooting inside, I think they paid him $1,800 bucks and then didn't use that footage," Mernyk said.He said he actually hasn't seen the film yet.While there's a gritty nostalgia to the movie, Ani spends much of her time in this mega mansion in Mill Basin, which is easier to see from above than at street level, so it likely won't become a tourist spot.William's Candy is sure to gain some new customers."How could you not come here and enjoy it and say I came here I came to this place where they had the movie in it. It was beautiful," Marianne Palermo said.Well, he hasn't actually seen the film yet.Now that the shop is in an Academy Award winning film, that's just like the candy on the apple.* Get Eyewitness News Delivered * Follow us on YouTube * More local news* Send us a news tip* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts Submit a tip or story idea to Eyewitness News Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.