Well they got the Oscars, and they can't be taken away. And additionally most of the people in the audience were academy members. The majority must have voted for ROTK, so the majority must have liked the result.
I remember last year though that the Best Picture did not get a standing ovation but Adrien Brody and Roman Polanski did.
I don't really remember any time where the Best Picture received a standing ovation.
And another reason why they were on the side could be that they were there before. That is where they sat when they were nominated for FOTR, and TTT.
I don't think the Academy had anything against LOTR. But it did have some vocal supporters who were against it, and of course it did have some vocal supporters who were for it.
But it did win the big award for some reason
