“Anora” took the Oscars by storm on Sunday, winning Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (for Mikey Madison), Best Editing and Best Original Screenplay. The contemporary story about a young sex worker (Madison) who falls in love with the son of a Russian oligarch had a fractured fairy tale message. And now it has its happily ever after.

But to those who had been paying attention, its big triumph felt like less of a surprise and more of a crescendo to a campaign that started almost a year ago and had finally reached its natural conclusion. What makes this particular success story so staggering is how deliberate and methodical it was, as distributor Neon closely followed its own playbook — one that led Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” to historic Oscar success five years ago. Add in a deliberate decision to keep “Anora” off of streaming for the duration of its awards run,...