WHIPLASH was in no way "rejected" by the public. It hasn't even opened in most markets yet and it cost pennies to make compared to INTO THE WOODS. INTO THE WOODS always faced an uphill battle as an awards player (Besty had a very nice post about the reasons why who knows how many pages ago), and going into today's announcement it was only predicted to get in for a couple of nominations. The only surprise to me was that it didn't get in for Sound Mixing, a silly snub if you ask me, but whatever there were much worse snubs. The fact Meryl Streep got in for Supporting Actress is huge as the category was incredibly competitive and it's hard to think of the last fantasy performance that got nominated for an Oscar (was it Ian McKellen's nod for the first LORD OF THE RINGS?). It is a shame that Emily Blunt wasn't recognized but it's hard to complain about the list the Academy came up with, especially with the inclusion of genius Marion Cotillard.
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"