With an astounding 13 nominations, an impressive box office record, and a stellar awards season track record, Christopher Nolan's epic biopic Oppenheimer not only won Best Picture, but also won the most awards. It seems almost certain that he will make it and challenge Oscar history. 11th place is held by “Ben-Hur,'' “Titanic,'' and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,'' but it's not out of the question.
No matter what happens, more viewers are sure to stay up this time to watch everything unfold. The 96th Academy Awards will begin an hour earlier than in recent years, with ABC broadcast set for Sunday at 7pm ET.
If the start date is earlier, will the evaluations of those who have been delayed improve? Will “Oppenheimer” be able to cap off an eventful awards season with an Oscar coronation? Or could an underdog like “Barbie,” “Poor Things” or “Killers of the Flower Moon” swoop in for an unexpected upset? With these questions in mind, let's summarize what we know about the 2024 Academy Awards.
When and where is the Oscars held?
While the past four Oscar ceremonies have started at 8:30 p.m. for years, this year's show will kick off at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles and will be held at 8:30 p.m. This will lead to a new episode of “Abbott Elementary''. Around 10:30 p.m. (at least that's the schedule for awards ceremonies, which tend to drag on).
The ceremony will be broadcast on ABC and streamed on ABC.com, the ABC app, Hulu Live TV, YouTube TV, AT&T TV and FuboTV. And the Oscars ceremony will once again take place at the Dolby Theater, which has hosted every ceremony since 2002 (except for the 2021 show, which was scaled back to Los Angeles' Union Station due to the pandemic).
ABC has returned to the steady hand of Jimmy Kimmel, who has been selected as host for the second consecutive year and fourth time since 2017. Kimmel's soft-spoken style and infectious enthusiasm have made him a solid if safe host in recent years. The Academy also chose to broadcast without a host from 2019 to 2021, and with a trio of Wanda Sykes, Amy Schumer and Regina Hall in 2022.
Kimmel joins Whoopi Goldberg and Jack Lemmon as the only people to host the Academy Awards four times. The company is unique; only Johnny Carson (5), Billy Crystal (9) and Bob Hope (19) have hosted more ceremonies.
Kimmel told the Los Angeles Times that he would not return as host after the first two rounds. But the popularity of Best Picture nominee Top Gun: Maverick convinced him to return last year before another award-winning blockbuster hit theaters this summer.
“I knew there was a movie that people had seen, and that made my job easier,” he said of “Maverick.” “And this year, I'm sitting in the movie theater watching 'Barbie' and thinking, 'Well, let's do this again, because at least I have a point of reference with everyone.'”
How are candidates selected? Who will vote?
Oscar nominations are chosen primarily by members of the Academy's respective categories. Actors nominate actors, directors nominate directors. The most notable exception is Best Picture, whose nominees are decided by all voting members of the Academy.
Approximately 11,000 full members determine the winners in all 23 categories. (In 2026, with the introduction of Best Casting, that number will increase to 24.) For 22 of these awards, the nominee with the most votes wins. However, the best works are also an exception. The night's biggest prize will be determined by preferential voting, where voters rank the candidates. If no film received more than 50% of the first place votes, the lowest ranked film will be eliminated. The second-place film on the ballot where the eliminated film is listed first wins the vote on that ballot. This process is repeated until one film receives a majority, and the film with the fewest votes is eliminated.
Which movie is the frontrunner for Best Picture?
“Oppenheimer,” Nolan's foreboding portrait of the architect of the atomic bomb, grossed nearly $1 billion at the global box office and won a Golden Globe, a Critics' Choice Award, a BAFTA and a Screen Actors Guild Award. , Directors Guild of America Award, and Producers Guild of America Award. Since the introduction of the SAG Awards and Critics' Choice Awards in the mid-1990s, the only films that have achieved the sweep are American Beauty in 1999, The Return of the King in 2003, and Slumdog in 2008. Millionaire'' and 2012's “Argo.'' It won the Academy Award for Best Picture. (Nolan, who has never won an Academy Award, is also unlikely to be a candidate for Best Director.)
In theory, “Poor People'' is the best shot at pulling off an unprecedented upset. Yorgos Lanthimos's fantastical story of Frankenstein's female sexual awakening was nominated for 11 Oscars and placed second, and won the Golden Globe for Best Picture (Musical or Comedy). Anatomy of a Fall also appears to be a dark horse contender, with nominations in director, editing, lead actress and lead original screenplay.
Morning nominations favored Martin Scorsese's fact-based Osage murder film Killers of the Flower Moon (10 votes), but it received scorn in the adapted screenplay category. It doesn't bode well for Best Picture odds. Similar perceptions are growing for Barbie (which received eight nominations) after Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie were nominated for director and lead actress, respectively, due to the phenomenon of breaking through the patriarchy. The same goes for The Holdovers, a drama set in the 1970s (nominated in five categories), which was also nominated for original screenplay, leading actor, supporting actress, and editing, but director Alexander Payne was nominated for Not nominated. However, in support of that campaign, “The Holdovers'' won Best Edited Comedy at last weekend's American Cinema Editors' Eddie Awards, beating out “Poor Things'' and “Barbie.'' Awarded.
Who is the best candidate for the acting award?
The race for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress appeared to be over. Robert Downey Jr. earns all the major leads as the duplicitous “Oppenheimer” bureaucrat Louis Strauss, and Davine Joy Randolph scores similarly with her harrowing performance as a bureaucrat. The grieving mother of “The Holdovers.”
Meanwhile, as for lead actors, Paul Giamatti won the Critics Choice Award for his role as a cranky academic in The Holdovers, and Cillian Murphy won the BAFTA for his role as the titular physicist in Oppenheimer. , looked attractive lace. Both actors won Golden Globe Awards (Giamatti for musical or comedy and Murphy for drama). However, Murphy's Best Actor win at his SAG Awards cemented his front-runner status.
So begins the most fascinating showdown at the Oscars: the lead actress showdown. Emma Stone won a Critics Choice Award and a BAFTA for her masterful performance in Poor Things, in which she played a woman who rediscovers her life after coming back from the dead. “Killers of the Flower Moon” star Lily Gladstone beats Stone at the SAG Awards as Osage woman Molly Burkhart devastated by her unspeakable betrayal. And, like Giamatti and Murphy, the actresses both won Golden Globe Awards.
While most of the top Oscar categories seem predetermined, Best Actress appears to be a true toss-up. If Gladstone wins, she will become the first Indigenous person to win an acting Oscar.
What other races should we look out for?
Wins at the Golden Globes and BAFTAs place Anatomy of the Fall as a frontrunner for original screenplay, while wins at the Critics' Choice Awards, BAFTAs and Film Independent Spirit Awards After winning the award, it looks like American Fiction is poised to get an adapted screenplay. But the Writers Guild Awards were postponed until April due to the writers' strike, and a crucial omen disappeared from the table. And then there's the “Barbie” element. Gerwig and her husband Noah Baumbach's acclaimed screenplay was nominated for an Oscar in the Adapted Screenplay category, even though original screenplays competed for the rest of the awards season, leading to predictions in both races. is becoming more difficult.
Animation features also come in handy for competitive coin tosses. Hayao Miyazaki's idiosyncratic send-off The Boy and the Heron (winner of the Golden Globe and BAFTA) vs. the stylish sequel Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (winner of the Critics' Choice Award, Annie Award and Producers Guild Award) ). There's also a compelling story in the live-action short film category, with popular author Wes Anderson potentially winning his first Oscar for his adaptation of Roald Dahl's novel, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.
Where can I watch the Best Picture nominees?
Most of the Best Picture nominees are already included on subscription streaming services. “Oppenheimer” and “The Holdovers” are on Peacock, “Barbie” is on Maxx, “Killers of the Flower Moon” is on Apple TV Plus, “Past Lives” is on Paramount Plus, “Poor Things” is on Hulu, “Maestro” ” is now available on Netflix.
The remaining films, “American Fiction,” “Anatomy of a Fall,” and “The Zone of Interest” are in theaters or available for rent through services like YouTube, Vudu, Apple TV, Google Play, and Prime Video.
Will there be music performances?
The Academy has confirmed that audiences will be able to see live performances of all five songs nominated for Best Original Song. Jon Batiste performs “It Never Went Away” from “American Symphony.” Becky G performs “The Fire Inside” from “Flamin' Hot.” Scott George and the Osage Singers perform “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon. Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell perform “What Was I Made For?” From “Barbie”. Mark Ronson and Ryan Gosling perform “I'm Just Ken” from “Barbie.”
Actors Vanessa Hudgens and Julianne Hough will host “The Oscar Red Carpet Show,” beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET on ABC. Hudgens will be hosting ABC's official pre-show for the third year in a row, while Hough will be appearing in the role for the first time (although she co-hosted the Tony Awards pre-show for the past two years). Lindsey Davis and Whit Johnson will host “Countdown to the Oscars: Live on the Red Carpet!”From 1pm to 4pm
On E!, the network's “Brunch at the Oscars” begins at 2 p.m., followed by the red carpet show at 4 p.m.