Overview
The laughs started with an opening monologue that had Jimmy Kimmel exclaim "Ryan, you're so hot. Let's go camping together and not tell our wives". The cheers began with Messi, the Palm Dog-winning pooch from Anatomy of a Fall, being spotted sitting in the audience. And the tears commenced not with Da'Vine Joy Randolph's Best Supporting Actress speech — where she said that she really didn't think that she was supposed to be doing this as a career, which did indeed inspire waterworks — but before that, with Lupita Nyong'o's introductory tribute to The Holdovers' actor.
That's how the 96th Oscars kicked off — already five minutes over, as Kimmel noted, because Hollywood's night of nights doesn't quite believe in time — on Monday, March 11, Down Under. From there, the highlights kept coming. The Boy and the Heron winning Best Animated Feature was another big standout. So were Mstyslav Chernov wishing that he'd never had to make Best Documentary-winner 20 Days in Mariupol, which nabbed Ukraine's first Oscar; Godzilla Minus One taking out Best Visual Effects for a team who went up on the stage holding Godzilla figurines; American Fiction writer/director Cord Jefferson's plea for more support for films that don't cost $200 million when he won Best Adapted Screenplay; and Poor Things' stunning look and lead performance getting so much love.
The awards' big winner: Oppenheimer as predicted, picking up seven awards. But it took until almost 90 minutes in for Christopher Nolan's J Robert Oppenheimer biopic to collect any gongs, ensuring that other movies earned recognition, too. When it was the film's time to shine, it resulted in a dedication to the peacemakers everywhere from Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr thanking his terrible childhood.
Yes, Barbie won best song, for 'What Was I Made For?'. Yes, Gosling's performance of 'I'm Just Ken' was a showstopper, complete with Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie and America Ferrara singing along from the audience. And yes, everything from Wes Anderson nabbing his first-ever Oscar for The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar to starting the In Memoriam tribute with footage from Navalny also happened. Kimmel calling out the fact that Gerwig wasn't nominated, Kate McKinnon thinking that the Jurassic Park movies are documentaries, The Fall Guy's Gosling and Emily Blunt bickering while paying tribute to stunt performers, John Cena appearing almost naked, and Twins and Junior co-stars (and past Batman villains) Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger co-presenting: that all occurred as well.
That's how the ceremony panned out — with much to celebrate, plenty of banter and, as always among the films that go home empty-handed, disappointments as well. Killers of the Flower Moon, Past Lives and Perfect Days are all still excellent pictures, for instance, and can always call themselves Oscar-nominees. (It's always worth remembering that a plethora of stellar films don't even get nominations, which doesn't make them any lesser flicks, either.)
Now that the Academy Awards are all done and dusted for 2024, here's the full rundown: who won and what else was in the running, that is. You can also check out what we predicted would and should win, nine winners that you can and should watch right now in Australia and New Zealand, and our full lists of where most of this year's contenders are screening or streaming in both Australia and New Zealand.
Oscar Winners and Nominees 2024:
Best Motion Picture
American Fiction
Anatomy of a Fall
Barbie
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer — WINNER
Past Lives
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest
Best Director
Justine Triet, Anatomy of a Fall
Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon
Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer — WINNER
Yorgos Lanthimos, Poor Things
Jonathan Glazer, The Zone of Interest
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening, Nyad
Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall
Carey Mulligan, Maestro
Emma Stone, Poor Things — WINNER
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Bradley Cooper, Maestro
Colman Domingo, Rustin
Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer — WINNER
Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Emily Blunt, Oppenheimer
Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple
America Ferrera, Barbie
Jodie Foster, Nyad
Da'Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers — WINNER
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Sterling K Brown, American Fiction
Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon
Robert Downey Jr, Oppenheimer — WINNER
Ryan Gosling, Barbie
Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things
Best Original Screenplay
Anatomy of a Fall, Justine Triet and Arthur Harari — WINNER
The Holdovers, David Hemingson
Maestro, Bradley Cooper and Josh Singer
May December, Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik
Past Lives, Celine Song
Best Adapted Screenplay
American Fiction, Cord Jefferson — WINNER
Barbie, Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach
Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan
Poor Things, Tony McNamara
The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer
Best International Feature Film
Io Capitano, Italy
Perfect Days, Japan
Society of the Snow, Spain
The Teachers' Lounge, Germany
The Zone of Interest, United Kingdom — WINNER
Best Animated Feature
The Boy and the Heron — WINNER
Elemental
Nimona
Robot Dreams
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Best Documentary Feature
Bobi Wine: The People's President
The Eternal Memory
Four Daughters
To Kill a Tiger
20 Days in Mariupol — WINNER
Best Original Score
American Fiction, Laura Karpman
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, John Williams
Killers of the Flower Moon, Robbie Robertson
Oppenheimer, Ludwig Göransson — WINNER
Poor Things, Jerskin Fendrix
Best Original Song
'The Fire Inside', Flamin' Hot, Diane Warren
'I'm Just Ken', Barbie, Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt
'It Never Went Away', American Symphony, Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson
'Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)', Killers of the Flower Moon, Scott George
'What Was I Made For?', Barbie, Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell — WINNER
Best Cinematography
El Conde, Edward Lachman
Killers of the Flower Moon, Rodrigo Prieto
Maestro, Matthew Libatique
Oppenheimer, Hoyte van Hoytema — WINNER
Poor Things, Robbie Ryan
Best Film Editing
Anatomy of a Fall, Laurent Sénéchal
The Holdovers, Kevin Tent
Killers of the Flower Moon, Thelma Schoonmaker
Oppenheimer, Jennifer Lame — WINNER
Poor Things, Yorgos Mavropsaridis
Best Production Design
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things — WINNER
Best Visual Effects
The Creator
Godzilla Minus One — WINNER
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One
Napoleon
Best Costume Design
Barbie, Jacqueline Durran
Killers of the Flower Moon, Jacqueline West
Napoleon, Janty Yates and Dave Crossman
Oppenheimer, Ellen Mirojnick
Poor Things, Holly Waddington — WINNER
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Golda
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Poor Things — WINNER
Society of the Snow
Best Sound
The Creator
Maestro
Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One
Oppenheimer
The Zone of Interest — WINNER
Best Documentary Short Subject
The ABCs of Book Banning
The Barber of Little Rock
Island in Between
The Last Repair Shop — WINNER
Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó
Best Animated Short Film
Letter to a Pig
Ninety-Five Senses
Our Uniform
Pachyderme
WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko — WINNER
Best Live-Action Short Film
The After
Invincible
Knight of Fortune
Red, White and Blue
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar — WINNER
The 2024 Oscars will be announced on Monday, March 11, Australian and New Zealand time. For further details, head to the awards' website.