Oscars 2024: The Oscars 2024 ceremony will be streamed live on March 10, but first, here’s a primer on Hollywood’s biggest awards night.
After a winter of award shows, including the Emmys, Golden Globes, and Grammys, the granddaddy of them all, the Academy Awards, is just around the corner. The 96th Academy Awards may be a coronation for Oppenheimer, who leads with 13 nominations, but other films, including Barbie, Killers of the Flower Moon, and Poor Things, are also in contention.
Here’s what you should know about this year’s show:
WHEN ARE THE OSCARS?
The Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 10 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. EDT, one hour earlier than usual, and will be broadcast live on ABC. The pre-show will begin at 6:30 p.m. EDT. This is an early reminder to set your clocks — the first day of daylight saving time in the United States.
WHO’S PRESENTING AT THE OSCARS?
Brendan Fraser, Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and Jamie Lee Curtis will all return to present at the show, as is customary. The academy has also announced that Scarface co-stars Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino will present awards (it is unclear whether they will do so together or separately). Zendaya, Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Lange, Nicolas Cage, Mahershala Ali, Sam Rockwell, and Lupita Nyong’o are among the other celebrities scheduled to appear on the Dolby stage. More names will be revealed as show day approaches.
ARE THE OSCARS STREAMING?
With a cable subscription, you can stream the show on ABC.com and the ABC app. You can also watch on services such as Hulu Live TV, YouTubeTV, AT&T TV, and FuboTV. The streaming partner, The streaming partner for India has not yet been announced. Last year, the show aired on Disney+ Hotstar.
WHO’S HOSTING THE OSCARS?
Jimmy Kimmel, who hosted the ceremony last year, will serve as emcee for the fourth time. That ties him with fellow four-timers Whoopi Goldberg and Jack Lemmon, leaving Kimmel trailing only Johnny Carson (five), Billy Crystal (nine), and Bob Hope (eleven) among Oscar hosts. “I always dreamed of hosting the Oscars exactly four times,” Kimmel told the audience.
WHAT’S NOMINATED FOR BEST PICTURE AT THE 2024 OSCARS?
The ten best-picture nominees are American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, The Holdovers, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, Oppenheimer, Past Lives, Poor Things, and The Zone of Interest.
WHO ARE THE FAVORITES?
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is the front-runner. Nolan, the best director favorite, is also expected to win his first Oscar. The best actress category could be a close call between Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon) and Emma Stone (Poor Things). If Gladstone wins, she will be the first Native American to win an Oscar. Best actor could also be a close call between Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) and Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers). They would be first-time winners. Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Giamatti’s co-star, is the favorite to win best supporting actress, while Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer) is expected to win best supporting actor. Ryan Gosling is his closest competitor for Barbie.
WHAT’S UP WITH THE ‘BARBIE’ SNUBS?
While Barbie, 2023’s biggest box-office hit, received eight nominations, much of the discussion has focused on the film’s lack of nominations. Greta Gerwig was not nominated for directing, and Margot Robbie did not win best actress. Some have seen reflections of the misogyny parodied in Barbie in those omissions, while others have noted comedies’ traditionally poor reception at the Oscars. Barbie’s nominations include best-adapted screenplay (by Gerwig and Noah Baumbach), best supporting actress (America Ferrera), and two best song nominees: Billie Eilish’s What Was I Made For and Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt’s I’m Just Ken.
ARE THERE ANY CHANGES TO THE OSCARS THIS YEAR?
Though recent Oscars have been marked by slaps, envelope snafus, and controversies over which awards are presented live during the telecast, this year’s show has no major changes (other than starting an hour earlier). All of the awards will be broadcast live. The academy is introducing a new award for best casting, but the trophy will not be presented until the 2026 Oscars.
WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO LOOK FOR?
Composer John Williams has been nominated for his record 49th best-score Oscar, for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and 54th overall. Godzilla will make his Oscar debut with Godzilla Minus One, which has been nominated for best visual effects. For the first time, two non-English language films are nominated for best picture: the German Auschwitz drama The Zone of Interest and the French courtroom drama Anatomy of a Fall.