The 2024 Oscar Nominations were announced last week, and with the 96th Academy Awards just around the corner, some of the nominations caused major backlash in certain categories and surprises in others. From the year’s biggest blockbusters to smaller foreign films, this article will look at all the surprises and snubs in this year’s Academy Award nominations.
It is no surprise that one of the most highly talked-about films of the year, Oppenheimer, took the lead in this year’s Academy Awards with thirteen nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor. None of these nominations come as a surprise as Oppenheimer is one of the highest rated films of the year and grossing almost 1 billion dollars at the box office.
What does come as a surprise is the lack of Barbie nominations that has the internet in an uproar. Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera have both received acting nominations, but the person seemingly left out of the nominations is Barbie herself, Margot Robbie, who was the heart and soul of that film! If that wasn’t surprising enough, Greta Gerwig was also snubbed for Best Director despite getting a spot in the Best Adapted Screenplay category with her husband Noah Baumbach.
Another acting snub that has the internet buzzing is Leonardo DiCaprio for Killers of the Flower Moon. Dicaprio, in my opinion, turned in one of the finest performances of the year, so it comes as a shock that he is left out of this year’s Best Actor category.
One of the biggest snubs that stood out to me was Jon Batiste’s American Symphony for Best Documentary. While Batiste is nominated for Best Original Song, I was almost certain that his film would be nominated for Best Documentary. American Symphony is one of the best films of the year, and if you haven’t checked it out yet, I recommend you give it a watch.
Let’s move on to some of the more positive surprises of the year, starting with the Best Animated Feature Film category. The two big films nominated in the category, Spiderman Across the Spider-Verse, and The Boy and the Heron don’t come as a surprise, but it was a pleasant surprise to see one of the more underrated movies of the year, Nimona, in this category. Nimona was snubbed earlier this year at the Golden Globes, so it’s nice to see this movie get the recognition it deserves.
The Holdovers received a surprising number of nominations including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Film Editing, Actress in a Supporting Role, and Actor in a Leading Role. The Holdovers could very well be this year’s hidden gem that could take home a large amount of these awards .
It was also great to see Past Lives get some love, after the lack of discussion surrounding the film. Past Lives, directed by Celine Song, was nominated for Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture. I still would have loved to see Celine Song get nominated for Best Director, or Greta Lee for Best Actress, but I’ll take what we can get.
Other Best Picture nominees include Oppenheimer, Barbie, The Holdovers, The Zone of Interest, Killers of the Flower Moon, Anatomy of a Fall, Maestro, and Poor Things.
Which films are you rooting for or against? The 96th Academy Awards will air on March 10, where there are sure to be plenty more snubs and surprises.
To see all the nominees, click HERE