Breaking Down The 2024 Academy Awards Nominations!

If there’s one thing we already been knew about the biggest Awards Season ceremonies (Oscars, Emmys, Globes, etc.) is that it is an exclusive club that only a select few are invited to participate in. It’s always been true, but this year it feels especially true. And with this morning’s Oscar nominations, it feels less about who was invited and more about who was excluded…

Still, there were some surprises to be had when the nominees for the 96th annual Academy Awards were announced bright and early this morning – let’s take a look at the highlights!

- To no one’s surprise, Oppenheimer reigned supreme, with 13 total nominations, and it could have beaten Titanic’s record for most nominations ever (14) had the movie not been snubbed for Best Visual Effects (valid) nor Florence Pugh for Best Supporting Actress (less valid but not surprising, as her performance has sadly made very little waves this Awards Season).

- In the other half of the #Barbenheimer phenomenon, Barbie didn’t do quite so well. The film received 8 total noms, which is the 4th most and not bad at all, however both Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig were shockingly snubbed for Best Actress and Best Director, respectively. Gerwig received the consolation prize of a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination (which the Academy loves to do when it comes to female writer/directors). But since Oppenheimer is in that same category (and with Killers of the Flower Moon out of contention), it looks like Ms. G. will be going home empty-handed – again – on Oscar night…

- It is worth noting that 3 of the Best Picture nominees – Barbie, Past Lives, and Anatomy of a Fall – were directed by women (Gerwig, Celine Song, and Justine Triet, respectively), which is great and a record, but it’s equally worth noting that none of those women were nominated for Best Director. Just saying.

- But there is some good news on the diversity front – there is at least one PoC in every acting category this year! This includes Best Actress frontrunner Lily Gladstone, who becomes the first ever Native American nominated in this category. And with Margot Robbie out of the picture, she seems a shoe-in now – that is, if she can muscle her way past fellow Golden Globe winner Emma Stone. I have a hunch the Academy will make the right decision this year (don’t quote me on that though)…

- More good news is that there are a number of first-time nominees in the acting categories this year (a few of which are kinda surprising and long overdue to be honest), including: Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer), Danielle Brooks (the lone nomination for The Color Purple), Sterling K. Brown (American Fiction), Colman Domingo (Rustin), America Ferrera (Barbie), Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon), Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall), Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer), Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers), and Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction). And you know what? A few of them have a better than likely chance of actually winning too!

- In fact, none of the actors in the Best Actor category have ever won an Oscar before (the only acting category in which that is the case this year), so it’s bound to be exciting no matter who wins!

- 2-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster earned her 5th Oscar nomination this morning, this time for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Nyad. This is her first appearance in the Supporting Actress category since her first-ever nomination way back in 1977 for her role in Taxi Driver, when she was only 15 years old! Also, with this nomination, she and Colman Domingo have made history as the first time 2 openly LQBTQ+ actors have been nominated for playing LGBTQ+ characters!

- Martin Scorsese has also made history this year, becoming the most-nominated living director of all time with his 10th Best Director nomination for Killers of the Flower Moon. Congrats on double-digits, Marty!

- And speaking of double-digits, the legendary composer John Williams has secured his mind-blowing 54th Oscar nomination thanks to his score for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. The last time Williams actually won the award was back in 1994 for Schindler’s List. Williams is also 3 for 4 when it comes to getting nominated for scoring an Indiana Jones film (but has never won for it).

- Our girl Becky G becomes a tangential Oscar nominee thanks to her song “The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot kicking Dua Lipa’s summer anthem “Dance the Night” from Barbie out of the Best Original Song category! The song was written by the legendary Dianne Warren, who picks up her 15th nomination this year. Meanwhile, Billie Eilish has her second Oscar nomination for her Barbie song "What Was I Made For?". After actually winning the last time she was nominated (for her theme song to No Time To Die), it's very likely that she will go 2 for 2 this year. Do we have a new Dianne Warren on our hands??

- Despite all the Awards Season buzz around Saltburn, the film was completely shut out from the Oscars this year. Ditto Charles Melton, whose performance in May December has been getting tons of traction. And poor Leonardo DiCaprio was left out in the dust once more as his torrid on-again/off-again relationship with Oscar continues…

- Despite winning Best Non-English Language Picture at the Golden Globes, Anatomy of a Fall failed to make it into the Best International Feature Film at the Oscars. However, it did make it into the Best Picture category, which is great, but it would have had a way better chance of actually taking home some hardware in the International Feature category. This could mean a great opening for Netflix’s hit Society of the Snow, though The Zone of Interest is a likely winner since it too has been nominated for Best Picture. And we all know that, if an international film is nominated for Best Picture AND Best International Feature, it will very likely win the latter.

Check out the full list of nominees here and tune in to the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday, March 10, on ABC!