96th Academy Awards
Official poster
Date	March 10, 2024
Site	Dolby Theatre Los Angeles, California, U.S.A
Hosted by	Jimmy Kimmel
Preshow hosts	Amelia Dimoldenberg Vanessa Hudgens Julianne Hough
Produced by	Raj Kapoor Katy Mullan Molly McNearney
Directed by	Hamish Hamilton
Highlights
Best Picture	Oppenheimer
Most awards	Oppenheimer (7)
Most nominations	Oppenheimer (13)
TV in the United States
Network	ABC / ABC.com / ABC app
Duration	3 hours, 23 minutes
Ratings	19.50 million[1] 9.88% (Nielsen ratings)[2]
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The 96th Academy Awards ceremony, which was presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 10, 2024, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles.^[3] During the gala, the AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 23 categories honoring films released in 2023. Comedian Jimmy Kimmel hosted the show for the fourth time.^[a]

The nominations were announced on January 23, 2024. Oppenheimer led with 13 nominations, followed by Poor Things and Killers of the Flower Moon with 11 and 10, respectively.^[5][6][7] Oppenheimer won a leading seven awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.^[8] Other major winners were Poor Things with four awards and The Zone of Interest with two. The films which won one award each include American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, The Boy and the Heron, Godzilla Minus One, The Holdovers, The Last Repair Shop, 20 Days in Mariupol, War Is Over!, and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. The telecast drew 19.5 million viewers in the United States, becoming the most watched awards show since 2020.^[9]

The Academy held its 14th annual Governors Awards ceremony, hosted by John Mulaney, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Ovation Hollywood on January 9, 2024.^[10] The Academy Scientific and Technical Awards were presented by host Natasha Lyonne on February 23, 2024, at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles.^[11] An American Sign Language livestream was broadcast on the Academy's YouTube page featuring video of interpreters.^[12]

Winners and nominees

The nominees for the 96th Academy Awards were announced on January 23, 2024, by actors Zazie Beetz and Jack Quaid at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.^[3][13][14] The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on March 10, 2024.^[3]

The cultural phenomenon of "Barbenheimer" received a total of twenty-one nominations (eight for Barbie and thirteen for Oppenheimer). The two films competed against each other in six categories, including Best Picture.^[6][15][16]

Several notable nominees include Steven Spielberg, who extended his record for the most Best Picture nominations to thirteen;^[17] Martin Scorsese, who received his tenth nomination for Best Director, and became the oldest nominee in the category;^[b][18] Thelma Schoonmaker, who received her ninth nomination for Best Film Editing;^[20] composer John Williams, who received his 54th nomination;^[21][22] and Willie D. Burton, who received his eighth nomination as a below-the-line crew member.^[21][23][24]

Ten actors received their first Oscar nominations this year.^[25] The acting nominees included portrayals from three openly LGBTQ+ actors: Colman Domingo, Jodie Foster, and Lily Gladstone.^[26][27] Gladstone also became the first Native American actress to be nominated.^[28][29] Scott George, who wrote the music and lyrics to "Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)", became the first member of the Osage Nation to be nominated for an Academy Award.^[30]

This was the fifth consecutive year with at least one Best Picture nominee directed by a woman: Greta Gerwig with Barbie, Celine Song with Past Lives, and Justine Triet with Anatomy of a Fall.^[31][32] Triet also became the eighth woman nominated for Best Director.^[33][34] Overall, six couples received nominations that they shared together in their respective categories.^[35]

Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell won Best Original Song, becoming the youngest two-time Oscar winners in history (22 and 26 years, respectively), having previously won the award in 2022.^[36] Killers of the Flower Moon became Scorsese's third film to be nominated in ten or more categories and not win a single award, after Gangs of New York and The Irishman.^[37] The Zone of Interest became the first British film to win the International Feature category.^[38]

Godzilla Minus One became the first Japanese^[c] and non-English language film to win the Best Visual Effects category.^[42][43] Director Hayao Miyazaki, at the age of 83, became the oldest director to win Best Animated Feature for The Boy and the Heron.^[44] Additionally, The Boy and the Heron became the first PG-13 animated film to win Best Animated Feature; all of the previous winners were rated G or PG.^[45]

Governors Awards

The Academy held its 14th annual Governors Awards ceremony on January 9, 2024,^[d] which was hosted by John Mulaney, during which the following awards were presented:^[46][47][10]

Academy Honorary Awards

• Angela Bassett^[48]
• Mel Brooks^[48]
• Carol Littleton^[48]

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

• Michelle Satter^[48]

Awards

Justine Triet and Arthur Harari, Best Original Screenplay winners

Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki, Best Animated Feature winners

Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell, Best Original Song winners

Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger (‡).^[49]

Films with multiple nominations and awards

Presenters and performers

The following presented awards and performed musical numbers.^[54]

"In Memoriam"

The following people who had died received tributes (in order of appearance) in the "In Memoriam" segment. Tenor Andrea Bocelli performed his song "Time to Say Goodbye" with his son Matteo during the tribute.^[55]

At the end of the segment, a collage of additional names appeared on the theater's main screen: Kenneth Anger, Norma Barzman, Léa Garcia, Jenne Casarotto, Jamie Christopher, Terence Davies, Carl Davis, Arlene Donovan [de], Peter Werner, Daniel Goldberg, Elisha Birnbaum, Ross McDonnell, Nancy Green-Keyes, Shecky Greene, Matthew A. Sweeney, Gary O. Martin, William F. Matthews, John Hamlin, Mo Henry, Barry Humphries, Ron Cephas Jones, Robert Klane, Daniel Langlois, Norman Lear, Michael Lerner, Lance Reddick, Jess Search, Tom Smothers, Suzanne Somers, David McCallum, Cormac McCarthy, Ernst F. Goldschmidt [de], Norman Steinberg, Frances Sternhagen, Ray Stevenson, Don Murray, Sinéad O'Connor, Conrad Palmisano, Cilia van Dijk, Steven Weisberg, Frederic Forrest, George Maharis, Paolo Taviani, Kevin Turen, Paxton Whitehead, Treat Williams, Ian Wingrove and Burt Young.^[55][56]

Pre-ceremony information

On October 17, 2023, Hamish Hamilton was announced as director.^[57] On November 15, Jimmy Kimmel was announced as host, returning for the second consecutive year and fourth Academy Awards overall.^[4] On November 30, 2023, ABC and the Academy announced that the start time of the ceremony would be moved up by an hour to 4:00 p.m. PT (7:00 p.m. ET).^[58] This change enabled ABC to air a half-hour of primetime programming as a lead-out, featuring a new episode of its sitcom Abbott Elementary.^[58]

The pre-show was hosted for the third consecutive year by Vanessa Hudgens, joined by new co-host Julianne Hough.^[59] Due to the scheduling change, the pre-show was shortened to 30 minutes.^[58] The beginning of the ceremony was delayed by six minutes, due to arrivals being slowed by Israel–Hamas war protests outside of the theatre.^[60][61][62]

On January 29, 2024, comedian and broadcaster Amelia Dimoldenberg, host of the YouTube interview series Chicken Shop Date, was announced as the social media ambassador and red carpet correspondent. Dimoldenberg was involved in multiple Oscar season events, including the Oscars Nominees luncheon, where she participated in an Academy video production with nominees. She was also involved interviewing people at the Oscars red carpet and the "Oscars 96 Behind the Scenes Tour".^[63]

Presenters were announced in a series of groups beginning on February 26, 2024.^[64][65][66] Performers were announced on February 28, 2024.^[67][68] After the first batch of presenters was announced, The Hollywood Reporter learned that the Academy would revive a popular presenting format previously used in 2009,^[69] where five Oscar-winning actors for leading and supporting performances took the stage together to introduce the current nominees in their respective categories.^[70] David Alan Grier was selected as the event's announcer.^[71]

Production designers Alana Billingsley and Misty Buckley designed the stage over the course of nine months. According to Billingsley and Buckley, they were inspired by contemporary spaces where people can "meet, exchange, create [like] a modern-day plaza".^[72] Throughout the ceremony, the stage subtly changed its design to honor the nominees; the screenplay categories included images of real typewriters, while the Best Costume Design category showcased images of several of the nominated costumes.^[72]

Diversity rules

This was the first year that diversity rules for the Best Picture category became mandatory. In June 2020, under its Academy Aperture 2025 initiative, the academy established a set of "representation and inclusion standards" that a film would be required to satisfy in order to compete in the category.^[73] For the last two awards, filmmakers were just required to submit a confidential "Academy Inclusion Standards" form for data purposes only.^[74] There are four general standards, of which a film must satisfy two to be considered for Best Picture: (a) "on-screen representation, themes, and narratives"; (b) "creative leadership and project team"; (c) "industry access and opportunities"; and (d) "audience development".^[73]

As explained by Alissa Wilkinson of Vox in 2020, the standards "basically break down into two big buckets: standards promoting more inclusive representation and standards promoting more inclusive employment".^[74] The standards are intended to provide greater opportunities for employment for "underrepresented" racial and ethnic groups, women, LGBTQ+ people, and persons with "cognitive or physical disabilities".^[73]

Box office performance of Best Picture nominees

When the nominations were announced, the films nominated for Best Picture had earned a combined gross of $1.09 billion at the American and Canadian box offices at the time.^[75] Barbie was the highest-grossing film among the Best Picture nominees, with $636 million in domestic box office receipts. Oppenheimer came in second with $327 million. The two films, comprising the Barbenheimer phenomenon, represented 88% of the cumulative box office haul generated by Best Picture nominees prior to their nominations.^[76] Oppenheimer became the highest-grossing Best Picture winner since The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King at the 76th Academy Awards in 2004. It also became the first one to gross more than $100 million at the domestic box office in the decade since Argo at the 85th Academy Awards in 2013.^[77]

Ceremony

Messi the Dog from Anatomy of a Fall attended the ceremony and had his own seat in the audience. According to The Hollywood Reporter, multiple companies with nominated films had complained to the Academy about him attending the Oscar nominees luncheon and giving the film an advantage for voting.^[78] Before the ceremony, the show's host, Jimmy Kimmel, shared a video in which he could be seen rehearsing his Oscars jokes with Messi. He also made a surprise appearance in the audience of the show and appeared to urinate on Matt Damon's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as part of the ongoing Damon–Kimmel feud.^[79]

Nominees Kaouther Ben Hania, Finneas O'Connell, Billie Eilish, and Mark Ruffalo, as well as presenters Ramy Youssef and Mahershala Ali, wore red Artists4Ceasefire badges calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.^{[80][81][82][83]}

Reception

The ceremony received mostly positive reviews from critics.^[84] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 83% of 23 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Moving at a surprisingly swift clip and peppered with a slate of predictable but agreeable victors, the 96th Oscars' infectious Ken-ergy yields one of the best ceremonies in recent memory."^[85] The highlights of the ceremony are considered by many to be the musical performances of "I'm Just Ken" and "Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)", John Mulaney summarizing the plot of Field of Dreams while presenting the award for Best Sound, an almost nude John Cena presenting Best Costume Design (which Kimmel billed as marking the 50th anniversary of a streaking incident at the 1974 ceremony),^[86][87] respective wins of Japanese films Godzilla Minus One and The Boy and the Heron,^[88][89][90] and past acting winners introducing this year's nominees.^[91][92][93]

The Zone of Interest director Jonathan Glazer received substantial praise and criticism for his Best International Feature acceptance speech, during which he called for the end of Israel's bombardment of Gaza.^[94] One sentence from Glazer's speech, in which he said that he and fellow producer James Wilson "stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation", was widely misinterpreted and misquoted, with some sources ending the quote after the words "refute their Jewishness" and incorrectly suggesting that Glazer was disavowing his Jewish identity.^[95][96][97] Many pro-Israel figures disapproved of the statement,^[98][99] and in the days following the ceremony, over 1,000 Jewish members of the film industry signed an open letter denouncing Glazer's speech and defending the actions of the Israeli government.^[100][101] Others defended Glazer's comments, including writer Tony Kushner^[102] and the director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, where The Zone of Interest is set and where parts of it were filmed.^[103]

Conversely, the In Memoriam section received criticism for being too distracting and the names and faces being so tiny and distant much of the time that it was difficult recognizing them.^{[104][105][106]} The Best Picture presentation by Al Pacino was criticized for not naming the 10 nominees before announcing the winner.^{[107][108][109]} Clips from the Best Picture nominees had been shown over the course of the ceremony, and producer Molly McNearney said to Variety that the reading of the nominees was cut "because we were very worried that the show was going to be long". Similarly, the nominees for Best Original Song were also not read aloud when handed out by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, as each of the songs had been performed earlier in the evening.^[110] Acknowledging that it was not his decision, Pacino later apologized for not listing the nominees, saying that "to not be fully recognized is offensive and hurtful".^[111]

Ratings

The American telecast on ABC drew in an average of 19.5 million people over its length, which was a 4% increase from the previous year's ceremony and marking the longest streak of annual ratings increases for the Academy Awards since 2014.^[112] However, the show slipped a little in 18–49 demo rating with a 3.81 rating among viewers in that key demographic, down 5% from 4.03 rating of last year's ceremony.^[113] The viewership peaked in the last half-hour with 21.9 million total viewers.^[114] The ceremony scored the biggest audience for any awards show since the 92nd Academy Awards in 2020, and is so far the largest viewership for any live non-sports entertainment program on U.S. television in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era.^[9] ABC's Abbott Elementary lead-out also benefitted, with the episode reaching a series high in the 18–49 demo (1.42 rating) and total viewership (6.9 million).^[115][58]