The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the shortlists in 10 categories for the upcoming 96th Oscars ceremony.
Overall, Greta Gerwig’s meta-comedy “Barbie” had the most mentions with five including sound, original song for its three submissions from Billie Eilish (“What I Was Made For?”), Dua Lipa (“Dance the Night”) and Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt (“I’m Just Ken”), and original score, from the latter duo. The big miss for “Barbie” was in makeup and hairstyling, which was the category that yielded the most surprises.
In addition to “Barbie,” “The Color Purple,” and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” all failed to make the shortlist. Instead, the branch selected A24’s eccentric “Beau is Afraid” and Universal Pictures’ horror summer film “The Last Voyage of the Demeter.”
In the music categories are compositions from Daniel Pemberton (“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”), Ludwig Göransson (“Oppenheimer“) and the late Robbie Robertson (“Killers of the Flower Moon”). We also have a fair amount of veterans including Thomas Newman (“Elemental”) and John Williams (“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”).
Notable is the diversity among the composers that made the shortlist including Black composers Jon Batiste (“American Symphony”) and Kris Bowers (“The Color Purple”), female legendary musician Laura Karpman (“American Fiction”) and nonbinary and Oscar nominee for “Jackie,” Mica Levi (“The Zone of Interest”). Mark Orton being named for “The Holdovers” was also a surprise, considering many believed it didn’t qualify to be submitted. A fine choice by the branch.
Original song delivered two tracks each from Warner Bros’ “The Color Purple” (“Keep It Movin'” and “Superpower,” sang by Halle Bailey and Fantasia Barrino) and Apple Original Films’ “Flora and Son” (“High Life” and “Meet in the Middle”). Olivia Rodrigo’s hit “Can’t Catch Me Now” from “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” also moves one step closer to an Oscar nom alongside Lenny Kravitz (“Road to Freedom” from “Rustin”) and surprisingly Wes Anderson, who co-wrote “Dear Alien” from “Asteroid City.” Anderson’s short film “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” made the live-action shortlist alongside Pedro Almodovar’s “Strange Way of Life,” which stars Pedro Pascal.
Variety exclusively reported on the 20 visual effects finalists that were revealed to the finalists earlier this month, where we already knew Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” wouldn’t advance in the competition. Still, his film showed strength in makeup, sound and score mentions. The Visual Effects Branch will have to select five nominees from the remaining 10 films, which include Toho’s monster flick “Godzilla: Minus One,” Zack Snyder’s epic “Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire” and the animated “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.”
Other movies with strong showings include Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” with four mentions overall including original song and J.A. Bayona’s “Society of the Snow,” which could emulate the path of last year’s surprise juggernaut “All Quiet on the Western Front,” which went on to win four Oscars.
Documentary feature found many frontrunners nabbing slots including Apple Original Films’ “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” Netflix’s “American Symphony” and MTV Documentary Films’ “The Eternal Memory.” Surprise omissions from the lineup were National Geographic’s “The Mission,” although “Bobi Wine: The People’s President” made the cut. In addition, Magnolia’s “Kokomo City” and “Little Richard: I Am Everything” were left off, along with Janus and Sideshow’s “Anselm” from Wim Wenders also failing to get enough votes.
The international feature race didn’t see many jaw-dropping snubs aside from Romania’s “Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World” and Chile’s “The Settlers” not being named. All the usual suspects are on board including the U.K.’s “The Zone of Interest” and Spain’s “Society of the Snow.”
The Oscar nomination period will run from Jan. 11-16, with the official nominees named on Jan. 23.
Read the list of the films included below.
Documentary Feature
- “American Symphony”
- “Apolonia, Apolonia”
- “Beyond Utopia”
- “Bobi Wine: The People’s President”
- “Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy”
- “The Eternal Memory”
- “Four Daughters”
- “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project”
- “In the Rearview”
- “Stamped from the Beginning”
- “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie”
- “A Still Small Voice”
- “32 Sounds”
- “To Kill a Tiger”
- “20 Days in Mariupol”
Documentary Short Subject
- “The ABCs of Book Banning”
- “The Barber of Little Rock”
- “Bear”
- “Between Earth & Sky”
- “Black Girls Play: The Story of Hand Games”
- “Camp Courage”
- “Deciding Vote”
- “How We Get Free”
- “If Dreams Were Lightning: Rural Healthcare Crisis”
- “Island in Between”
- “The Last Repair Shop”
- “Last Song from Kabul”
- “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó”
- “Oasis”
- “Wings of Dust”
International Feature
- Armenia, “Amerikatsi”
- Bhutan, “The Monk and the Gun”
- Denmark, “The Promised Land”
- Finland, “Fallen Leaves”
- France, “The Taste of Things”
- Germany, “The Teachers’ Lounge”
- Iceland, “Godland”
- Italy, “Io Capitano”
- Japan, “Perfect Days”
- Mexico, “Totem”
- Morocco, “The Mother of All Lies”
- Spain, “Society of the Snow”
- Tunisia, “Four Daughters”
- Ukraine, “20 Days in Mariupol”
- United Kingdom, “The Zone of Interest”
Makeup and Hairstyling
- “Beau Is Afraid”
- “Ferrari”
- “Golda”
- “Killers of the Flower Moon”
- “The Last Voyage of the Demeter”
- “Maestro”
- “Napoleon”
- “Oppenheimer”
- “Poor Things”
- “Society of the Snow”
Sound
- “Barbie”
- “The Creator”
- “Ferrari”
- “The Killer”
- “Killers of the Flower Moon”
- “Maestro”
- “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”
- “Napoleon”
- “Oppenheimer”
- “The Zone of Interest”
Original Score
- “American Fiction”
- “American Symphony”
- “Barbie”
- “The Boy and the Heron”
- “The Color Purple”
- “Elemental”
- “The Holdovers”
- “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”
- “Killers of the Flower Moon”
- “Oppenheimer”
- “Poor Things”
- “Saltburn”
- “Society of the Snow”
- “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”
- “The Zone of Interest”
Original Song
- “It Never Went Away” from “American Symphony”
- “Dear Alien (Who Art In Heaven)” from “Asteroid City”
- “Dance The Night” from “Barbie”
- “I’m Just Ken” from “Barbie”
- “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie”
- “Keep It Movin’” from “The Color Purple”
- “Superpower (I)” from “The Color Purple”
- “The Fire Inside” from “Flamin’ Hot”
- “High Life” from “Flora and Son”
- “Meet In The Middle” from “Flora and Son”
- “Can’t Catch Me Now” from “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes”
- “Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from “Killers of the Flower Moon”
- “Quiet Eyes” from “Past Lives”
- “Road To Freedom” from “Rustin”
- “Am I Dreaming” from “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”
Animated Short Film
- “Boom”
- “Eeva”
- “Humo (Smoke)”
- “I’m Hip”
- “A Kind of Testament”
- “Koerkorter (Dog Apartment)”
- “Letter to a Pig”
- “Ninety-Five Senses”
- “Once Upon a Studio”
- “Our Uniform”
- “Pachyderme”
- “Pete”
- “27”
- “War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko”
- “Wild Summon”
Live Action Short Film
- “The After”
- “The Anne Frank Gift Shop”
- “An Avocado Pit”
- “Bienvenidos a Los Angeles”
- “Dead Cat”
- “Good Boy”
- “Invincible”
- “Invisible Border”
- “Knight of Fortune”
- “The One Note Man”
- “Red, White and Blue”
- “The Shepherd”
- “Strange Way of Life”
- “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar”
- “Yellow”
Visual Effects
- “The Creator”
- “Godzilla Minus One”
- “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”
- “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”
- “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”
- “Napoleon”
- “Poor Things”
- “Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire”
- “Society of the Snow”
- “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”
