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The Hollywood Reporter's guide to the 96th annual Academy Awards.
By Tatiana Tenreyro
The 2024 Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 10 at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles. Jimmy Kimmel returns as host for the fourth time, joined onstage by an all-star list of presenters.
Kimmel previously said he returned to emcee the show partly because he had a feeling a popular movie might be nominated, arguing that it’s easier to joke about something the audience has seen.
“I am sitting in a movie theater watching Barbie and thinking, ‘Well, maybe I’ll do this again, because at least I have a point of reference with everyone,’” he said.
He said he also felt that with Top Gun: Maverick, which landed six Oscar nominations, including a nod for best picture, at the 2023 Oscars: “I knew there was a movie that people had seen, and it just makes the job easier.”
Oscars executive producer Molly McNearney echoed this appreciation for nominated movies that were also hits at the box office when she and Kimmel spoke with The Hollywood Reporter.
“It was a big relief to us as joke writers to have movies nominated that the home audience has seen, like Barbie and Oppenheimer,” she said.
As for the process of agreeing to host again, Kimmel said, “I think Molly waits till I come up with the yes and then tries to talk me out of it. And if it’s still yes, then it becomes ‘yes!‘”
McNearney also argued that 2023’s dual actor and writer strikes contributed to the decision to take the gig.
“I think the strike played a part, too,” she said. “It was giving people job opportunities and also having a room full of people who appreciate their jobs more than ever and making movies again felt like a good wave to ride.”
While the ceremony will once again air on ABC in the U.S., this year it starts an hour earlier than in past years, with the show also taking place on the first day of daylight saving time in the U.S.
This year’s Oscars aren’t devoid of controversy, particularly tied to the high-profile snubs of Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig in the best actress and best director categories, respectively.
The 2024 Oscars are the first in which films must meet two of four representation and inclusion standards in order to be eligible for the top prize of best picture.
Here’s what to expect from the 96th annual Academy Awards.
The Oscars will air on ABC in the U.S. starting at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, following a half-hour ABC preshow that starts at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT. Stream the Oscars online on ABC through DirecTV Stream, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV or Sling.
The show is expected to wrap by 10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PT, when ABC will air a new episode of its hit sitcom Abbott Elementary.
This start time is an hour earlier than the 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT start of past years, in what the Film Academy called a first.
And this year the Oscars falls on the first day of daylight saving time, meaning it will feel even earlier to many U.S. viewers.
Besides Kimmel, this year features a star-studded list of presenters. Zendaya, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Emily Blunt, Cynthia Erivo, Sally Field, Ariana Grande, Ben Kingsley, Melissa McCarthy, Issa Rae, Tim Robbins, Steven Spielberg, Mary Steenburgen, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlize Theron, Forest Whitaker, Jamie Lee Curtis, Christoph Waltz, Brendan Fraser, Ke Huy Quan, Michelle Yeoh, Rita Moreno, Bad Bunny, John Mulaney, Michelle Pfeiffer, Chris Hemsworth, Michael Keaton, Regina King, Dwayne Johnson, Jennifer Lawrence, Kate McKinnon, Catherine O’Hara, Octavia Spencer and Ramy Youssef are among the names confirmed so far.
As previously reported by THR, the 2024 Oscars will return to the 2009 approach of having five past acting winners introducing this year’s acting nominees. This year’s presenters include previous best actor winners Nicolas Cage, Matthew McConaughey, Al Pacino, Fraser, Kingsley and Whitaker; past best actress winners Jessica Lange, Field, Lawrence, Theron and Yeoh; prior best supporting actor winners Mahershala Ali, Sam Rockwell, Quan, Robbins and Waltz; and past best supporting actress winners Lupita Nyong’o, Curtis, King, Moreno, Spencer and Steenburgen.
All of the nominated best original song contenders will be performed during the ceremony. Ryan Gosling takes the stage for the first time with “I’m Just Ken” from Barbie; Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas will play her Barbie ballad “What Was I Made For?”; Scott George and the Osage Singers will perform “Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon; Becky G will sing “The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot; and Jon Batiste will play “It Never Went Away” from American Symphony.
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer leads this year’s nominees with 13 nods. Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest film Poor Things isn’t far behind, with 11 nominations, while Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon received 10 nods. Greta Gerwig’s Barbie has eight nominations. The four films are competing for best picture alongside American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers, Maestro, The Zone of Interest and Past Lives.
This year’s contenders feature a number of first-time acting nominees, including Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer), Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple), Sterling K. Brown (American Fiction), Colman Domingo (Rustin), America Ferrera (Barbie), Lily 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).
Among those setting records with their noms were Gladstone, who is the first Native American acting nominee, and Martin Scorsese, who is now the most nominated living movie director.
In the best directing category, Justine Triet is the only woman to be nominated (and eighth overall in the Academy Awards‘ history). She’s up for the award with Nolan (Oppenheimer), Lanthimos (Poor Things), Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon) and Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest).
Find out more about how to watch the Oscars in the U.S. and around the world, how to stream this year’s nominated films and THR‘s predictions for what will win and should win.
And check out THR’s full Oscars issue and complete awards season coverage.
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