Oppenheimer capped its dream awards-season run with the Best Picture win at the 96th Oscars on Sunday at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, despite an awkward reveal by Al Pacino. Producers Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan accepted the prize.
Nolan also took the Best Director prize, giving Universal’s film about J. Robert Oppenheimer and his Manhattan Project a leading seven statuettes. His near-billion-dollar juggernaut has been collecting trophies at nearly every stop this season and came into the ceremony as the odds-on favorite for Best Picture, among other nods.
RELATED: All The Best Picture Oscar Winners – Photo Gallery
Related Stories
RELATED: 2024 Oscars: The Biggest Moments, Snubs And Surprises
“Movies are just just over a 100 years old,” Nolan said in accepting the directing prize, “and just imagine 100 years into painting or theater. We don’t know where this journey is going from here, but to know that you think I’m a meaningful part of it means the world to me.” The Oscar wins were his first on eight career nominations.
RELATED: Every Best Actor Oscar Winner Back To 1927
Cillian Murphy won Best Actor for Oppenheimer, following up his victories at the SAG and BAFTA Film Awards. But it was his first Oscar and nomination and the first win for an Ireland-born actor in the category. “For better or worse,” he said onstage, “We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb, and for better or for worse, we’re all living in Oppenheimer’s world. So I’d like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere.”
RELATED: All The Oscar Best Actress Winners – Photo Gallery
Emma Stone won Best Actress for Searchlight Pictures’ Poor Things tonight, upsetting Killers of the Flower Moon star Lily Gladstone, who also had a great run of wins this season. It was Stone’s win in the category, following La La Land in 2017. In her acceptance speech, Stone thanked director Yorgos Lanthimos “for the gift of a lifetime in Bella Baxter.” Earlier, her reaction to Kimmel’s joke about her film got social media buzzing.
RELATED: Oscar Scorecards: Wins By Film and Distributor
Poor Things scooped the second-most awards Sunday with four — three of which were won consecutively. A24’s The Zone of Interest is the only other multiple winner on the night. Best Picture nominees Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro and Past Lives went home empty-handed Sunday. American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, The Boy & The Heron, The Holdovers, 20 Days in Mariupol and Godzilla Minor One took one each.
Universal also led the distributors with seven, with Searchlight next with four and A24 and Toho being the only others with two. Among the big studios shut out Sunday were Netflix, Sony, Paramount and Disney.
The first winner of the Jimmy Kimmel-hosted ceremony was familiar to anyone who has followed the 2023-24 awards season: Da’Vine Joy Rudolph took the Oscar for Focus Features’ The Holdovers, as she has done at nearly every trophy show of the past several months. She gave a teary acceptance speech that referenced her mom and those who have “ushered and guided me.”
RELATED: Every Best Supporting Actress Oscar Winner Back To 1937
Robert Downey Jr. later took the Supporting Actor prize for Universal’s Oppenheimer. He said from the podium, “Here’s my little secret: I needed this job more than it needed me.” It was his first Academy Award on his third nomination, after Tropic Thunder and Chaplin.
RELATED: Every Best Supporting Actor Oscar Winner Back To 1937
Oppenheimer‘s second win of the night, for Film Editing, was the first for Jennifer Lame. The film’s Hoyte van Hoytema later took the Cinematography prize. Both also won at the ACE Eddie Awards and ASC Awards, respectively. Oppenheimer’s Ludwig Göransson also won for Best Score, following up his win at the Society of Composers and Lyricists Awards.
RELATED: Oscars: Watch The Best-Song Performances
Siblings Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell won their second Best Song Oscar in four years for “What Was I Made For?” from 2023’s No. 1 movie, Barbie. It made Eilish the youngest person to win two Oscars. But that also made Diane Warren 0-for-15 noms in the category, though she picked up an Honorary Oscar at the 2022 Governor Awards.
Cord Jefferson won Best Original Screenplay for Amazon MGM Studios’ American Fiction. In his acceptance speech, Jefferson — an Emmy winner for his work on HBO’s Watchmen — pleaded with Hollywood to give new creatives a shot.
RELATED: The Script’s The Thing: Read All Of This Year’s Oscar-Nominated Screenplays
Anatomy of a Fall, the Cannes Palme d’Or winner from Neon written by Justine Triet and Arthur Harari, won Best Adapted Screenplay. Triet said during her speech, “This will help with my midlife crisis.” It was the first Oscar for any of tonight’s winning scripters.
RELATED: Barbenheimer: Emily Blunt & Ryan Gosling Squash Rivalry After One Last Ribbing At Oscars
The ceremony’s first big surprise was Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron taking the Animated Feature prize over Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which dominated the Annie Awards last month. The latter’s 2018 predecessor won the Oscar five years ago. Miyazaki’s pic from Toho International did win the BAFTA Film Award, ending an 18-year streak of U.S.-funded productions winning Best Animated Film at the BAFTAs.
RELATED: Messi The Dog From ‘Anatomy Of A Fall’ Gets Star Treatment At Oscars
The Academy Award for Best Animated Short went to the anti-war film War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko. Sunday was Mothers Day in the UK, and Sean Ono Lennon wished his mom Yoko Ono a happy one in the acceptance speech. Wes Anderson and Steven Rales later picked up the Live-Action Short statuette for The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. It was Anderson’s first Oscar. on his eighth nomination.
RELATED: These Are The Jokes, Folks: Jimmy Kimmel Tries A Few Oscars Bits Out On ‘Anatomy Of A Fall’ Dog
20 Days in Mariupol, the harrowing Ukrainian film from Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath, took Best Documentary Feature. It offers a first-person account of the 20 days Chernov and his AP colleagues spent documenting Russia’s invasion of Mariupol, Ukraine. It was the first Oscar win for the Eastern European nation.
The Last Repair Shop, from Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers, won for Documentary Short. It was Proudfoot’s second Oscar in three years, following The Queen of Basketball in 2022.
There was another mini-upset in the Makeup & Hairstyling category, as Poor Things’ Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston took the statuette over MUAHS Awards winner Maestro and others. The film then followed up its ADG Awards triumph with a win for Production Design (production design by James Price and Shona Heath and set decoration by Zsuzsa Mihalek) and made it three straight with Holly Waddington taking the Costume Design trophy after winning at the CDG Awards. Poor Things was the night’s first double winner before adding the third.
RELATED: Deadline’s Reviews Of All The Oscar Best Picture Nominees
The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer‘s historical drama from A24, won for International Feature Film — scoring the UK’s first-ever international feature Oscar win. In his speech, Glazer decried the “dehumanization” of the October 7 attack in Israel and the war in Gaza.
The Zone of Interest‘s Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn scored an upset later by winning for Best Sound over MPSE Golden Reel winners Oppenheimer, Maestro and others.
RELATED: Oscar Week 2024 Parties & Events List: The List
Another non-Hollywood pic, Japan’s Godzilla Minus One from Toho, scored the Visual Effects Oscar over VES Award winner The Creator and others. The film opened December 1 and has made close to $57 million at U.S. box office, the highest-grossing Japanese film Stateside. It’s also among the highest-grossing non-English language films at the U.S. box office.
Here are the winners at the 96th Academy Awards:
Best Picture
Oppenheimer
Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan, Producers
Actress in a Leading Role
Emma Stone
Poor Things
Directing
Oppenheimer
Christopher Nolan
Actor in a Leading Role
Cillian Murphy
Oppenheimer
Music (Original Song)
“What Was I Made For?” from Barbie
Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell
Music (Original Score)
Oppenheimer
Ludwig Göransson
Sound
The Zone of Interest
Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn
Live Action Short Film
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
Wes Anderson and Steven Rales
Cinematography
Oppenheimer
Hoyte van Hoytema
Documentary Feature Film
20 Days in Mariupol
Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath
Documentary Short Film
The Last Repair Shop
Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers
Film Editing
Oppenheimer
Jennifer Lame
Visual Effects
Godzilla Minus One
Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima
Actor in a Supporting Role
Robert Downey Jr.
Oppenheimer
International Feature Film
The Zone of Interest (UK)
Costume Design
Poor Things
Holly Waddington
Production Design
Poor Things
Production Design: James Price and Shona Heath; Set Decoration: Zsuzsa Mihalek
Makeup and Hairstyling
Poor Things
Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
American Fiction
Written for the screen by Cord Jefferson
Writing (Original Screenplay)
Anatomy of a Fall
Screenplay – Justine Triet and Arthur Harari
Animated Feature Film
The Boy and the Heron
Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki
Animated Short Film
War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko
Dave Mullins and Brad Booker
Actress in a Supporting Role
Da’Vine Joy Randolph
The Holdovers
RELATED: 2024 Awards Season Calendar – Dates ForWriters Guild, Tonys & More
Must Read Stories
Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happy.