They’re here, they’re here!

After much anticipation, the nominations for this year’s Academy Awards have been unveiled with Oppenheimer unsurprisingly leading the way with a marvellous haul of thirteen.

The autobiographical epic, which centres on physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his work on the atomic bomb, competes for the coveted Best Picture prize while filmmaker Christopher Nolan is nominated for both his directing and writing.

Additionally, Irish star Cillian Murphy is up for Best Actor for his portrayal of Oppenheimer while Robert Downey Jr. contests Best Supporting Actress for playing government official Lewis Strauss. More significantly, British actress Emily Blunt receives an overdue FIRST Oscar nomination for her supporting role as Oppenheimer’s wife Kitty. As expected, the film is also up for several technical awards including Best Editing, Best Cinematography and Best Original Score.

Elsewhere, the period comedy Poor Things and the crime epic Killers of the Flower Moon also performed well with multiple mentions across the board including Best Picture.

On top of multiple tech nods, Poor Things also nabbed a Best Director nomination for filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos while leading lady Emma Stone (as revived Victorian heroine Bella Baxter) and co-star Mark Ruffalo (as debauched lawyer Duncan Wedderburn) both contest Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor respectively.

For Killers of the Flower Moon, the great Martin Scorsese receives his tenth Best Director nomination while stars Lily Gladstone (as Osage native Mollie Burkhart) and Robert De Niro (as cunning landowner William Hale) are acknowledged for their performances. Gladstone’s nod is a significant one as it makes her the first Native American woman to be nominated for an acting Oscar.

However, her co-star Leonardo DiCaprio missed out on a Best Actor nod for his role as criminal Ernest Burkhart while the film’s screenplay was also ignored.

Meanwhile, the fantasy comedy Barbie scored an impressive eight nominations that included Best Picture as well as supporting actor/actress mentions for Ryan Gosling (as macho doll Ken) and surprise nominee America Ferrera (as Mattel employee Gloria). The film also scored double nods in Best Original Song for Billie Eilish’s ‘What Was I Made For?’ and the humorous ‘I’m Just Ken’ ballad performed by Gosling in the film.

However, leading lady Margot Robbie missed out on a Best Actress nomination while filmmaker Greta Gerwig had to settle for just a Best Adapted Screenplay nod.

Despite a mixed reception from audiences, the music-based drama Maestro picked up seven mentions including double acting nods for stars Bradley Cooper (as real-life conductor Leonard Bernstein) and Carey Mulligan (as Broadway actress Felicia Montealegre).

Four Best Picture contenders all share five nominations each including dark comedies The Holdovers and American Fiction.

For Holdovers, main stars Paul Giamatti (as curmudgeonly prep school professor Paul Hunham) and Da’Vine Joy Randolph (as grieving cook Mary Lamb) are both heavily tipped to win Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress respectively. In the case of American Fiction, the satire landed first Oscar nods for stars Jeffrey Wright (as frustrated novelist Thelonious “Monk” Ellison) and Sterling K. Brown (as estranged brother Clifford Ellison).

There was also an impressive showing from European films as the French legal drama Anatomy of a Fall and the Nazi-based period drama The Zone of Interest rounded off the four Best Picture nominees with five nods. Having starred in both films, leading lady Sandra Hüller receives a Best Actress nomination for her performance as accused writer Sandra Voyter in Anatomy while filmmakers Justine Triet (Anatomy) and Jonathan Glazer (Zone) are shortlisted for their directing and screenplay.

Rounding off the Best Picture line-up is the romantic drama Past Lives which settled for just two slots including Best Original Screenplay.

The rest of the acting contenders are NYAD duo Annette Bening (as seasoned athlete Diane Nyad) and Jodie Foster (as swimming coach Bonnie Stoll) as well as first time nominees Colman Domingo (as civil rights activist Bayard Rustin) and Danielle Brooks (as strong-willed African American woman Sofia) in The Color Purple.

In other categories, Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse lock horns in Best Animated Film alongside Pixar’s Elemental, Netflix’s Nimona and surprise nominee Robot Dreams while other high-profile films to score nods include The Creator, Godzilla: Minus One, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Napoleon, and Society of the Snow.

History was also made by legendary composer John Williams as he picked up his 54TH Oscar nomination for his score of the blockbuster Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. He is now the most individual in Oscar history and officially the oldest nominee at the grand age of 91.

As to be expected, the Academy did overlook a number of films altogether including Air, All of Us Strangers, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret., Asteroid City, Blackberry, Bottoms, Fallen Leaves, Ferrari, The Iron Claw, John Wick: Chapter 4, The Killer, The Little Mermaid, Origin, Priscilla, Saltburn, The Super Mario Bros Movie, Wish, Wonka, Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie and the Disney+ short Once Upon a Studio.

Additionally, the renowned performances that were left out included Fantastic Barrino (The Color Purple), Greta Lee (Past Lives), Andrew Scott (All of Us Strangers), Julianne Moore (May December), Rosamund Pike (Saltburn), Willem Dafoe (Poor Things) and Dominic Sessa (The Holdovers).

The 96th Annual Academy Awards will take place on 10 March with Jimmy Kimmel on hosting duties for the fourth time. Additionally, British audiences can follow the coverage on ITV for the first time.

The full list of Oscar nominations are below (winner predictions in blue):

BEST PICTURE
AMERICAN FICTION
ANATOMY OF A FALL
BARBIE
THE HOLDOVERS
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
MAESTRO
OPPENHEIMER
PAST LIVES
POOR THINGS
THE ZONE OF INTEREST

BEST DIRECTOR
Jonathan Glazer, THE ZONE OF INTEREST
Yorgos Lanthimos, POOR THINGS
Christopher Nolan, OPPENHEIMER
Martin Scorsese, KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
Justine Triet, ANATOMY OF A FALL

BEST ACTRESS
Annette Bening, NYAD
Lily Gladstone, KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
Sandra Hüller, ANATOMY OF A FALL
Carey Mulligan, MAESTRO
Emma Stone, POOR THINGS

BEST ACTOR
Bradley Cooper, MAESTRO
Colman Domingo, RUSTIN
Paul Giamatti, THE HOLDOVERS
Cillian Murphy, OPPENHEIMER
Jeffrey Wright, AMERICAN FICTION

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Emily Blunt, OPPENHEIMER
Danielle Brooks, THE COLOR PURPLE
America Ferrera, BARBIE
Jodie Foster, NYAD
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, THE HOLDOVERS

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Sterling K. Brown, AMERICAN FICTION
Robert De Niro, KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
Robert Downey Jr., OPPENHEIMER
Ryan Gosling, BARBIE
Mark Ruffalo, POOR THINGS

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
AMERICAN FICTION (Cord Jefferson)
BARBIE (Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach)
OPPENHEIMER (Christopher Nolan)
POOR THINGS (Tony McNamara)
THE ZONE OF INTEREST (Jonathan Glazer)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
ANATOMY OF A FALL (Justine Triet & Arthur Harari)
THE HOLDOVERS (David Hemingson)
MAESTRO (Bradley Cooper & Josh Singer)
MAY DECEMBER (Samy Burch)
PAST LIVES (Celine Song)

BEST EDITING
ANATOMY OF A FALL
THE HOLDOVERS
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
OPPENHEIMER
POOR THINGS

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
EL CONDE
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
MAESTRO
OPPENHEIMER
POOR THINGS

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
BARBIE
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
NAPOLEON
OPPENHEIMER
POOR THINGS

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
BARBIE
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON
NAPOLEON
OPPENHEIMER
POOR THINGS

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
GOLDA
MAESTRO
OPPENHEIMER
POOR THINGS
SOCIETY OF THE SNOW

BEST SOUND
THE CREATOR
MAESTRO
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE
OPPENHEIMER
THE ZONE OF INTEREST

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
THE CREATOR
GODZILLA: MINUS ONE
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE
NAPOLEON

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
AMERICAN FICTION (Laura Karpman)
INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY (John Williams)
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON (Robbie Robertson)
OPPENHEIMER (Ludwig Göransson)
POOR THINGS (Jerskin Fendrix)

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
AMERICAN SYMPHONY, “It Never Went Away”
BARBIE, “I’m Just Ken”
BARBIE, “What Was I Made For?”
FLAMIN’ HOT, “The Fire Inside”
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON, “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)”

BEST ANIMATED FILM
THE BOY AND THE HERON
ELEMENTAL
NIMONA
ROBOT DREAMS
SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
IO CAPITANO (ITALY)
PERFECT DAYS (JAPAN)
SOCIETY OF THE SNOW (SPAIN)
THE TEACHER’S LOUNGE (GERMANY)
THE ZONE OF INTEREST (UNITED KINGDOM)

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
BOBI WINE: THE PEOPLE’S PRESIDENT
THE ETERNAL MEMORY
FOUR DAUGHTERS
TO KILL A TIGER
20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL

BEST DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)
THE ABCS OF BOOK BANNING
THE BARBER OF LITTLE ROCK
ISLAND IN BETWEEN
THE LAST REPAIR SHOP
NǍI NAI & WÀI PÓ

BEST SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
THE AFTER
INVINCIBLE
KNIGHT OF FORTUNE
RED, WHITE AND BLUE
THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR

BEST SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
LETTER TO A PIG
NINTY-FIVE SENSES
OUR UNIFORM
PACHYDERME
WAR IS OVER! INSPIRED BY THE MUSIC OF JOHN & YOKO