Oscar finally gave Christopher Nolan his due this past season, bestowing seven trophies to his WWII-set biopic/character study, Oppenheimer. Sure, each year tells its own story, Oscar season never exists in a vacuum. Indeed, as others have noted, when choosing one film as the best of a given year, (voting) members of the motion-picture academy often seem to respond to decisions they made in years past. While not unworthy of Best Picture, Oppenheimer hardly broke any Oscar mold in the way preceding Picture victor, 2022’s Everything Everywhere All at Once, did. Granted, some have argued that the sci-fi action comedy was simply hitting Oscar-bait notes with outlandish genre trappings. Even so, one cannot say in good conscience say it is a conventional Best Picture winner.
So, with Oscar often choosing its Picture winners almost to avoid repetitive outcomes, will the motion-picture academy’s top film of 2024 be something that (at least on paper) defies what we would consider “awards bait,” or will we see another movie tick Oscar’s boxes in ways we expect? Well, girl, I don’t know, it’s only April! If we’re swerving from a relatively conventional Oscar fave to something more offbeat, the most monocle-popping potential Picture winner I can think of at this point would be something like… Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow? The reviews are there, but even with critics in the film’s corner, will Oscar voters bite? And that’s assuming the horror flick makes money moves when it hits theaters. At this point, I’m not brave enough to suggest that – even in April when we have no clue how any of this is going to turn out.
Even so, would it be more bizarre than having multiple sequels/prequels in the Picture lineup? Dune: Part Two is arguably the only across-the-board contender to have hit theaters so far; while that film is practically locked for a Picture nomination, sequels to Gladiator and Joker and a Mad Max: Fury Road prequel.
Still, since we know less than nothing about how any of this will turn out, I’m going with Steven McQueen’s Blitz for now because… why not?
Best Picture
- Blitz
- Conclave
- Gladiator 2
- Dune: Part Two
- Kinds of Kindness
- A Complete Unknown
- Challengers
- Sing Sing
- Megalopolis
- The Apprentice
Best Director
- Ridley Scott, Gladiator 2
- Denis Villeneuve, Dune: Part Two
- Steve McQueen, Blitz
- Francis Ford Coppola, Megalopolis
- Julian Schnabel, Hand of Dante
Best Actress in a Leading Role
- Zendaya, Challengers
- Saoirse Ronan, Blitz
- Lady Gaga, Joker: Folie à Deux
- Emma Stone, Kinds of Kindness
- Lily Gladstone, Fancy Dance
Best Actor in a Leading Role
- Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown
- Ralph Fiennes, Conclave
- Colman Domingo, Sing Sing
- Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice
- Adam Driver, Megalopolis
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
- Isabella Rossellini, Conclave
- Hong Chau, Kinds of Kindness
- Elle Fanning, A Complete Unknown
- Margaret Qualley, Kinds of Kindness
- Brigette Lundy-Paine, I Saw the TV Glow
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
- Samuel L. Jackson, The Piano Lesson
- Willem Dafoe, Kinds of Kindness
- Pedro Pascal, Gladiator 2
- Austin Butler, Dune: Part 2
- Jesse Plemons, Kinds of Kindness
Best Original Screenplay
- Steve McQueen, Blitz
- Jane Schoenbrun, I Saw the TV Glow
- Justin Kuritzkes, Challengers
- Julio Torres, Problemista
- Gabriel Sherman, The Apprentice
Best Adapted Screenplay
- Peter Straughan, Conclave
- Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar, Sing Sing
- Justin Kuritzkes, Queer
- Malcolm Washington and Virgil Williams, The Piano Lesson
- Enda Walsh, Small Things Like These
Best Animated Feature
- Piece by Piece
- The Lord of the Ring: The War of the Rohirrim
- Inside Out 2
- The Wild Robot
- Memoir of a Snail
Best Original Song
- ???? from Piece by Piece
- ???? from Joker: Folie à Deux
- ???? from Spellbound (Alan Menken)
- “Starburned and Unkissed” from I Saw the TV Glow
- Obligatory reservation for Diane Warren
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