All the Highlights From the Oscars 2024

The three biggest winners of the night, and the only movies to take home multiple awards, were Oppenheimer, Poor Things, and The Zone of Interest. Oppenheimer took home seven awards out of 13 nominations, including winning the big three. Poor Things earned an impressive four awards, while The Zone of Interest walked away with two.  

This year's ceremony saw a lot of more than deserving talent recognized for the first time, such as Christopher Nolan, acclaimed director of The Dark Knight Trilogy and Inception, who finally won Directing. While most knew this award was going to Nolan before the ceremony started, seeing him accept the trophy was significant and satisfying. His speech was quite moving as he noted the 100-year history of movie-making and how much it means to him to have played a meaningful part in it. Oppenheimer also earned Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr their first Academy Awards for Actor in a Leading Role and Actor in a Supporting Role, respectively.  

Poor Things gave us the night's biggest surprise, with Emma Stone winning her second Actress in a Leading Role award in less than a decade. The actress and most audience members were shocked when Stone's name was announced as it was expected to go to Lily Gladstone for Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon. Unfortunately, that film received zero awards, and neither did Bradley Cooper's Maestro. Stone also gave an authentic and heartfelt acceptance speech, taking a special moment to acknowledge the cast and crew who helped bring the film to life.  

Even though the film is mainly in German, The Zone of Interest comes from the United Kingdom and marks the country's first Oscar win for International Feature Film. Additionally, the film received the award for Sound, which makes sense, given how integral sound is to the film. Also in the crafts categories, Godzilla: Minus One earned the infamous monster his first Oscar for Visual Effects.  

Plenty of other films got love from The Academy®, including American Fiction, which won writer-director Cord Jefferson an Oscar for Writing (Adapted Screenplay). While many wanted to see Greta Gerwig get this award, seeing American Fiction recognized was just as rewarding, especially with Jefferson's powerful speech about investing in original talent and stories.  

Anatomy of a Fall earned writing partners Justine Triet and Arthur Harare their first Oscar for Writing (Original Screenplay) and Da'Vine Joy Randolph, who kicked off the night when she scored the Actress in a Supporting Role award for her powerful performance in The Holdovers. While he wasn't in attendance, Wes Anderson won his first Oscar for Live Action Short Film for directing The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.  

Hayao Miyazaki was also absent from this year's ceremony and wasn't there to accept his second Animated Feature Film Oscar for The Boy and the Heron. Another two-time Oscar winner to come out of the night was Composer Ludwig Göransson. Göransson previously won in 2018 for his Black Panther score and earned his second for Oppenheimer. Barbie didn't attain nearly as many awards as people hoped, but it won Billie Eilish her second Oscar for Music (Original Song). She had previously won for No Time To Die.  

Barbie should also be congratulated for stealing the night with Ryan Gosling's show-stopping and very pink performance of "I'm Just Ken." The multi-talented star was joined on stage by his fellow Ken actors Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, Scott Evans, and Ncuti Gatwa, along with a surprise appearance from Slash. What transpired was a sensational performance that had everyone howling almost as much as they did when John Cena reluctantly walked on stage in his birthday suit to present the award for Costume Design.  

Keep reading for a complete list of winners from the 96th Academy Awards®!  

Best Picture 
Oppenheimer  

Directing 
Christopher Nolan - Oppenheimer 

Actress in a Leading Role 
Emma Stone - Poor Things  

 Actor in a Leading Role 
Cillian Murphy - Oppenheimer  

 Actress in a Supporting Role
Da’Vine Joy Randolph - The Holdovers  

 Actor in a Supporting Role 
Robert Downey Jr. - Oppenheimer  

 Writing (Original Screenplay)  
Justine Triet & Arthur Harari - Anatomy of a Fall 

 Writing (Adapted Screenplay)  
Cord Jefferson - American Fiction 

 Animated Feature Film 
The Boy and the Heron 

International Feature Film 
The Zone of Interest 

 Music (Original Score) 
Ludwig Göransson - Oppenheimer  

 Music (Original Song) 
Billie Eilish & Finneas O’Connell, ”What Was I Made For?” - Barbie 

 Documentary Feature Film 
20 Days in Mariupol  

 Documentary Short Film 
The Last Repair Shop 

 Live Action Short Film 
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar 

 Animated Short Film  
War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John and Yoko  

 Sound 
Tarn Willers & Johnnie Burn - The Zone of Interest 

 Production Design 
James Price, Shona Heath, Zsuzsa Mihalek - Poor Things 

 Cinematography  
Hoyte van Hoytema - Oppenheimer  

 Makeup and Hairstyling  
Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier & Josh Weston - Poor Things 

 Costume Design 
Holly Waddington - Poor Things  

 Film Editing 
Jennifer Lame - Oppenheimer  

 Visual Effects 
Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi & Tatsuji Nojima - Godzilla Minus One