Oppenheimer, the biographical movie in regards to the inventor of the atomic bomb, is the clear favourite going into this yr’s Academy Awards ceremony.
The three-hour movie from Comcast Corp.’s Universal Footage leads the nominations with 13. It’s anticipated to win in a number of classes, together with finest image, cinematography and rating, in response to the web site GoldDerby, which tracks predictions from critics and different consultants.
On the betting website FanDuel, Oppenheimer is such a favourite for finest image that gamblers would wish to place up $5,000 simply to win $100. Different contenders embody Poor Issues, from Walt Disney Co.’s Searchlight Footage, and The Zone of Curiosity, from the impartial studio A24.
“I don’t think that there’ll be an upset, not because the other movies aren’t great, but because none of the other movies feel like they’ve captured the consensus vote as an alternative,” mentioned Michael Schulman, the creator of Oscar Wars: A Historical past of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat and Tears.
Christopher Nolan is the main contender for finest director, whereas actors Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. are favored for his or her portrayals of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his nemesis Lewis Strauss.
In Nolan, the business is rallying behind a director who’s been a champion of exhibiting motion pictures in theaters and taking pictures them on film, quite than digitally. He’s been nominated thrice earlier than, for guiding and finest unique screenplay, however by no means gained an Oscar.
Oppenheimer, a interval piece that has grossed $954 million in theaters, harkens again to an period when big Hollywood productions took dwelling the business’s high awards, and never the smaller funds, art-house movies which have dominated extra just lately. The image has already picked up a number of trophies main as much as Sunday’s ceremony, together with finest drama on the Golden Globes and finest movie from the Producers Guild of America and the British movie academy.
It’s probably one of many greatest Oscar sweeps since 2003’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King took dwelling 11 trophies. Final yr, A24’s All the things In every single place All at As soon as was nominated 11 occasions and gained seven.
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This system, hosted this yr by late night time star Jimmy Kimmel, begins at 4 p.m. native time in Los Angeles. It airs on Disney’s ABC community.
The nominations pit two of final yr’s highest-grossing movies in opposition to one another. Barbie, the most important field workplace attract 2023, can be a contender for finest image, however the Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. movie is favored to win just for costume design and finest track, in response to GoldDerby, underscoring the challenges comedies have in scoring the business’s high prizes.
The 2 movies had been launched on the identical day final July, sparking a social media frenzy referred to as “Barbenheimer” that prompted many followers to look at them back-to-back in theaters.
