Oppenheimer wins the Oscar for Best Picture 2024

On Sunday, all eyes were again on the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles as the 96th Academy Awards took place. “Barbenheimer” was the main theme of the year in the film industry in 2023, and unsurprisingly featured heavily in the nominations, with Barbie and Oppenheimer receiving 21 between them, although the former was considerably more successful when the Oscars themselves were handed out.

Oppenheimer outperforms Barbie at 2024 Oscars

The phenomenon dominated box offices, newspapers, social media and more. In fact, of the box office revenue generated by the 10 nominees in the Best Picture category, Barbie and Oppenheimer accounted for 88% of it (almost $1.1 billion). Everything pointed to one of the two triumphing, and so it proved.

Oppenheimer took home the Oscar for Best Picture, as well as six other awards. Barbie, on the other hand, picked up just one prize - Best Original Song for Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?”.

Which Academy Awards did Oppenheimer win?

There were few who doubted the outcome in this particular category. Christopher Nolan’s epic biographical drama earned a whopping 13 nominations, including Best Director for the aforementioned filmmaker, Best Actor (Cillian Murphy), Best Supporting Actress (Emily Blunt), and Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr.).

For context, it had the same number of nominations as ‘Gone with the Wind’ in 1939 and ‘Forrest Gump’ in 1994; it has only been surpassed by Titanic (1997), All About Eve (1950), and La La Land (2016), each with 14. Nolan was just one nomination away from equaling the all-time record.

Oppenheimer ended up winning seven Academy Awards (also including Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Director) and will go down in history as one of the most successful and memorable movies ever made.

Oppenheimer’s two timelines

Three hours are enough to tell the story of “the father of the atomic bomb,” J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the Manhattan Project during World War II.

The film runs along two timelines; scenes related to the present are in black and white and represent objective moments in history, with potential for disaster. The colour scenes focus on the past and are subjective, helping us understand Oppenheimer’s loves, passions, fears and weaknesses as he grapples with the moral dilemma of creating the atomic bomb.

Oppenheimer: everything you need to know

Title: Oppenheimer

Duration: 180 minutes

Country: United States

Director: Christopher Nolan

Screenplay: Christopher Nolan (book: Kai Bird, Martin J. Sherwin)

Cinematography: Hoyte van Hoytema

Cast: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Josh Hartnett, Rami Malek, Gary Oldman, Florence Pugh, Jason Clarke, Alden Ehrenreich, David Krumholtz, Ben Safdie, Kenneth Branagh

Production Companies: Atlas Entertainment, Syncopy Inc.

Distributor: Universal Pictures

Genre: legal drama, thriller, biographical, historical

Winners of the Oscar for Best Picture in the 21st Century