The 96th Academy Awards will be handed out this Sunday, March 10th. Many of the 23 categories have definite frontrunners, while others are ripe for surprises. Read below for our take on who will – and should – win each of those races, and use these picks to beat everyone else you know!
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
Should win: Poor Things
Will win: Oppenheimer
Spoiler: Barbie
Fun fact: This is the first time that three films primarily in languages other than English contend in this race: Anatomy of a Fall, Past Lives, and The Zone of Interest.
Best Director
Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest)
Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)
Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things)
Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon)
Justine Triet (Anatomy of a Fall)
Should win: Lanthimos
Will win: Nolan
Spoiler: Triet
Fun fact: Despite being cited by the Directors Guild of America for Memento, The Dark Knight, and Inception, this is only the second time Nolan has been nominated in this Oscar category, following Dunkirk.
Best Actor
Bradley Cooper (Maestro)
Colman Domingo (Rustin)
Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers)
Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer)
Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction)
Should win: Giamatti
Will win: Murphy
Spoiler: Giamatti
Fun fact: This is the second Oscar nomination for Giamatti, who was unexpectedly snubbed nineteen years ago for his prior collaboration with director Alexander Payne, Sideways.
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)
Should win: Stone
Will win: Gladstone
Spoiler: Stone
Fun fact: Bening received her first Oscar nomination in 1990 for The Grifters and, despite three successive nominations for American Beauty, Being Julia, and The Kids Are All Right, she has yet to win.
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)
Should win: Ruffalo
Will win: Downey
Spoiler: Gosling
Fun fact: De Niro received his first-ever Oscar nomination – and win – in this category forty-nine years ago for The Godfather Part II.
Best Supporting Actress
Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer)
Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple)
America Ferrera (Barbie)
Jodie Foster (NYAD)
Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)
Should win: Randolph
Will win: Randolph
Spoiler: Ferrera
Fun fact: This is the first nomination for everyone except Foster, who earned her first nomination forty-seven years ago for Taxi Driver, costarring De Niro.
Best Original Screenplay
Anatomy of a Fall
The Holdovers
Maestro
May December
Past Lives
Should win: The Holdovers
Will win: Anatomy of a Fall
Spoiler: The Holdovers
Fun fact: Before Parasite triumphed here in 2019, the last foreign-language winner of this prize was Talk to Her in 2002.
Best Adapted Screenplay
American Fiction
Barbie
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest
Should win: American Fiction
Will win: American Fiction
Spoiler: Barbie
Fun fact: In addition to being Cord Jefferson’s directorial debut, American Fiction also marks his first screenplay.
Best Cinematography
El Conde
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Should win: Poor Things
Will win: Oppenheimer
Spoiler: Poor Things
Fun fact: Killers of the Flower Moon cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto also shot another high-profile movie this year: Barbie.
Best Production Design
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Should win: Poor Things
Will win: Poor Things
Spoiler: Barbie
Fun fact: This list is a carbon copy of the Best Costume Design, something that has only happened twice before in Oscar history: in 2003 and 1969.
Best Costume Design
Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Should win: Poor Things
Will win: Poor Things
Spoiler: Barbie
Fun fact: Napoleon costume designer Janty Yates won this award in 2000 for another collaboration with director Ridley Scott and actor Joaquin Phoenix: Gladiator.
Best Film Editing
Anatomy of a Fall
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Should win: Poor Things
Will win: Oppenheimer
Spoiler: Anatomy of a Fall
Fun fact: Killers of the Flower Moon editor Thelma Schoonmaker has been working with director Martin Scorsese since his 1967 directorial debut, racking up seven previous nominations and three wins, for Raging Bull, The Aviator, and The Departed.
Best Original Score
American Fiction
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Should win: Oppenheimer
Will win: Oppenheimer
Spoiler: Poor Things
Fun fact: Indiana Jones composer John Williams has received fifty-four Oscar nominations dating back to 1967, resulting in five wins: Fiddler on the Roof, Jaws, Star Wars, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, and Schindler’s List.
Best Original Song
“It Never Went Away” from American Symphony
“I’m Just Ken” from Barbie
“What Was I Made For?” from Barbie
“The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot
“Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon
Should win: I’m Just Ken
Will win: I’m Just Ken
Spoiler: What Was I Made For?
Fun fact: This is the fifteenth career and seventh consecutive nomination in this category for “The Fire Inside” songwriter Diane Warren, who has yet to win.
Best Sound
The Creator
Maestro
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Oppenheimer
The Zone of Interest
Should win: Oppenheimer
Will win: Oppenheimer
Spoiler: The Zone of Interest
Fun fact: Along with its Best Visual Effects bid, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One here earns the first-ever Oscar bid for any film in the franchise that started in 1996.
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Golda
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
Society of the Snow
Should win: Maestro
Will win: Maestro
Spoiler: Poor Things
Fun fact: All but Poor Things recreate real people: Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, composer Leonard Bernstein, physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, and the passengers of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571.
Best Visual Effects
The Creator
Godzilla Minus One
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
Napoleon
Should win: The Creator
Will win: Godzilla Minus One
Spoiler: The Creator
Fun fact: No Marvel Cinematic Universe film has won this award despite twelve previous nominations, including the first two Guardians of the Galaxy films.
Best Animated Feature
The Boy and the Heron
Elemental
Nimona
Robot Dreams
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Should win: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Will win: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Spoiler: The Boy and the Heron
Fun fact: The only two sequels to win this prize since its inception in 2001 are Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4. The original Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse won this award two years ago.
Best Animated Short
Letter to a Pig
Ninety-Five Senses
Our Uniform
Pachyderme
War Is Over!
Should win: Ninety-Five Senses
Will win: Ninety-Five Senses
Spoiler: Letter to a Pig
Fun fact: The dramatic short film Ninety-Five Senses comes from married filmmakers Jared and Jerusha Hess, best known for Napoleon Dynamite.
Best Documentary Feature
Bobi Wine: The People’s President
The Eternal Memory
Four Daughters
To Kill a Tiger
20 Days in Mariupol
Should win: Four Daughters
Will win: Four Daughters
Spoiler: 20 Days in Mariupol
Fun fact: Both Four Daughters and 20 Days in Mariupol also made the Oscar shortlist for Best International Feature, representing Tunisia and Ukraine, respectively.
Best Documentary Short
The ABCs of Book Banning
The Barber of Little Rock
Island in Between
The Last Repair Shop
Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó
Should win: The Barber of Little Rock
Will win: Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó
Spoiler: The Last Repair Shop
Fun fact: Kris Bowers and Ben Proudfoot, who collaborated on The Last Repair Shop, were last nominated in 2020 in this category for directing A Concerto is a Conversation. Proudfoot also won in 2021 for The Queen of Basketball.
Best International Feature
Germany, The Teachers’ Lounge
Italy, Io capitano
Japan, Perfect Days
Spain, Society of the Snow
United Kingdom, The Zone of Interest
Should win: The Zone of Interest
Will win: The Zone of Interest
Spoiler: Society of the Snow
Fun fact: This is the third-ever nomination for the United Kingdom in this category, eligible here because The Zone of Interest includes German, Polish, and Yiddish.
Best Live Action Short
The After
Invincible
Red, White and Blue
Knight of Fortune
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
Should win: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
Will win: Red, White and Blue
Spoiler: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
Fun fact: This marks the eighth career nomination for Henry Sugar director Wes Anderson, who has yet to win an Oscar.
Watch the Oscars live on Sunday, March 10th at 7pm ET/4pm PT on ABC.