The latest Oscars shortlists have been revealed, giving 10 of the latest Academy Award categories much more of an idea of how nominations will look next month.
Some films, like Oppenheimer and Barbie, did quite well in the categories they were eligible for in this unveiling, while some films didn’t necessarily register.
Some of these categories featured shortlists for short films, while seven other categories spanned across different competitions for feature films.
We’ve got five central takeaways for this latest shortlist reveal, including a notable snub and thoughts on how the Best Documentary Feature and Best International Feature categories are shaping up.
Bowser's "Peaches" won't have its Oscar moment
If you’re a fan of Bowser’s lament “Peaches” from The Super Mario Bros. Movie, don’t count on hearing Jack Black sing it at the Oscars.
The song didn’t make the shortlist for Best Original Song, which did feature three songs from Barbie, two songs from The Color Purple and Olivia Rodrigo’s “Can’t Catch Me Now” from the latest Hunger Games movie.
Barbie and Oppenheimer going to get a lot of Oscar nominations
As if it wasn’t already obvious, “Barbenheimer” is going to loom heavily over the Oscars next year.
Barbie and Oppenheimer will likely compete to see who can snag the most nominations, with Barbie logging three Best Original Song contenders and is on the shortlist for Best Original Score and Best Sound.
Meanwhile, Oppenheimer was listed for Best Original Score, Best Makeup and Hairstyling and Best Sound.
Surprisingly, Barbie didn’t make the shortlist for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Oppenheimer‘s Best Visual Effects snub remains a head-scratcher.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse a serious contender in Best VFX
Animated films rarely get technical nods, but Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse could be the rare animated project to register in the Best Visual Effects category.
The film made the shortlist along with nine other titles, and it wouldn’t shock us if Spider-verse became the first fully animated film to walk away with the trophy. However, The Creator and Poor Things will put up a fight.
The Documentary Feature Oscar could return to Netflix
The powerful Jon Batiste documentary American Symphony looks like the frontrunner for Best Documentary Feature at the moment, which would be a well-deserved win for longtime documentarian Matthew Heineman.
It would also return the trophy to Netflix, who hasn’t won in the category since 2021’s surprise My Octopus Teacher. The streamer also won in 2018 (Icarus) and 2020 (American Factory).
Our guesses for the other four slots: Beyond Utopia, The Eternal Memory, Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, 20 Days in Mariupol.
The United Kingdom may win Best International Feature
The United Kingdom has never won in the Best International Feature category, understandably since many films from the region wind up competing in Best Picture and are in the English language.
Well, the UK is on the way to its third nomination and possible first win for Jonathan Glazer’s harrowing Holocaust film The Zone of Interest, which qualifies as a UK submission but is spoken in German.
This film could also wind up in Best Picture and Best Director for Glazer, among other categories.
Our guesses for the other four slots: The Promised Land, The Taste of Things, The Teachers’ Lounge, Society of the Snow.
