The 96th annual Academy Award nominations raised the definitive movie question of the season: Is this the year of “Barbie” or “Oppenheimer?” We still don’t quite know since they each got multiple nominations (“Barbie” with eight and “Oppenheimer” with 13). In any case, it will be another excuse for us to use the term “Barbenheimer.”

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Kyle Buchanan, The New York Times’s awards-season columnist, previously had predicted that because of the amount of good movies and impressive talent we have been treated to this past year, it was hard to say what film, if any, was likely to sweep in the big categories of best picture, best director, best actor and best actress — and he was right. “Oppenheimer,” “Barbie,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “The Holdovers” and “Poor Things” all got nominations in the best picture category and for the most part, received nominations in all the big categories.

Here is the full list of nominees.

Best Picture

“American Fiction”

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“Anatomy of a Fall”

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“Barbie”

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“The Holdovers”

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“Killers of the Flower Moon”

Read our review

“Maestro”

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“Oppenheimer”

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“Past Lives”

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“Poor Things”

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“The Zone of Interest”

Read our review

Best Director

Jonathan Glazer, “The Zone of Interest”

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Yorgos Lanthimos, “Poor Things”

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Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer”

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Martin Scorsese, “Killers of the Flower Moon”

Read our Critic’s Notebook

Justine Triet, “Anatomy of a Fall”

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This year's shocking nominations announcement might've made Barbenheimer a thing of the past, but the future is bright for top awards contenders among EW's predictions for who will win at the Academy Awards as we head into the final week of the 2024 Oscars race that comes to an end at this Sunday's ceremony.

Oppenheimer's domination of the precursor circuit (at the SAG Awards and the BAFTA Awards) to Anatomy of a Fall's slow but steady ascent from Cannes (where Jane Fonda hilariously tossed a Palme d'Or scroll at director Justine Triet) to potential Oscars gold all comes down to the ABC broadcast, which Jimmy Kimmel will return to host one hour earlier than usual at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.

Among a night of star-studded presenter appearances (including a potential Scarface reunion between Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino) as well as high-profile musical performances of this year's nominated songs (yes, including Ryan Gosling doing "I'm Just Ken", all eyes are on big contenders like Christopher Nolan, Lily Gladstone, Cillian Murphy, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Robert Downey Jr., and more to repeat with major wins their respective categories.

Before the 96th Academy Awards ceremony, which is set to air Sunday, March 10 live from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, see EW's final 2024 Oscar predictions for who will win in all of the key categories below.

Best Picture

American Fiction

Anatomy of a Fall

Barbie

The Holdovers

Killers of the Flower Moon

Maestro

PREDICTED WINNER: Oppenheimer

Past Lives

Poor Things

The Zone of Interest

Surprisingly, the Best Picture battle of the three-hour-plus movies was over relatively quickly, after winners for significant precursors were announced. Christopher Nolan's historical drama cleaned up at the box office — earning over $950 million globally — before sweeping the early awards circuit, enough so that the movie has become the default choice for nearly all journalist groups and industry awards bodies (including a momentous BAFTA win for Best Film and the ensemble prize at the 2024 SAG Awards) alike. Nothing can stop Oppenheimer's reign — not even Martin Scorsese's similarly lengthy, critically lauded twilight-era entry in his decades-long career.

Best Director

Justine Triet, Anatomy of a Fall

Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon

PREDICTED WINNER: Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer

Yorgos Lanthimos, Poor Things

Jonathan Glazer, The Zone of Interest

The man behind the success of Oppenheimer is exactly what Hollywood needs right now: an A-list director popular with actors, fellow filmmakers, and audiences alike. He's a movie-making titan who can sell tickets to a picture on his name alone, regardless of star wattage in front of his camera. His vitality to the system stretches beyond Hollywood and into cinema's global reaches, and Academy voters across multiple branches spoke in favor of his Oppenheimer achievements by awarding the film with 13 overall Oscar nods in January. Building that kind of support among the branches all but assures that the Academy will hoist Nolan to the podium for the first time for stringing it all together in one movie.

“Oppenheimer,” a sprawling examination of the dawn of the Atomic Age, kicked off the race for the 96th Academy Awards on Tuesday, earning 13 nominations. It was followed closely behind by “Poor Things,” a feminist fantasy set in a steampunk world of mutants and male chauvinist pigs, which earned 11 nominations.

“Killers of the Flower Moon,” a historical crime drama about a vast conspiracy to rob the Osage Nation of its oil wealth, received 10 nominations. Both “Oppenheimer” and “Killers of the Flower Moon,” drawn from painful chapters of American history, were recognized at a moment of political unrest and division in the country, which seemed to give their dark subject matter an added resonance.

“Barbie,” last year’s biggest box office hit, earned eight nominations — even as Greta Gerwig, the film’s director, and Margot Robbie, its star and producer, were both shut out. Released on the same weekend as “Oppenheimer,” the twin blockbusters became a viral phenomenon, inspiring people to book double features and leading to the creation of the “Barbenheimer” meme. Together, the movies earned more than $2 billion globally, a massive number at a time when movie theaters are still struggling to rebound from the pandemic.