With awards season in full swing, the long-awaited 2024 Oscar nominations are finally here. This morning, actors Zazie Beetz and Jack Quaid revealed the nominees for the upcoming 96^th annual Academy Awards ceremony – which takes place on Sunday, March 10^th. While it’s not surprising to see beloved, box-office smashing films like Barbie and Oppenheimer nominated alongside awards favorites like Poor Things, Past Lives, and The Holdovers, there were a couple big surprises and snubs. Maybe there was a favorite film or performance that we couldn’t believe made the cut or an omission that’s making us boil on the inside. Regardless, there’s a lot to talk about with these nominations so let’s dive right in.

Surprise: Nimona earns a Best Animated Film Nom

Based on the high-profile animated films that came throughout 2023, it was clear that the Best Animated Feature Film category would be stacked with heavy hitters. However, not many predicted that Nimona would make it into the final list since it’s been largely absent in big awards shows. Despite being one of the best reviewed films early in 2023, the Netflix animated fantasy-adventure film was believed to be dead in the water awards-wise after being a no-show at the Golden Globes. Yet, Oscar voters were impressed enough with the film’s animation, heart, and ambition to give it some much-deserved recognition – beating out other hopefuls like TMNT: Mutant Mayhem and Wish.

Snub: Saltburn is nowhere to be found

Even after getting some good love at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards, and BAFTAs, Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn earned zero Oscar nominations – which is shocking. Fennell’s second film took the internet by storm following its release with many reacting in shock to a particular bathtub scene and marveling at its wild twists and turns. Both Fennell’s vision and Barry Keoghan’s performance have received rightful attention from audiences, critics, and awards voters.

Unfortunately, the film just didn’t make the cut when it came to the Oscars and it’s baffling. Keoghan easily delivers one of the best performances of the year and surely the craftmanship the film boasts should’ve at least earned nominations for Production Design or Cinematography. It somehow didn’t even make it into the Original Screenplay race. Sadly though, Saltburn is probably the victim of a crowded and competitive field – which is the case for a lot of movies.

Surprise/Snub: Justine Triet in…Greta Gerwig and Celine Song out?!?

It’s rare to get a moment that’s both a surprise and a snub, but this year’s Best Director category fits the bill. The surprise comes from Justine Triet’s nomination for her work in Anatomy of a Fall. While the film winning the Palme D’or at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival and continuing strong awards presence ensured it would garner lots of Oscar nominations, Triet’s nomination is a huge surprise. That’s not to say that she’s undeserving since her direction is immaculate and a key part to the film’s thrilling mystery. But she hasn’t earned a lot of major nominations elsewhere and there have been others ahead of her on shortlists – including two of the top directing names that didn’t even make the final list.

With both Greta Gerwig and Celine Song being featured in the Golden Globes’ Best Director category for Barbie and Past Lives, respectively, they seemed like obvious picks for the Oscars. Gerwig even landed a DGA nomination as well. Yet, they’re both miraculously absent. No one certainly had this on their bingo card.

Snub: May/December’s massive fallout continues

Although Todd Haynes’ new film May/December was predicted to be one of the biggest awards films of 2023, it hasn’t been getting nominations lately. The first sign of trouble was the film noticeably receiving no nominations at the SAG awards despite Natalie Portman, Jullianne Moore, and especially Charles Melton receiving immense praise for their performances.

Now though, May/December is totally iced out of the Oscars – aside from an Original Screenplay nomination for Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik. At one point, Melton was a top candidate to sweep for his lauded supporting performance, but now is completely left off the Oscars ballot. Who knows what went wrong for May/December leading into this awards season, but the fallout has left some of the best performers of the years without much to show for it.

Snub: Seriously, Indiana Jones?

Look, John Williams’ score for Indiana Jones will always be iconic and his legacy in the field is unmatched. But his score in Dial of Destiny doesn’t belong in this year’s Best Original Score race whatsoever. Frankly, it’s mostly just the same music that’s been used in other Indiana Jones movies and even more glaring is that it’s a part of one of the worst movies of the year. How Naoki Sato’s score for Godzilla Minus One or Christopher Bear and Daniel Rossen’s score for Past Lives didn’t get nominated over it is beyond reason. Well, at least neither film wasn’t left out of this Oscars field entirely, but this nomination is unfitting.

Surprise: Is the International Feature Film race locked up?

The achievement of both Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest having such a strong presence in this Oscar field shouldn’t go unnoticed. Both Justine Triet and Jonathan Glazer got Best Director nominations and each of their films notably made the Best Picture cut. Yet, the exclusion of Anatomy of a Fall from the Best International Feature Film category is pretty meaningful. Without its appearance there, The Zone of Interest seems incredibly likely to win unless the Academy is about to shock everyone with an alternative.

Snub: Competitive field kills a lot of awards dreams

If it wasn’t obvious, this Oscars race has been more competitive than ever – meaning that a lot of lauded performances and films were left off entirely. So, let’s look at the biggest omissions  that we couldn’t fully delve into quick:

• Leonardo DiCaprio doesn’t make the Best Actor list despite Killers of the Flower Moon being represented everywhere else.
• Movies like The Iron Claw, All of Us Strangers, Priscilla, and Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret got completely shut out.
• David Fincher’s The Killer is totally absent despite some strong editing and technicals.
• No Margot Robbie in Best Actress in a Leading Role race despite’s Barbie‘s strong nominations (Although America Ferrera being nominated is a reasonable and excellent trade-off).