There are certain rituals that always come with Oscar nominations morning — waking up early, placing your bets on whether this year’s nominations hosts will say all the names right, and then listening not just for the names that are announced, but the names that aren’t. The 2024 Oscar nominations recognized some great films and artisans, but as always the full list contains plenty of misses on the Academy’s part, and now is the time to complain about them!
But this isn’t going to be all negativity, as there were also some glorious surprises across multiple categories, especially as the Academy continues to diversify in terms of the films it considers Oscar-worthy. Who knows how the actual winners will shake out on March 10th, when the 96th Academy Awards are handed out. But for some of the below, just the nomination is the real victory.
SNUB: Charles Melton for Supporting Actor
May December (Netflix)
The May December breakout’s omission from the list Tuesday morning also qualifies as a shock and a surprise, because the former Riverdale star has been a force in this category all awards season, winning the Gotham Award along with multiple critics honors. Was he likely to beat out Robert Downey Jr.? Probably not, as the Oppenheimer star is the current frontrunner. However, getting bumped for Robert De Niro… there’s a certain kind of honor in that. Not as big an honor as actually getting a nomination, but still.
SURPRISE: Nimona Shifts Its Way to a Nomination
Nimona (Netflix)
It feels likely that Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron is going to take the top prize in Animated Feature Film this year, yet we can still be happy that Netflix’s beautifully rendered sci-fi/fantasy film, featuring the voices of Chloë Grace Moretz and Riz Ahmed, picked up a nomination in the category. Another surprising nominee was Disney’s Elemental, a film with its charms, though these inclusions did mean…
SNUB: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Gets Stuck in the Sewers
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Paramount)
One of 2023’s most charming animated films, from the voice acting to the rough hewn animation, couldn’t break in, maybe proving Mutant Mayhem’s point that “Humans are the demon scum of the Earth. Avoid them. Don’t say hi. They lust to murder that which is different from them. To interact with them is to die.”
