Much to The Academy’s leadership and ABC’s delight, it’s looking to be a very “Barbie” Oscars. Greta Gerwig‘s blockbuster leads all films with five mentions on the category shortlists revealed by AMPAS today. “Barbie” took three mentions in the Original Song category, as well as Original Score and Sound. Surprisingly, it did not make the Makeup and Hairstyling cut.
READ MORE: “The Zone of Interest,” “Perfect Days” and “Godland” make the 2024 International Film Shortlist
Other films that drew attention for their shortlist mentions included J.A. Bayona’s “Society of the Snow” with four mentions in every category it qualified for and Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” which also earned four mentions including a surprising Original Song listing. Yorgos Lantimos’ “Poor Things,” Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” and “The Color Purple” earned three mentions each.
Netflix will hope that “Society of the Snow” can duplicate the surprising run of “All Quiet on the Western Front” which also was a shortlist player a year ago. That German International Film entry ended up with a Best Picture nomination and took four Oscar statues. The difference between the releases is that “All Quiet” launched on the streaming service in September of 2022, giving it almost three months of viewing time for members across the globe. “Society” isn’t even on the service yet.
Notably, two documentaries earned mentions in both the Documentary Feature Film and International Film categories: Mstyslav Chernov’s “20 Days in Mariupol” (Ukraine) and Kaouther Ben Hania’s “Four Daughters” (Tunisia).
Additionally, Wes Anderson has a shot for nominations in both the Original Song and Live Action Short Film categories. The former is for “Dear Alien (Who Art In Heaven)” from “Asteroid City” and the latter is for “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.” Pedro Almodovar also has a shot for a Live Action Short nomination with “Strange Way of Life” making the shortlist.
All of this year’s shortlist categories, and qualifiers with language from The Academy, are as follows:
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
Fifteen films will advance in the Documentary Feature Film category for the 96th Academy Awards.  One hundred sixty-seven films were eligible in the category.  Members of the Documentary Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:“American Symphony”
“Apolonia, Apolonia”
“Beyond Utopia”
“Bobi Wine: The People’s President”
“Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy”
“The Eternal Memory”
“Four Daughters”
“Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project”
“In the Rearview”
“Stamped from the Beginning”
“Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie”
“A Still Small Voice”
“32 Sounds”
“To Kill a Tiger”
“20 Days in Mariupol”DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM
Fifteen films will advance in the Documentary Short Film category for the 96th Academy Awards.  One hundred fourteen films qualified in the category.  Members of the Documentary Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:“The ABCs of Book Banning”
“The Barber of Little Rock”
“Bear”
“Between Earth & Sky”
“Black Girls Play: The Story of Hand Games”
“Camp Courage”
“Deciding Vote”
“How We Get Free”
“If Dreams Were Lightning: Rural Healthcare Crisis”
“Island in Between”
“The Last Repair Shop”
“Last Song from Kabul”
“Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó”
“Oasis”
“Wings of Dust”INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
Fifteen films will advance to the next round of voting in the International Feature Film category for the 96th Academy Awards.  Films from 88 countries and regions were eligible in the category.Academy members from all branches were invited to participate in the preliminary round of voting and must have met a minimum viewing requirement to be eligible to vote in the category.In the nominations round, Academy members from all branches are invited to opt in to participate and must view all 15 shortlisted films to vote.The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:Armenia, “Amerikatsi”
Bhutan, “The Monk and the Gun”
Denmark, “The Promised Land”
Finland, “Fallen Leaves”
France, “The Taste of Things”
Germany, “The Teachers’ Lounge”
Iceland, “Godland”
Italy, “Io Capitano”
Japan, “Perfect Days”
Mexico, “Totem”
Morocco, “The Mother of All Lies”
Spain, “Society of the Snow”
Tunisia, “Four Daughters”
Ukraine, “20 Days in Mariupol”
United Kingdom, “The Zone of Interest”MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING 
Ten films will advance in the Makeup and Hairstyling category for the 96th Academy Awards.  All members of the Academy’s Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch will be invited to view excerpts and interviews with the artists from each of the shortlisted films on Sunday, January 14, 2024.  Branch members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar® consideration.The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:“Beau Is Afraid”
“Ferrari”
“Golda”
“Killers of the Flower Moon”
“The Last Voyage of the Demeter”
“Maestro”
“Napoleon”
“Oppenheimer”
“Poor Things”
“Society of the Snow”MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
Fifteen scores will advance in the Original Score category for the 96th Academy Awards.  One hundred forty-eight scores were eligible in the category.  Members of the Music Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.The scores, listed in alphabetical order by film title, are:“American Fiction”
“American Symphony”
“Barbie”
“The Boy and the Heron”
“The Color Purple”
“Elemental”
“The Holdovers”
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”
“Killers of the Flower Moon”
“Oppenheimer”
“Poor Things”
“Saltburn”
“Society of the Snow”
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”
“The Zone of Interest”MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
Fifteen songs will advance in the Original Song category for the 96th Academy Awards.  Ninety-four songs were eligible in the category.  Members of the Music Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.The original songs, along with the motion picture in which each song is featured, are listed below in alphabetical order by film title:“It Never Went Away” from “American Symphony”
“Dear Alien (Who Art In Heaven)” from “Asteroid City”
“Dance The Night” from “Barbie”
“I’m Just Ken” from “Barbie”
“What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie”
“Keep It Movin’” from “The Color Purple”
“Superpower (I)” from “The Color Purple”
“The Fire Inside” from “Flamin’ Hot”
“High Life” from “Flora and Son”
“Meet In The Middle” from “Flora and Son”
“Can’t Catch Me Now” from “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes”
“Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from “Killers of the Flower Moon”
“Quiet Eyes” from “Past Lives”
“Road To Freedom” from “Rustin”
“Am I Dreaming” from “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Fifteen films will advance in the Animated Short Film category for the 96th Academy Awards.  Ninety-three films qualified in the category.  Members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:“Boom”
“Eeva”
“Humo (Smoke)”
“I’m Hip”
“A Kind of Testament”
“Koerkorter (Dog Apartment)”
“Letter to a Pig”
“Ninety-Five Senses”
“Once upon a Studio”
“Our Uniform”
“Pachyderme”
“Pete”
“27”
“War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko”
“Wild Summon”LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Fifteen films will advance in the Live Action Short Film category for the 96th Academy Awards.  One hundred eighty-seven films qualified in the category.  For the first time, Academy members from all branches were invited to participate in the preliminary round of voting and must have met a minimum viewing requirement to be eligible to vote in the category.In the nominations round, Academy members from all branches are invited to opt in to participate and must view all 15 shortlisted films to vote.The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:“The After”
“The Anne Frank Gift Shop”
“An Avocado Pit”
“Bienvenidos a Los Angeles”
“Dead Cat”
“Good Boy”
“Invincible”
“Invisible Border”
“Knight of Fortune”
“The One Note Man”
“Red, White and Blue”
“The Shepherd”
“Strange Way of Life”
“The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar”
“Yellow”SOUND
Ten films will advance in the Sound category for the 96th Academy Awards.  All eligible members of the Sound Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.  Academy members will be invited to view excerpts from each of the shortlisted films beginning Thursday, January 11, 2024, in the San Francisco Bay area, followed by London, Los Angeles and New York.  Branch members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar consideration.The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:“Barbie”
“The Creator”
“Ferrari”
“The Killer”
“Killers of the Flower Moon”
“Maestro”
“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”
“Napoleon”
“Oppenheimer”
“The Zone of Interest”VISUAL EFFECTS
Ten films remain in the running in the Visual Effects category for the 96th Academy Awards.  The Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee determined the shortlist.  All members of the Visual Effects Branch will be invited to view excerpts and interviews with the artists from each of the shortlisted films on Saturday, January 13, 2024.  Branch members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar consideration.The films, listed in alphabetical order by title, are:“The Creator”
“Godzilla Minus One”
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”
“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”
“Napoleon”
“Poor Things”
“Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire”
“Society of the Snow”
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”
Oscar nominations voting begins on Thursday, January 11, and ends on Tuesday, January 16. Nominations for the 96th Academy Awards will be announced, once again, at some ungodly hour on Tuesday, January 23. The 96th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 10, and broadcast live on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide.