It’s the biggest night in the film calendar, full of Hollywood glamour, endless celebrities, and of course a whole haul of little gold men.
It’s been a year of two halves – with months-long industry strikes followed by the viral phenomenon that was Barbenheimer re-invigorating the movie world.
Image: The little gold men. Pic: Reuters
Now, as we approach the 96th Annual Academy Awards, all eyes are on the films and stars who could be taking home a prize. Here’s everything you can expect from the night.
When and where?
The Oscars – showbiz’s biggest night of the year – takes place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles tonight.
The red carpet kicks off at 7.30pm UK time followed by the celebrity-packed ceremony from 11pm UK time.
The whole event will be liveblogged here at Sky News – so you can follow every moment, from the run up to the red carpet, the stars arrival right up to the ceremony and into the Vanity Fair after party.
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The ceremony will air in the UK on ITV.
Is there a theme?
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This year, organisers say the show’s all about human connection, with a focus on emotion and creativity.
Image: Oscars red carpet is rolled out in Hollywood ahead of Sunday’s ceremony
They have promised “something special and beautiful” during the In Memoriam section, which will honour stars of the industry – both in front of and behind the camera – we have lost in the last year.
They also hinted at some unexpected guests on the night, advising fans to look out for “reunions, acknowledgements of the past and surprise cameos”.
Who’s hosting?
The ceremony’s hosted for the fourth time by late-night, US talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.
Image: Jimmy Kimmel at the 95th Academy Awards. Pic: Reuters/Carlos Barria
Academy Award bosses have described him as “relaxed and comfortable” in the role (as well he should be after three previous outings). They also said he gets involved with the whole process of the show, “working for months” and even helping choose presenters.
The 56-year-old previously hosted in 2017, 2018 and 2023 – so he should be prepped and ready for any unexpected events, having made it through 2017’s infamous La La Land and Moonlight best picture announcement mix-up.
He wasn’t there to witness Will Smith’s equally infamous slapping of comedian Chris Rock in 2022, with the show hosted by Amy Schumer, Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes that year.
What films are up for awards?
Oppenheimer leads the nominations pack with 13; Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things has 11; Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon has 10 and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie has eight.
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Oppenheimer is favourite to win best picture
Of course, last summer was really a tale of just two films – thanks to Oppenheimer and Barbie’s same-day release the unexpected portmanteau “Barbenheimer” became a thing and provided a welcome boost to the summer box office after months of industry strikes.
While Barbie won the box office battle with $1.4bn (£1.1bn) in global ticket sales, Oppenheimer is the clear leader for the best picture trophy.
The movie about the race to build the atomic bomb has taken the top prizes at the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild Awards and BAFTAs.
Could there be any upsets on the night?
Could anything actually derail Oppenheimer from being the big winner of the night?
Image: Christopher Nolan. Pic: Kate Green/BAFTA/Getty
Christopher Nolan – who is one of Britain’s most commercially successful filmmakers – has never won an Oscar, despite being nominated for best picture twice before (for Inception and Dunkirk).
It’s definitely unlikely, but if Martin Scorsese, who’s 81, pipped him to it for Killers Of A Flower Moon he’d make history as the oldest best director winner.
In the best actor race it’s Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy in the lead, with The Holdovers leading actor Paul Giamatti also in with a (small) chance.
Neither have won this award before, both give great performances, and both are known for being all-round good guys. However, Murphy’s wins at the SAGS, Globes and BAFTAs mean he’ll probably get it.
Image: Lily Gladstone winning her Golden Globe. Pic: Reuters
Perhaps the only nail-biter of the evening is in the best actress category, where it’s Emma Stone versus Lily Gladstone.
Stone will probably take the prize on the night, but if Gladstone pulls it out of the bag she’d become the first person of Native American heritage to ever win an acting Oscar.
Meanwhile, if Sandra Huller wins instead, and she’s well-deserving after appearing in two of the films up for best picture (Anatomy Of A Fall and Zone Of Interest), she would be the first German-born actor to win the category in more than 60 years.
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Da’Vine Joy Randolph on awards buzz
In the best supporting actress category, Da’Vine Joy Randolph is a shoo-in, while if the Oppenheimer charm holds Robert Downey Jr will take best supporting actor (his closest competition is Barbie’s Ryan Gosling).
Both Randolph and Downey Jr would be first-time Oscar winners.
And while Oppenheimer will almost certainly bag best picture, should Anatomy Of A Fall, Zone Of Interest or Past Lives get the gong, it would mark only the second time ever that a non-English language film has won a feat first achieved by Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite in 2020.
Any snubs we should know about?
Barbie may have got eight nods, but it’s star – Margot Robbie – and director – Greta Gerwig – were left out in the cold when it came to nominations in the best actress and best director categories.
Image: Gosling, Robbie, and Gerwig on the set of Barbie. Pic: Jaap Buitendijk/Warner Bros via AP
The omissions led some to claim it’s a case of life imitating art, with the misogyny of the movie mirrored in the industry snub.
Their Barbie co-star Gosling called it “disappointing,” adding that while he was “honoured” to be nominated for best supporting actor for “portraying a plastic doll named Ken, there is no Ken without Barbie, and there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie”.
Who’s presenting the awards?
Dune star Zendaya will join Academy Award-winner Al Pacino and three-time nominee Michelle Pfeiffer as presenters on the night (not together).
Image: Zendaya. Pic: Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP
And as tradition dictates, last year’s four acting winners will also come back to present at the show: Brendan Fraser from The Whale, and Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and Jamie Lee Curtis from Everything Everywhere All At Once.
Other celebrities set to grace the Dolby stage include Bad Bunny, Rita Moreno, Matthew McConaughey, Chris Hemsworth, Dwayne Johnson, Michael Keaton, Regina King, Jennifer Lawrence, Kate McKinnon, John Mulaney, Catherine O’Hara, Octavia Spencer, Jessica Lange, Nicolas Cage, Mahershala Ali, Sam Rockwell, Lupita Nyong’o and Ramy Youssef.
Will there be live performances?
There most certainly will. All five original song nominees will be performed on the show, which means we can look forward to Ryan Gosling singing power ballad I’m Just Ken and Billie Eilish singing What Was I Made For, which she co-wrote with her brother Finneas.
Image: Ryan Gosling. Pic: AP
The other nominated songs include Diane Warren’s The Fire Inside, from Flamin’ Hot, which will be performed by Becky G, Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson’s It Never Went Away from American Symphony, and Scott George’s Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People) from Killers Of The Flower Moon.
Check back on the Sky News website from around 4pm on Sunday night to follow the entire event on the Oscars liveblog.
Wes Anderson is a rarity in Hollywood, with an unswayed distinct aesthetic which has every big name in Hollywood pleading to be in his next project.
Fronted by Benicio del Toro, his new film The Phoenician Scheme sees the return of numerous previous collaborators including Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright and Scarlett Johansson, but also adds new faces to the Anderson universe.
It is set in the 1950s and follows a ruthless yet charismatic European business tycoon called Zsa-Zsa Korda who, in Anderson’s own words, “has very little obligation to honour the truth.”
Looking to solidify his own legacy, without much thought for his 10 children, the slaves he wants to use or the land he wants to exploit, Sza-Sza chases multiple deals so he can build his career-defining project, Korda Land and Sea Phoenician Infrastructure Scheme.
Image: Director Wes Anderson on set. Pic: Roger Do Minh/TPS Productions/Focus Features
‘A motivation pill
The Phoenician Scheme was partly inspired by the life of Anderson’s father-in-law, whom he dedicated the film to, Lebanese businessman Fouad Malouf.
Del Toro tells Sky News it was a gift to play a truly unique character.
“It’s like taking a motivation pill,” he says.
“You’re motivated because it’s Wes Anderson, you’re motivated because of the script and the story and the character. It’s unpredictable, original. [There’s] one hell of an arc, and it’s full of contradictions.”
Image: Director Wes Anderson on set. Pic: Roger Do Minh/TPS Productions/Focus Features
Always an actor in mind – well, mostly…
Michael Cera, who plays Bjorn, says he had a “sense of dread” joining the cast. His role was written with him in mind, something he still can’t believe is true.
“[Anderson] has got every actor at his disposal, you’d imagine,” he says.
With production pushed back due to an actors’ strike, Cera feared the project might “fall apart”.
“I was not really at ease until we were there,” he admits.
Every detail is meticulously planned in the Anderson film universe – from the art on the walls (original works from Renoir and Magritte in this case), to the intricate backstory of a character collecting fleas in a plastic bag as a child.
While most roles are written by the Fantastic Mr Fox filmmaker with certain actors in mind – the exception this time is Liesl, the daughter of the business tycoon.
Image: Michael Cera as Bjorn and Benicio del Toro as Zsa-Zsa Korda. Pic: Focus Features
The dream phone call
After months of an audition process, Mia Threapleton got the call to play the straight-talking nun who is beckoned by her father to inherit the family business after his sixth near-death experience.
The 24-year-old daughter of Kate Winslet got the news via a call from her agent while she was on the train – and was in such disbelief she told her to call them back.
“I didn’t believe them – and she laughed at me [and said] ‘of course I’m not lying to you, this is true’. And then I sat on the floor and I cried.”
Del Toro believes it was Threapleton’s screen test where she stood out as an “inventive” actor who thought on her feet that got her the part, having fashioned part of a makeshift nun costume with a napkin from a lunch tray.
“I said, ‘is there anyone who got any hairpins?’ And I pinned it to my head.”
Ticking a Wes Anderson film off the bucket list is a goal for many actors. Threapelton says she still hasn’t come to terms with achieving it so early in her career.
Eight people have been found guilty of crimes connected to the gunpoint robbery of Kim Kardashian at a Paris hotel.
The theft targeting the TV personality, socialite and businesswoman in 2016 was carried out by a group the media dubbed the “grandpa robbers” as most were close to or of retirement age.
A six-member jury, led by three judges, reached a verdict on Friday following a four-week trial at Paris’s Palais de Justice.
The court found the ringleader and seven others guilty over the raid at the Hotel de Pourtales. Their sentences ranged from prison terms to a fine, but with time already served in pretrial detention, none of those convicted will go to jail.
The group were accused of pulling off one of the most audacious heists against a celebrity in modern French history, in the early hours of 3 October 2016 during Paris Fashion Week.
Wearing ski masks and disguised as police, the thieves stormed Kardashian‘s luxury hotel apartment, bound the star with zip ties, and stole jewellery worth an estimated $6m (£4.4m), including a ring given to her by then husband Kanye West.
‘You caused harm’
Chief judge David De Pas said the defendants’ ages – with the oldest being 79 and some others in their 60s and 70s – weighed on the court’s decision not to impose harsher sentences, and the nine years between the robbery and the trial was also taken into account.
He also told them the reality TV star had been traumatised by the raid, adding: “You caused harm. You caused fear.”
Some arrived in court in orthopaedic shoes and one leaned on a cane. But prosecutors warned observers not to be fooled.
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2:02
Kim Kardashian’s testimony: What happened?
Ringleader Aomar Ait Khedache, 69, who arrived at court walking with a stick, was sentenced to eight years imprisonment, with five of those suspended.
His DNA, which was found on the bands used to bind Kardashian, was a key breakthrough that helped crack open the case. Wiretaps captured him giving orders, recruiting accomplices and arranging to sell the diamonds in Belgium.
Three others who were accused of the most serious charges got seven years imprisonment, five of them suspended.
‘Most terrifying experience of my life’
After the ruling, 44-year-old Kardashian, who was not present for the verdict, issued a statement, saying: “I am deeply grateful to the French authorities for pursuing justice in this case.
“The crime was the most terrifying experience of my life, leaving a lasting impact on me and my family.
“While I’ll never forget what happened, I believe in the power of growth and accountability and pray for healing for all. I remain committed to advocating for justice, and promoting a fair legal system.”
The court in the French capital found a ninth person guilty of illegal weapons charges, while a tenth person was cleared.
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Kardashian departing Paris court on 13 May
Kardashian ‘thought she would be raped and killed’
Five of the defendants, who were all aged between 60 and 72 at the time of the incident, faced armed robbery and kidnapping charges.
The remaining five defendants were charged with complicity in the heist or the unauthorised possession of a weapon.
During the robbery, Kardashian, who previously told the court she thought she would be raped and killed, was bound with zip-ties and left in the bathtub.
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She described the robbery as “terrifying” and said while she felt forgiveness, that in no way altered “the emotion and the feelings and the trauma,” adding “my life is forever changed”.
Two members of the group – Khedache, known as “Old Omar”, and Yunice Abbas – who wrote a book called I Kidnapped Kim Kardashian, admitted some part in the robbery, while the remaining eight denied the charges.
Prosecutors had requested sentences of up to 10 years.
Kardashian earlier this week completed her six-year legal apprenticeship in California.
Most of the jewellery, which is understood to have been sold in Belgium, was never found.
A diamond-encrusted cross, dropped during the escape, was the only piece ever recovered.
Kneecap have released a new single ahead of their headline performance at London’s Wide Awake festival, just days after one of their members was charged with a terror offence.
Image: Kneecap performing in Belfast last year. Pic: PA
Bandmembers Liam O hAnnaidh, Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh, also thanked the 25,000 fans who had bought tickets for Friday night’s festival.
They also reference Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, with whom they’ve had previous run-ins, writing: “Kemi Badenoch you might wanna sit down for this one, if you’ve any seats left.”
Last year, Kneecap won a discrimination case against the UK government in Belfast High Court after former business secretary Ms Badenoch tried to refuse them a £14,250 funding award when she was a minister.
Ms Badenoch has called for Kneecap to be banned and suggested they should be dropped from the Glastonbury Festival line-up. Some other politicians have made the same demand.
The track mocks Badenoch’s attempts to block their arts funding and the Conservative Party’s election loss. It features DJ Mozey.
It comes after O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was charged over the alleged display of a Hezbollah flag at a gig at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, north London, in November last year, the Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the band held a surprise gig at the 100 Club on Oxford Street, where O hAnnaidh could be seen in videos on social media arriving on stage with tape covering his mouth.
He then joked about being careful about what he said, adding that he wanted to thank his lawyer, saying: “I need to thank my lawyer, he’s here tonight as well.”
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2:52
Stars talk about risks of speaking out
In video footage posted to YouTube, the band led the audience in a chant of “free Mo Chara” and joked about the police presence at the venue.
Police said they attended to manage visitors to the sold-out event.
The band said on X that the central London event sold out in 90 seconds, with 2,000 people on the waiting list.
O hAnnaidh, 27, is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 18 June.
Formed in 2017, the group are known for their provocative lyrics in both Irish and English and proved a critical hit in the 2024 semi-fictionalised band origin story movie Kneecap, starring actor Michael Fassbender.
Their best-known tracks include Get Your Brits Out, Better Way To Live, featuring Grian Chatten from Fontaines DC, and 3Cag.