22 Best Picture contenders for the 2024 Oscars

Director: David FincherCast: Michael Fassbender, Arliss Howard, Charles Parnell, and Tilda SwindonThe deceptively simple title may lead you to think is just another action film about an elite assassin, and while that is certainly part of it, it’s a David Fincher film, so you can reasonably expect some complexity in between all the killing. The film relies heavily on Michael Fassbender’s narration and performance as the cold, precise, unnamed lead character who’s forced to go on the run after uncharacteristically botching a job. Between his steely presence, Fincher’s sleek visual style, Erik Messerschmidt’s stark cinematography, and the driving score by frequent Fincher collaborators Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross there’s plenty for Academy voters to latch onto here.

Director: Martin ScorseseCast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, and Jesse PlemonsMartin Scorsese knows how to build suspense, and not just on the screen. His latest film, , has been delayed for so long that anticipation for it had reached epic heights by the time it premiered at Cannes in May. The heat could climb even higher when it finally opens in theaters in October, with an expected streaming premiere on Apple TV+ not long after. The sweeping crime drama set in 1920s Oklahoma stars heavy hitters Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, but the surprise could be Lily Gladstone’s breakthrough performance as an Osage woman who becomes a target for exploitation by greedy white men.

Director: Ellen KurasCast: Kate Winslet, Alexander Skarsgård, Andy Samberg, Andrea Riseborough, Josh O’Connor, and Marion CotillardNearly 15 years after winning her first Oscar for best actress (for The Reader, of all things), Kate Winslet may have a chance to add another statue to her mantle. In the biopic , a passion project which Winslet also produced, she portrays ex-model turned war photographer Lee Miller, who documented the horrors of World War II and even famously took in Hitler’s bathtub. The film is also a confident directing debut from former cinematographer Ellan Kuras, who worked with Winslet on Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind and was hand picked by her for this project.

Director: Bradley CooperCast: Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke, and Sarah SilvermanOne of the delights of the Venice Film Festival this year was seeing Leonard Bernstein’s three children to the closing credits during the standing ovation of Bradley Cooper’s biopic based on their father’s life. It was enough to distance the film from comparisons to last year’s and all that discourse surrounding Bradley Cooper’s prosthetic nose. Since then, most of the talk has centered around the quality of the direction and performances, especially Carey Mulligan’s as Bernstein’s wife, Felicia Montealegre.

Director: Todd HaynesCast: Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, and Charles MeltonTodd Haynes gives Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore plenty of material for their sizzle reels in . The two camp it up as a suburban mom struggling to overcome her tabloid-scandal past (Moore) and an ambitious actress preparing to play her in an upcoming movie based on her life (Portman). Haynes juggles elements of melodrama, thriller, and dry satire as only he can, and the result is a potent cocktail that got the attention of critics when it premiered in Cannes back in May and could conceivably sustain the film through awards season.

Director: Michel FrancoCast: Jessica Chastain, Peter Sarsgaard, Brooke Timber, Merritt Wever, Elsie Fisher, Jessica Harper, Josh CharlesJessica Chastain was one of the few big-name stars on the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival this year after being granted a waiver by SAG-AFTRA to appear in support of Memory, a romantic indie drama from Mexican director Michel Franco (After Lucia). Still, it was her co-star, Peter Sarsgaard, who went home with a trophy for his performance as a man dealing with dementia. Chastain’s character is a social worker and recovering alcoholic who is drawn to him despite not being sure whether he’s connected to a traumatic incident in her past. The film itself also had a strong showing, receiving an eight-minute standing ovation at the premiere, usually a good measure of awards potential.

Director: Christopher NolanCast: Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, and Florence PughWe’ve already speculated about ’s , now it’s just a matter of waiting to see how the race shapes up in the coming months and which new releases will be competing against Christopher Nolan’s epic (and its fraternal twin Barbie). The Academy loves a historical biopic, and Oppenheimer feels like it caters specifically to that kind of a prestige audience.

Director: Ava DuVernayCast: Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Jon Bernthal, Vera Farmiga, Audra McDonald, Niecy Nash-Betts, Nick Offerman, and Blair UnderwoodDirector Ava DuVernay took an innovative approach to adapting the nonfiction book Caste: The Origins Of Our Discontents for the screen. With actress Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor standing in for the book’s author, Isabel Wilkerson, DuVernay’s latest film, , depicts the process of researching and writing the book, interspersed with anecdotal interludes set in Nazi Germany, the Jim Crow South, and India, illustrating the threads of institutional inequality woven into the fabric of American society. The film is already sparking conversations, some of which has been awards related, among those who got a chance to catch it in Venice and Toronto.

Director: Celine SongCast: Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, and John MagaroSome award-worthy films peak too early and miss their chance at recognition when it comes time for Oscar nominations, getting lost in the crowd of fall and winter releases. Others, like last year’s best picture winner Everything Everywhere All At Once, are memorable enough to stay on voters’ minds for months after their initial release. may have come out in June, but it kept humming along in the background through the summer movie hype. The affecting and emotional story of two kindred souls (Greta Lee and Teo Yoo) separated as children in Korea who reconnect as adults in the U.S. has topped many lists for best films of the year so far, and even with all the awards-focused releases due this fall, that may continue to be the case by the time we close out 2023.

Director: Yorgos LanthimosCast: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbot, Jerrod Carmichael, and Margaret QualleyAfter wowing critics in Telluride and Venice (where it won the Golden Lion), is emerging as a frontrunner in this year’s Oscar race. Director Yorgos Lanthimos reunites with Emma Stone after working with her on 2018’s , which received nine Oscar nominations, including one for Stone for best supporting actress. Stone may be looking at her second Oscar win in the category of best actress this year (her first was for ) as a woman brought back from the dead in this highly stylized feminist reimagining of Frankenstein.

Director: Sofia CoppolaCast: Cailee Spaeny, Jacob ElordiLast year the Academy embraced . Now it may be time for to take the spotlight. Although there is some obvious overlap, the two films couldn’t be more different. While Baz Luhrmann turned the story of Elvis into a kaleidoscopic fever dream, Sofia Coppola’s take on his lady love is more understated and down to Earth. Which is interesting, considering all the thematic comparisons to Coppola’s 2006 film about a woman trapped in a gilded cage, , a candy-coated romp that has way more in common visually with Luhrmann’s film than Priscilla does. Star Cailee Spaeny has also been singled out for her performance in the title role.

Director: George C. WolfeCast: Colman Domingo, Chris Rock, Glynn Turman, Aml Ameen, Johnny Ramey, CCH Pounder, Jeffrey Wright, and Audra McDonaldAnother biopic you’ll likely be hearing a lot about is , from director George C. Wolfe (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom). It’s the story of Bayard Rustin, the man behind the historic March on Washington, where Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Though Rustin’s organizational skills and dynamic leadership should have made him a powerful figure within the civil rights movement, his identity as a gay man limited his influence. Colman Domingo, who stars as Rustin, has already been identified as an Oscar frontrunner, but the film, which was executive produced by the Obamas, could also secure a slot in the best picture category.