The 96th Academy Awards took place on March 10, with the red carpet starting at 3:30 p.m., and the official award ceremony beginning at 7:00 p.m. This year, the Oscars were highly anticipated due to the extremely influential movies that were released in the past year, such as “Oppenheimer,” “Barbie,” and “Poor Things.” 

The show was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, and featured  numerous star-studded names as presenters,  such as John Cena, America Ferrera, Zendaya, and Kate McKinnon.

In terms of the biggest winners of the night, “Oppenheimer” cleared a majority of the categories: of the 13 the film was nominated for, it won seven. This includes the recognition of “Best Supporting Actor,” which was awarded to Robert Downey Jr. who played Lewis Strauss. Many believed Downey’s win was deserved, including those who thought he should have won an award years ago for his role as Tony Stark in Marvel Studios’ “Iron Man.” 

Among those who applauded Downey was the most esteemed and humored guest of the night: Messi, the dog, who acted in “Anatomy of a Fall.” The film itself won the award for “Best Original Screenplay;” however, the cast faced backlash on social media when they did not bring Messi onto the stage to accept their award.

Another highly celebrated film, “Poor Things,” also took home many awards; “Best Makeup and Hairstyling,”  “Best Production Design,” “Best Actress,” and “Best Costume Design.” Out of the four wins, the most memorable was the award for Best Costume Design, which was presented by an unveiled John Cena. The envelope which contained the name of the winner was the only thing preventing him from being exposed.

The ceremony also featured many moving musical performances, such as “The Fire Inside” from the movie “Flamin’ Hot,” “What Was I Made For” from “Barbie,” “It Never Went Away” from “American Symphony,” and more. The most memorable of the performances was “I’m Just Ken,” from the Barbie movie, performed by Ryan Gosling and the other “Ken” actors. The performance was praised for how entertaining it was, especially when Gosling’s co-stars, like Margot Robbie, were shown laughing and singing along with him.

The last award of the night was “Best Picture,” which was ultimately given to “Oppenheimer.” Many have criticized the presenter of the award, Al Pacino, who forgot what to say when presenting. Typically, presenters call out the names of the nominated films, before opening the letter and finishing off with “And the Oscar goes to…” Pacino, on the other hand, took a different route when he realized he forgot the names of the 10 nominated movies. “Ten wonderful films were nominated, but only one will take the award,” Pacino said before opening the letter. “And my eyes see Oppenheimer.”

Overall, the night was extremely memorable, and history was made when Lily Gladstone became the first Native American to ever be nominated for the “Best Actress”category for her role in “Killers of the Flower Moon.” However, when the winner was revealed to be Emma Stone, critics claimed the decision was biased against Gladstone.

While the films released in 2023 have all had their own huge impacts, the new wave of iconic movies like “Venom 3,” “Mean Girls,” “Dune 2,” “Kung Fu Panda 4,” and “Inside Out 2,”  being released in 2024, the 2025 Oscars are expected to be even more exciting, especially with the addition of new awards such as “Best Casting.”