If you're an awards show junkie, your Super Bowl awaits.
On March 10, the annual Oscars coronation will unfold at Los Angeles' Dolby Theatre, drawing Hollywood's most glam (and talented) denizens.
The battle for trophies this awards season remains focused on two mega-nominated gladiators, "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer," aka Barbenheimer. But a number of possible surprises no doubt are keeping oddsmakers busy, such as: Will "The Holdovers" star Paul Giamatti pip "Oppenheimer" doppelgänger Cillian Murphy?
While it might seem like a fantasy to actually attend the Oscars, the reality is that there's no better seat than in front of your TV, taking in everything from heartfelt speeches to sappy production numbers to the impossible-to-predict (The Slap, anyone?).
Here's what you need to know before tuning in to the 96th Academy Awards:
The Oscars will be take place Sunday, March 10, but two things are critical to know this year. One, the show is set to begin an hour earlier than usual, at 7 p.m. ET/4 PT, a nod to the show habitually running long. And two, don't forget to set your clocks back as it's the first day of daylight saving time.
The 2024 Oscars will air live on ABC and stream live at abc.com and the ABC app (if you're a cable subscriber) via connected devices such as Roku, AppleTV and Amazon Fire TV.
The Oscars can also be watched on streaming services that carry ABC, such as Hulu, YouTubeTV, AT&T TV and FuboTV.
A 30-minute ABC preshow at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 PT will lead into the live awards show. E! plans red carpet programming throughout the night.
Jimmy Kimmel is back as host, stepping in last year to guide the ship after a rocky 2022 show where presenter Chris Rock received a slap on the face from best actor winner Will Smith, after Rock made a joke at the expense of Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
This is Kimmel's fourth time hosting the Academy Awards, which ties him with Whoopi Goldberg and Jack Lemmon. At the top of the hosting list are Johnny Carson (with five appearances), Billy Crystal (nine) and Bob Hope (19).
In keeping with Oscars tradition, last year's big winners will return to present top awards to the next generation of Oscar recipients, including 2023's actor and actress kings and queens Brendan Fraser, Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has also announced that “Scarface” co-stars Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino are set to hand out awards. Other big names set to present include Zendaya, Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Lange, Nicolas Cage, Mahershala Ali, Sam Rockwell and Lupita Nyong’o. More will be announced as Oscar night nears.
"Barbie" co-star Ryan Gosling will hit the Oscars stage to perform his signature song from the movie, "I'mJust Ken." He'll be joined by Mark Ronson, the song's co-writer (along with Andrew Wyatt).
Others slated to perform their nominated songs include Becky G ("The Fire Inside" from "Flamin' Hot"), Jon Batiste ("It Never Went Away" from "American Symphony"), Scott George and the Osage Singers ("Wahzhazhe [A Song for My People]" from "Killers of the Flower Moon") and Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell ("What Was I Made For" from "Barbie").
Leading the pack this year is the inescapable "Oppenheimer," which has 13 Oscar nominations. Next up is "Poor Things" with 11, followed by "Killers of the Flower Moon" with 10. The year's box-office queen, "Barbie," has eight nods. Other nominees in the top category include "American Fiction," "Anatomy of a Fall," "The Holdovers," "The Zone of Interest," "Past Lives" and "Maestro."
According to awards season handicappers Gold Derby, it's a very tight race for the statue between Murphy and Giamatti, with oddsmakers placing the other nominees far behind: Bradley Cooper ("Maestro"), Colman Domingo ("Rustin") and Jeffrey Wright ("American Fiction").
In best actress, Gold Derby is predicting another two-way race, this time between Lily Gladstone ("Killers of the Flower Moon") and Emma Stone ("Poor Things"), with the edge going to Gladstone, who has racked up a slew of awards this season and would be the first Native American to win a competitive Oscar for acting. The other nominees are Annette Bening ("Nyad"), Carey Mulligan ("Oppenheimer") and Sandra Hüller ("Anatomy of a Fall").
Contributing: The Associated Press