KUALA LUMPUR – Blockbuster biopic Oppenheimer brings home the Oscar for best picture, adding the seventh statuette to its impressive collection.
In the run-up to the biggest prize, the film also bagged best director (Christopher Nolan), actor (Cillian Murphy), supporting actor (Robert Downey Jr), as well as for editing, cinematography and score.
With Murphy playing the titular physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the film tells his story as the head of a team of leading scientists who invented the atomic bomb during the height of World War Two, which went on to change the world forever.
The ensemble cast also included Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Kenneth Branagh, Gary Oldman and Rami Malek.
#Oppenheimer wins the award for Best Picture at the 2024 #Oscars pic.twitter.com/0tjARZH4gu
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 11, 2024
Although it lost the box-office battle to Greta Gerwig’s Barbie in the #Barbenheimer showdown, it triumphed in the awards season as the Mattel film only won one Oscar – best original song.
Oppenheimer is the highest-grossing best picture winner – garnering almost US$1 billion – since Lord of the Rings: Return of the King in 2004. It is also the first film to win best picture, actor and supporting actor since Ben Hur in 1960.
Shot on a relatively modest US$100 million budget, Oppenheimer spared no expense as its special effects were described as spellbinding – though it failed to earn a nomination in that category.
Released last July, Oppenheimer immediately drew rave reviews.
Other nominees that turned up empty-handed were Killers of the Flower Moon, Past Lives, Maestro, Nyad and Society of the Snow. – March 11, 2024