94 original songs and 149 original scores have been deemed eligible in the music categories for the 96th Academy Awards, including three songs from Barbie, three from 14-time nominee and Honorary Oscar winner Diane Warren and a handful of scores either deemed ineligible or not submitted, including those for Asteroid City, Wonka and The Little Mermaid.
We have three original scores that nabbed nominations from Critics Choice, the Golden Globes and the Hollywood Music in Media Awards (HMMA): Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, with the latter two winning their respective categories with HMMA. The shortlist will definitely see those three and likely a handful of familiar names like John Williams (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny), Alexandre Desplat (Nyad) and Thomas Newman (Elemental) while making room for plenty of first-timers like Jerskin Fendrix for Poor Things, Laura Karpman for American Fiction and the legendary Joe Hisaishi for The Boy and the Heron.
The Oscar shortlists will be revealed on December 21, 2023. Oscar nominations will be announced on January 23, 2024 and the 96th Academy Awards will be held on March 10.
See full list of eligible scores and song below.
Here are my 2024 Oscar predictions for the 15-film shortlist in Original Score for December 2023.
ORIGINAL SCORE
Oppenheimer – Ludwig Göransson (Universal Pictures) – CCA, GG, HMMA
Killers of the Flower Moon – Robbie Robertson (Apple Original Films) – CCA, GG, HMMA
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Daniel Pemberton (Sony Pictures) – CCA, GG, HMMA
Poor Things – Jerskin Fendrix (Searchlight Pictures) – CCA, GG
The Zone of Interest – Mica Levi (A24) – GG, HMMA
The Society of the Snow – Michael Giacchino (Netflix) – CCA
The Boy and the Heron – Joe Hisaishi (GKIDS) – GG
Elemental – Thomas Newman (Walt Disney/Pixar) – HMMA
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny – John Williams (Walt Disney)
Past Lives – Christopher Bear and Daniel Rosen (A24)
Nyad – Alexandre Desplat (Netflix) – HMMA
The Creator – Hans Zimmer (20th Century Studios) – HMMA
American Fiction – Laura Karpman (Amazon MGM Studios) – HMMA
Wish – David Metzger (Walt Disney)
Next up:
All of Us Strangers – Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch (Searchlight Pictures), Barbie – Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt (Warner Bros), Carmen – Nicholas Britell (Sony Pictures Classics), Origin – Kris Bowers (NEON), Priscilla – Phoenix (A24), Rustin – Branford Marsalis (Netflix) – HMMA, Saltburn – Anthony Willis (Amazon MGM Studios) – HMMA
Other contenders:
Ferrari – Daniel Pemberton (NEON), The Holdovers – Mark Orton (Focus Features), The Killer – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (Netflix) – HMMA, Napoleon – Martin Phipps (Apple Original Films/Sony Pictures)
On a shortlist of 15 titles, you know we’re getting at least one Diane Warren song and she has three chances this year. “The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot is her best shot (although “Gonna Be You” from 80 for Brady deserves a spot) but the 14-time nominee is going to face tough competition from no less than three songs from Barbie, fellow previous Oscar nominees like Thomas Newman and Lin-Manuel Miranda and Oscar winners like Jon Batiste and Bruce Springsteen.
Three songs nabbed both Golden Globe and HMMA noms: “What Was I Made For?” and “I’m Just Ken” from Barbie (with the former winning at HMMA) and “Road to Freedom” from Rustin. Those are all easy locks for the shortlist, to be sure. Watch out for the Springsteen song to make a play after the Golden Globe nomination and the inclusion of the closing scene song “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon can’t go unnoticed as a possibility here.
The Oscar shortlists will be revealed on December 21, 2023. Oscar nominations will be announced on January 23, 2024 and the 96th Academy Awards will be held on March 10.
Here are my 2024 Oscar predictions for the 15-title shortlist in Original Song for December 2023.
ORIGINAL SONG
“What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish and Finneas from Barbie (Warner Bros) – GG, HMMA
“I’m Just Ken” by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt from Barbie (Warner Bros) – GG, HMMA
“Road to Freedom” by Lenny Kravitz from Rustin (Netflix) – GG, HMMA
“It Never Went Away” from American Symphony by Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson (Netflix)
“The Fire Inside” by Diane Warren from Flamin’ Hot (Searchlight Pictures) – HMMA
“Addicted to Romance” by Bruce Springsteen from She Came to Me – GG
“Peaches” by Jack Black, Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic, Eric Osmond, and John Spiker from The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Illumination/Universal Pictures) – GG, HMMA
“Better Place” by Justin Timberlake from Trolls Band Together (DreamWorks Animation) – HMMA
“Keep It Movin’” by by Halle Bailey, Denisia Andrews, Brittany Coney, and Morten Ristorp from The Color Purple (Warner Bros) – HMMA
“For the First Time” by Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda from The Little Mermaid (Walt Disney Pictures) – HMMA
“This Wish” by Julia Michaels and Benjamin Rice from Wish (Walt Disney Pictures) – HMMA
“Steal the Show” by Lauv, Michael Matosic and Thomas Newman from Elemental (Walt Disney/Pixar) – HMMA
“Dance the Night” by Caroline Ailin, Dua Lipa, Mark Ronson, and Andrew Wyatt from Barbie (Warner Bros)
“Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” by Osage Tribal Singers from Killers of the Flower Moon (Apple Original Films)
“Quiet Eyes” by Zach Dawes and Sharon Von Etten from Past Lives (A24) – HMMA
Next up:
“Gonna Be You” by Diane Warren from 80 for Brady (Paramount Pictures)
“High Life” by John Carney and Gary Clark from Flora and Son (Apple Original Films) – HMMA
“Can’t Catch Me Now” from The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songs and Snakes by Dan Nigro and Olivia Rodrigo – HMMA
“Wild Uncharted Waters” by Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda from The Little Mermaid (Walt Disney Pictures) – HMMA
“I Am” from Origin (NEON) by Stan Walker, Michael Fatkin, Vince Harder, Te Kanapu Anasta – HMMA
“Am I Dreaming” by Leland Wayne, Rakim Mayers, Michael Dean, Peter Lee Johnson, Landon Wayne from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Sony Pictures) – HMMA
“A World of Your Own” by Neil Hannon, Simon Farnabay and Paul King from Wonka (Warner Bros) – HMMA
Other contenders:
“Everything is Gonna Be Alright” by Bobi Wine from Bobi Wine: The People’s President (National Geographic) – HMMA
“Lullaby / Beyond” – Vive La Musique” by Nicholas Britell from Carmen (Sony Pictures Classics)
“Superpower” by Terius Gesteelde-Diamant from The Color Purple (Warner Bros)
“All Love is Love” by Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp from Dicks: The Musical (A24)
“Live That Way Forever” by Laurel Sprengelmeyer and Richard Reed Parry, Little Scream from The Iron Claw (A24)
“Wounded Heart” by Ondara from Silver Dollar Road (Amazon MGM Studios)
“Camp Isn’t Home” by Noah Galvin, Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman, Ben Platt and Mark Sonnenblick from Theater Camp (Searchlight Pictures)
Eligible Scores
All of Us Strangers
American Fiction
American Symphony
Anselm
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
Baby Ruby
Barbie
The Beanie Bubble
Beau Is Afraid
Big George Foreman
Blue Beetle
Blue Jean
Book Club: The Next Chapter
Bottoms
The Boy and the Heron
The Boys in the Boat
The Burial
Butcher’s Crossing
Carmen
Cassandro
Chevalier
Cocaine Bear
The Color Purple
Common Ground
The Creator
Creed III
Daliland
The Deepest Breath
Dicks: The Musical
Dream Scenario
Dreamin’ Wild
Drift
Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
80 for Brady
Eileen
Elemental
The End We Start From
The Equalizer 3
Every Body
The Face of the Faceless
Ferrari
Fingernails
Five Nights at Freddie’s
Flamin’ Hot
The Flash
Foe
Fool’s Paradise
Freud’s Last Session
Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
Golda
Good Grief
A Good Person
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3
Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant
Hadik
A Haunting in Venice
Heart of Stone
Here. Is. Better.
The Holdovers
How to Blow Up a Pipeline
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Inside
The Inventor
Invisible Beauty
The Iron Claw
It Ain’t Over
Joan Baez: I Am a Noise
John Wick: Chapter 4
Journey to Bethlehem
Jules
The Killer
Killers of the Flower Moon
Knock at the Cabin
Landscape With Invisible Hand
The League
Leave the World Behind
Leo
The Lesson
Little Richard: I Am Everything
Mafia Mamma
The Magician’s Elephant
The Marvels
Master Gardener
Migration
A Million Miles Away
The Miracle Club
Miranda’s Victim
The Monkey King
Monster
The Mother
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3
My Love Affair With Marriage
Napoleon
Nimona
1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture
The Nun II
Nyad
Once Within a Time
Oppenheimer
Origin
Past Lives
PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie
The Peasants
The Persian Version
The Pigeon Tunnel
Polite Society
Poor Things
The Promised Land
Radical
Reptile
Ruby Gelman, Teenage Kraken
Rustin
Saltburn
Scream VI
Sharper
Shazam! Fury of the Gods
She Came to Me
Shortcomings
Silver Dollar Road
Sitting in Bars with Cake
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood
Society of the Snow
A Song Film By Kishi Bashi: “Omoiyari”
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Stamped from the Beginning
Starbright
The Starling Girl
State of the Unity
Stephen Curry: Underrated
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie
Story Ave
Strays
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Suzume
Sweetwater
The Teachers’ Lounge
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Tetris
They Cloned Tyrone
A Thousand and One
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
2018 (Everyone Is a Hero)
Walid
War Pony
What Happens Later
Wish
Your Fat Friend
The Zone of Interest
Eligible Songs
American Symphony – “It Never Went Away”
Asteroid City – “Dear Alien Who Art in Heaven”
Barbie – “Dance the Night,” “I’m Just Ken,” “What Was I Made For”
The Beanie Bubble – “This”
Bella – “The Easy Way”
Bobi Wine: The People’s President – “Everything’s Gonna Be Fine”
The Boy and the Heron – “Spinning Globe”
Carmen – “Slip Away”
Champions – “Tell Somebody That You Love Them Right Now”
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget – “My Sweet Baby”
The Color Purple – “Superpower,” “Keep It Movin’”
Creed III – “Blood, Sweat & Tears”
Dicks: The Musical – “Out Alpha the Alpha”
Dreamin’ Wild” -“A Dream Is Beautiful”
Drift – “It Would Be”
Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves – “Wings of Time”
80 for Brady – “Gonna Be You”
Elemental – “Steal the Show”
The Face of the Faceless – “Barala Tribal Song,” “Ek Sapna Mera Suhana,” “Jalta Hai Suraj”
Flamin’ Hot – “The Fire Inside”
Flora and Son – “High Life,” “Meet in the Middle”
A Good Person – “The Best Part,” “I Hate Myself,” “Stardust”
Heart of Stone – “Quiet”
Here. Is. Better – “A Little More Time”
The Home Fairy – “Amar em Segredo”
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes – “Can’t Catch Me Now”
The Inventor – “From This Tiny Seed”
The Iron Claw – “Live That Way Forever”
Jacob the Baker – “Better Times”
Joe Haladin: The Case of the Missing Sister – “It’s Precious We Have It Today”
John Wick: Chapter 4 – “Eye for an Eye”
Journey to Bethlehem – “Mother to a Savior and King”
Killers of the Flower Moon – “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)”
King Coal – “King Coal”
Knights of Santiago – “Las Navas de Tolosa”
Leo – “When I Was Ten”
The Little Mermaid – “For the First Time,” “The Scuttlebutt,” “Wild Uncharted Waters”
The Magician’s Elephant” -“Found”
M3gan – “Tell Me Your Dreams”
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 – “We’re All Together”
My Love Affair With Marriage – “Lion / My Love Affair With Marriage”
Nimona – “T-Rex”
Nyad – “Find a Way”
Origin – “Falling Into Place,” “I Am”
Orlando, My Political Biography – “Pharma Coliberation”
Our Son – “Always Be My Man”
Past Lives – “Quiet Eyes”
PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie – “Down Like That,” “Learning to Fly”
Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013. He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.