2024 Oscar Predictions: ORIGINAL SCORE and ORIGINAL SONG (December)

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

1. Oppenheimer – Ludwig Göransson (Universal Pictures) – CCA, GG, HMMA
2. Killers of the Flower Moon – Robbie Robertson (Apple Original Films) – CCA, GG, HMMA
3. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Daniel Pemberton (Sony Pictures) – CCA, GG, HMMA
4. Poor Things – Jerskin Fendrix (Searchlight Pictures) – CCA, GG
5. The Zone of Interest – Mica Levi (A24) – GG, HMMA
6. The Society of the Snow – Michael Giacchino (Netflix) – CCA
7. The Boy and the Heron – Joe Hisaishi (GKIDS) – GG
8. Elemental – Thomas Newman (Walt Disney/Pixar) – HMMA
9. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny – John Williams (Walt Disney)
10.  Past Lives – Christopher Bear and Daniel Rosen (A24)
11.  Nyad – Alexandre Desplat (Netflix) – HMMA
12.  The Creator – Hans Zimmer (20th Century Studios) – HMMA
13.  American Fiction – Laura Karpman (Amazon MGM Studios) – HMMA
14.  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

1. “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish and Finneas from Barbie (Warner Bros) – GG, HMMA
2. “I’m Just Ken” by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt from Barbie (Warner Bros) – GG, HMMA
3. “Road to Freedom” by Lenny Kravitz from Rustin (Netflix) – GG, HMMA
4. “It Never Went Away” from American Symphony by Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson (Netflix)
5. “The Fire Inside” by Diane Warren from Flamin’ Hot (Searchlight Pictures) – HMMA
6. “Addicted to Romance” by Bruce Springsteen from She Came to Me – GG
7. “Peaches” by Jack Black, Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic, Eric Osmond, and John Spiker from The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Illumination/Universal Pictures) – GG, HMMA
8. “Better Place” by Justin Timberlake from Trolls Band Together (DreamWorks Animation) – HMMA
9. “Keep It Movin’” by by Halle Bailey, Denisia Andrews, Brittany Coney, and Morten Ristorp from The Color Purple (Warner Bros) – HMMA
10. “For the First Time” by Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda from The Little Mermaid (Walt Disney Pictures) – HMMA
11. “This Wish” by Julia Michaels and Benjamin Rice from Wish (Walt Disney Pictures) – HMMA
12. “Steal the Show” by Lauv, Michael Matosic and Thomas Newman from Elemental (Walt Disney/Pixar) – HMMA
13. “Dance the Night” by Caroline Ailin, Dua Lipa, Mark Ronson, and Andrew Wyatt from Barbie (Warner Bros)
14. “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” by Osage Tribal Singers from Killers of the Flower Moon (Apple Original Films)
15. “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”
• The Peasants – “End of Summer”
• Prisoner’s Daughter – “Shotgun Clown”
• Radical” -“El Saber”
• The Road Dog – “Remember Me”
• Ruby Gelman, Teenage Kraken” – “Rise,” “This Moment”
• Rustin – “Road to Freedom”
• Saving Ana – “Missing Children”
• Scream VI – “In My Head,” “Still Alive”
• She Came to Me – “Addicted to Romance”
• Silver Dollar Road – “Wounded Heart”
• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – “Am I Dreaming”
• Spinning Gold – “Greatest Time”
• The Starling Girl – “Ace Up My Sleeve”
• State of the Unity – “One Mile,” “Songbird,” “Hides”
• Stephen Curry Underrated – “Lil Fish, Big Pond”
• Strays – “All of You”
• The Super Mario Bros. Movie – “Peaches”
• Suzume – “Kanata Haluka.” “Suzume”
• Sweetwater – “Taking Me Higher”
• Theater Camp – “Camp Isn’t Home”
• They Cloned Tyrone – “Drunk AF”
• Transformers: Rise of the Beasts – “On My Soul”
• Trolls Band Together – “Better Place (Reunion)”
• Uncharitable – “All of Our Dreams”
• We Dare to Dream” -“Don’t Need to Sleep”
• Wish – “I’m a Star,” “This Is the Thanks I Get?!,” “This Wish”
• Wonka – “A World of Your Own”

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Erik Anderson

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.

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