By Tori B. Powell, Maureen Chowdhury, Lisa Respers France and Marianne Garvey, CNN
From CNN's Matt Meyer
As stars make their glamorous entrance at the 96th Academy Awards today, they'll be strolling down a carpet of a familiar hue: red.
It might seem unnecessary to observe the color of the red carpet, but last year's award show featured a champagne-colored carpet, marking a break with tradition.
Curious about what it's like on the other side of the carpet? Check out CNN's profile of a celebrity photographer.
From CNN's Dan Heching
Every year around Oscars time, when the greatest in cinema is celebrated, an alternative awards ceremony is held that singles out the worst (at least, according to them) in movies — the Razzie Awards.
Around since 1981, this 44th edition of the infamous “honors” counted Jason Statham, Vin Diesel and Ana de Armas among the nominees for worst actor and actress.
“Expend4bles,” “Meg 2: The Trench,” “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” and the bland “Exorcist: Believer” were up for worst film of 2023.
But in a bad sign for the now-public domain figure Mickey Mouse, the horror film “Winnie the Pooh: Blood & Honey” took home the Razzie for worst picture, the awards association announced on Saturday.
In the acting categories, Academy Award-winner Jon Voight won worst actor for the film “Mercy,” while Sylvester Stallone snagged worst supporting actor for “Expend4bles.”
“Transformers” star (and poet) Megan Fox had the distinction of winning two Razzies, for worst actress and supporting actress, for “Johnny & Clyde” and “Expend4bles,” respectively.
The “Winnie the Pooh” horror film won four other awards, including worst screen couple for Pooh and Piglet as “Blood-Thirsty Slasher/Killers (!),” according to the Razzie announcement.
The Razzies — also called the Golden Raspberry Awards — have not come without their fair share of controversy.
Last year, the organization was called out for nominating then-12-year-old Ryan Kiera Armstrong for her starring role in the “Firestarter” remake, prompting an apology.
From CNN's Lisa Respers France
The Nuclear Threat Initiative is leveraging the attention on Christopher Nolan’s Oscar-nominated film “Oppenheimer” to elevate the conversation about nuclear threat.
In the run-up to the Academy Awards, the organization launched a “Make Nukes History” campaign Wednesday in Los Angeles.
Using billboards, a major art installation, an open letter from top artists published in the Los Angeles Times, social media videos and more, the campaign aims to raise public awareness about the civilization-ending risks posed by today’s nuclear arsenals.
Actors including “Oppenheimer” cast members Matthew Modine and Tony Goldwyn — as well as Michael Douglas, Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Viggo Mortensen, Emma Thompson, and Rosanna Arquette — joined J. Robert Oppenheimer’s grandson and activist Charles Oppenheimer to sign a letter in partnership with the Nuclear Threat Initiative.
“We want to raise our voices to remind people that while Oppenheimer is history, nuclear weapons are not,” the group writes in their letter. “To protect our families, our communities, and our world, we must demand that global leaders work to make nuclear weapons history—and build a brighter future.”
The “For Your Consideration: Make Nukes History” campaign includes billboards and street posters, proclaiming “Oppenheimer Started It, We Can End It” and “13 Oppenheimer Nominations; 13,000 Nuclear Weapons.”
From CNN's Alli Rosenbloom
The Oscars telecast is set to start one hour earlier than in years past, which means we’ll all hopefully get off to bed a little earlier tonight.
In an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences first, the live telecast of the premier awards event will begin at 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT) instead of its usual start time one hour later, the organization announced late last year.
ABC will air a 30-minute pre-show leading into the live telecast starting at 6:30 p.m. ET, and a new episode of the Emmy-winning comedy “Abbott Elementary” will air immediately following the end of the Oscars ceremony, according the announcement.
The Academy has also stipulated that the runtime of this year's show will be three and a half hours, which would be in keeping with the average duration of the event (although it often encroaches on four hours).
Late night's Jimmy Kimmel is set to host for the fourth time when the 96th Academy Awards air live on ABC and broadcast outlets worldwide tonight.
From CNN's Dan Heching
Jimmy Kimmel will host the Academy Awards tonight, his fourth time at the helm of the prestigious cinematic awards.
In addition to last year, he served as the host in 2017 and 2018.
Also, Molly McNearney is returning for a second consecutive year to serve as an executive producer for the show. McNearney is Kimmel’s wife.
“We are thrilled about Jimmy returning to host and Molly returning as executive producer for the Oscars. They share our love of movies and our commitment to producing a dynamic and entertaining show for our global audience,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy president Janet Yang said in the announcement in November. “We are deeply grateful to Jimmy, Molly and their teams for their incredible creativity and partnership and for going on this ride with us again.”
“I always dreamed of hosting the Oscars exactly four times,” Kimmel joked in the release.
From CNN's Tom Page
America’s most glamorous election contest is finally drawing to a close. Yes, it’s time for the 2024 Oscars.
Only marginally shorter than its political counterparts (and with no less lobbying), the road to the 96th Academy Awards ceremony is likely leading toward what industry and casual viewers have all been betting on: a wildly popular box office hit on the cusp of cleaning up, with “Oppenheimer” in pole position to claim best picture and a host of other categories.
Comparisons are already being made to 1998 and 2004, when “Titanic” and “The Return of the King” steamrolled their respective competition on their way to a record 11 Oscars each. Despite its 13 nominations, Christopher Nolan’s epic take on the life and times of the father of the atomic bomb is unlikely to dominate to quite that degree. But since when did Hollywood (or industry press) let the truth get in the way of a good story?
Here's how to watch: We’ll find out exactly how well “Oppenheimer” and co. do on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET, when the ceremony kicks off on ABC in the US.
See international listings here.
The telecast will also be available to stream on abc.com and the ABC app. It will be available through subscription on Hulu Live TV, YouTubeTV, AT&T TV and FuboTV as well.
As for the red carpet: You can watch ABC's official 30-minute pre-show starting at 6:30 p.m. ET.
If you want an even earlier look, E! will be live from the site of the glamorous pre-show arrivals starting at 4 p.m. ET.
From CNN's Harmeet Kaur
“The Zone of Interest,” Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar-nominated historical drama, is technically a film about the Holocaust.
The movie centers on the real-life Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his family, who live bucolic and seemingly mundane lives next door to the infamous concentration camp.
But viewers never see the unspeakable horrors taking place just on the other side of the garden wall. Instead, they hear them.
They hear them in the muffled screams, the heart-wrenching wails and the piercing gunshots. They hear them in the distant sounds of trains and in the constant hum of the incinerator.
“I knew right from the off that I didn’t want to reenact these atrocities using actors and extras,” director Glazer told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in a February interview. “I feel that that imagery is something that we all know, and it’s seared into our consciousness as it is. Sound, of course, is interpretative. We’re able to see those pictures in our mind’s eye because we hear those sounds.”
In a film otherwise short on spectacle, the sound design in “The Zone of Interest” is something of a main character. (In interviews, Glazer has said “The Zone of Interest” consists of two films: “the one you see and the one you hear.”)