Barbie Oscars snub: Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie passed over as Oppenheimer, Poor Things, and KOTFM dominate

Barbie was the biggest film of 2023, making more than £1.4 billion at the box office and breaking a tonne of records, but this hasn’t translated into quite the success at the Oscars 2024 nominations that fans were expecting.

Whilst the Margot Robbie starring fantasy film picked up eight nominations, including Best Picture, the movie missed out in several big categories where it was expected to be recognised.

Oppenheimer was the clear winner of the nominations announcement, walking away with 13 nods, only one fewer than the joint record holders for the most nominations (All About Eve, Titanic, and La La Land), whilst Poor Things received 11 nominations, and Killers of the Flower Moon took 10.

Was Barbie snubbed at Oscars 2024 nominations?

Barbie had a good innings at the nominations announcement - it is the fourth most recognised film this year, but the movie’s absence from two key categories will surely raise eyebrows.

Greta Gerwig, who was nominated for Best Director for Lady Bird in 2017, and was famously snubbed in 2020 when she missed out the nomination for Little Women, has again been passed over. Making up the Best Director nominees this year are Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest), Yorgos Lanthimos, (Poor Things), Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer), Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon), and Justine Triet (Anatomy of a Fall). 

Whilst it’s not an all male list as was the case in 2020, women are still outnumbered four to one in the category. Scorsese’s nomination for Killers of the Flower Moon feels like a stretch - it’s far from the director’s best work, and at 3 hrs 26 mins long it’s a bloated self-indulgent piece. Some may argue that the film was nominated off the back of Scorsese’s name, rather than the strength of the movie.

Additionally, Margot Robbie, the star of Barbie, was not nominated for Best Actress - she was overlooked in favour of Annette Bening (Nyad), Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon), Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall), Carey Mulligan (Maestro), and Emma Stone (Poor Things).

It’s likely that the Best Actress award will be a two horse race between Gladstone and Stone, but Robbie’s absence from the list will be a surprise for many given the impact that Barbie had on filmgoers this year. And whilst the role was not a typical Oscar winning one (Robbie plays a doll who comes to life), Robbie put in a strong, highly charged performance.

It’s also likely to stick in the craw of fans of the explicitly feminist film that Robbie missed out on a nod whilst Ryan Gosling claimed a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Additionally, I’m Just Ken goes up against What Was I Made For? in the battle for Best Original Song.