Oscars 2024 | What historic firsts and achievements occurred at the 96th Academy Awards overnight?

The 2024 Awards Season has come to a close after an incredibly busy three months of major awards ceremonies, and truth be told - the 96th Academy Awards pretty much delivered the winners many were expecting, with “Oppenheimer” sweeping the ceremony at the Dolby Theatre overnight. 

“Oppenheimer” took home seven awards while in comparison, “Poor Things” received four wins and "The Zone of Interest” won two. “Oppenheimer” was nominated for a total of 13 categories, and if it had won in all of them, it would have set a new record for the most wins by a single film, surpassing the previous record held jointly by “Ben-Hur” (in 1960), “Titanic” (1998), and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2004).

But after 22 years and numerous nominations, including Best Director in 2018, Nolan’s Best Director win and Best Film win at the Oscars more than made up for years of being the bridesmaid but never the bridge. 

With the sweep came a series of firsts also in Oscars history, as Cillian Murphy’s Oscar win for Best Actor marked the first time an Irish-born actor had won the award. It was a first for Robert Downey Jr. too, as he earned his first Academy Award last night playing Lewis Strauss; he received his first Oscar nomination for acting back in 1993 for his role in “Chaplin.”

Another British filmmaker also made history overnight, as “The Zone of Interest” and its director Jonathan Glazer became the first UK production to win the Oscar for Best International Feature, owing to the use of non-English language throughout the production, while Ukraine earned it’s first Oscar overnight after the success of Best Documentary feature, “20 Days in Mariupol.”

By breaking the hegemony of American film studios dominating the Best Animated Film category, Hayao Miyazaki’s win for “The Boy and The Heron” became only the second non-English-language film to win the category since 2002. The win marks Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli’s second Oscar win, after “Spirited Away” won Best Animated Film at the 2003 ceremony. 

However it wasn’t all just happy memories made at the 96th Academy Awards; Thelma Schoonmaker could have made history by being the first editor to win four Best Editing awards, however, lost out to another “Oppenheimer” creative during the ceremony, Jennifer Lane, while composer Dian Warren was nominated for a 15th time at this year’s awards, only to lose to Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell for “What Was I Made For?” from the “Barbie” soundtrack.