Barbenheimer is a favorite for the Oscars

Nominations for this year's Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, January 23, with the Barbenheimer giant expected to head into the climax of Hollywood's awards season with plenty of chances for glory.
After a combined $2.4 billion at the global box office, "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer," two films linked only by their simultaneous release last July, are considered the front-runners for the 96th Academy Awards, which will be held on March 10.
"This continues to be their year and we expect them to dominate the nominations," Deadline columnist Pete Hammond told AFP.
With five Golden Globes and momentum on its side, "Oppenheimer" — Christopher Nolan's masterful account of the father of the atomic bomb — appears to have the upper hand in the race for best picture, the Academy's top prize.
Greta Gerwig's popular "Barbie" — a sharp satire on misogyny and female empowerment — is starting to catch up after the initial rush of awards optimism has faded.
The film, which had nine Globe nominations, walked away with just two consolation prizes — best song and the newly created box office achievement award.
"Comedies or something that's considered lighter is usually at a disadvantage to something a little heavier," Hammond said. "So in Barbenheimer's world, Oppenheimer definitely has the upper hand," he added.
Nominations are expected for Martin Scorsese's crime saga Killers of the Flower Moon and Venice Film Festival winner Poor Things, a female-centric take on the Frankenstein myth.
Year of female directors?
Between Justine Trier's "Anatomy of a Fall," Gerwig's "Barbie" and Celine Song's "Past Lives," the Korean-American drama, the best picture Oscar battle could include three works directed by women. first in history.
Over nine and a half decades, only 19 films directed by women have been nominated for the top prize.
"This could be the biggest year for women in terms of the Best Picture race," Hammond believes.
In the acting categories, the two summer blockbusters look likely to garner nominations for their stars — Cillian Murphy as scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer consumed by the devastating effects of his creation and Margot Robbie as a perfect doll tormented by painful thoughts. /BGNES