February 12, 2024

Where to watch the movies nominated for best picture at the 2024 Oscars

Many of the films are available to rent on streaming services, but several have not yet left theaters

By Kristin Hunt
PhillyVoice Staff

Provided images/Apple TV+/Searchlight Pictures

'Killers of the Flower Moon' and 'Poor Things' are two of the 10 nominees for best picture at the Oscars ceremony on March 10. Other contenders include 'Barbie,' 'Oppenheimer' and 'American Fiction.'

The Oscars are a month away, leaving precious weeks to catch up on the contenders for the big prize: best picture.

The Philadelphia region made a strong showing this year, from Bradley Cooper's Leonard Bernstein biopic "Maestro" to "The Holdovers," which stars Da'Vine Joy Randolph. The 10 movies competing for best picture also include a French legal drama, two epics on dark chapters of American history and a wrenching Holocaust film. Satires like "American Fiction" and the doll-comedy-to-beat "Barbie" add a little levity to the mix, along with the cross-continental romance "Past Lives" and female Frankenstein flick "Poor Things."

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While many of these films left theaters months ago, some are just starting their theatrical run — and many are now available to stream or rent.

Discover the best ways to catch each nominee before the March 10 ceremony with our best picture guide, which includes the Philadelphia theaters showing the films, streaming platforms carrying them and the length of each movie.

If you'd prefer to binge them all in one weekend, block off Feb. 23-25. That's when the Philadelphia Film Society will screen all 10 movies in its returning Best Picture Weekend bonanza. The marathon starts with a Barbenheimer double feature on Friday.

This list will be updated as movies leave or enter theaters and hit new streaming services. Now, without further ado, the nominees:

'American Fiction'

Frustrated with his novels' lack of success, Thelonius "Monk" Ellison (Jeffrey Wright) pens a parody of stereotypical Black stories on a drunken whim. Then it sells and becomes a runaway hit. Monk is thus forced to promote all the conventions he chafes against, and even adopt an alter ego as a hardened criminal.

Runtime: 1 hour and 57 minutes
Where to watch: Landmark Ritz Five; $14.99 rental on Prime

'Anatomy of a Fall'

Did Samuel Maleski jump out the window of his remote mountain chalet? Or did his wife Sandra push him? That's the central question in "Anatomy of a Fall," a twisty legal drama that drops viewers into the chaotic French court system. Long-simmering tensions from the couple's marriage — including professional jealousies, infidelities and an accident that left their son visually impaired — all come to the surface as Sandra (Sandra Hüller) strives to prove her innocence.

Runtime: 2 hours and 31 minutes
Where to watch: $5.99 rental on Prime, Apple TV

'Barbie'

Everything is perfect in Barbie's Pepto-pink world, until she starts having thoughts of dying mid-dance move. Seeking answers, Barbie (Margot Robbie) and her clingy boyfriend Ken (Ryan Gosling) leave the fantasy life behind for Los Angeles. There, Barbie befriends Mattel employee Gloria (America Ferrara) and learns what it means to be human. Ken, meanwhile, learns about patriarchy and Matchbox Twenty.

Runtime: 1 hour and 54 minutes
Where to watch: Max; $5.99 rental on YouTube, Apple TV and Google Play

'The Holdovers'

Christmas is approaching at a New England prep school, and a small crew of "holdovers" are stuck spending it in the empty halls. As a curmudgeonly teacher (Paul Giammati) and a sullen student (Dominic Sessa) butt heads, cafeteria head Mary (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) muddles through the grief of losing her son. The '70s-set dramedy is likely to deliver Randolph, a Philly native and Temple grad, her first Oscar.

Runtime: 2 hours and 13 minutes
Where to watch: Peacock; $5.99 rental on Prime, YouTube, Apple TV and Google Play

'Killers of the Flower Moon'

In the 1920s, Osage Nation lived under a so-called reign of terror. At least two dozen members of the tribe died under suspicious circumstances, some shot in the head and others wasting away from strange illnesses. Federal agents eventually uncovered a conspiracy to inherit the lucrative rights the Osage retained to the oil discovered on their reservation. "Killers of the Flower Moon" explores these events through the eyes of Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio), a dimwitted but compliant accomplice to the murderous mastermind (Robert De Niro) and husband to Mollie (Lily Gladstone), an Osage woman.

Runtime: 3 hours and 26 minutes
Where to watch: Apple TV+, $19.99 rental on Google Play and Prime

'Maestro'

Montgomery County native and cheesesteak slinger Bradley Cooper directs, co-writes and stars in this biopic of composer Leonard Bernstein. Though the movie chronicles some of Bernstein's professional successes, it largely focuses on his marriage to actress Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan), and the toll his intermittent affairs take on it.

Runtime: 2 hours and 9 minutes
Where to watch: Netflix

'Oppenheimer'

As World War II rages on, J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) races to develop the atomic bomb that will end it all. But years later, he's haunted by the human cost — and dogged by a vindictive politician (Robert Downey, Jr.) who exploits his communist ties. The movie features a thrilling yet terrifying recreation of the 1945 Trinity test, when Oppenheimer's team dropped an atomic bomb over the New Mexico desert ahead of the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Runtime: 3 hours
Where to watch: Peacock; $5.99 rental on Prime, YouTube, Apple TV and Google Play

'Past Lives'

The paths not taken figure heavily into "Past Lives," a romance that spans two continents and several decades. The story begins in South Korea, where preteens Na Young and Hae Sung are falling for each other. But when Na Young's family moves to America, she becomes Nora (Greta Lee), an aspiring playwright who hardly ever speaks Korean. She and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) reconnect at various points over the years, even after Nora marries a fellow writer.

Runtime: 1 hour and 46 minutes
Where to watch: Paramount+ with Showtime; $4.99 rental on Prime, Apple TV and Google Play

'Poor Things'

Locked away in the London home of an odd surgeon (Willem Dafoe) is Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a grown woman with the brain of a newborn baby. Bella longs to experience the outside world, so when a visiting cad (Mark Ruffalo) asks her to run away with him to Lisbon, she accepts. While abroad, Bella learns about sex and suffering and slowly finds her place in the universe.

Runtime: 2 hours and 21 minutes
Where to watch: Hulu; Landmark Ritz Five, PFS Bourse

'The Zone of Interest'

This historical drama steps inside an idyllic home located next door to the Auschwitz concentration camp. The home belongs to the camp's commandant Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel) and his wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) who strive to paper over the atrocities occurring over the wall.

Runtime: 1 hour and 45 minutes
Where to watch: PFS Bourse