Wicked co-stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo opened the 97th annual Academy Awards with a jaw-dropping medley paying tribute to the world of The Wizard Of Oz.
Grande kicked off the performance with a stunning rendition of Judy Garland’s Somewhere Over The Rainbow from the classic 1939 film.
The Grammy Award-winner, 31, wowed the star-studded audience with her incredible vocal abilities.
But it was a ‘tiny detail’ on Grande’s glittering red ballgown that sent fans wild as they tuned into the awards ceremony on ABC.
As a clear homage to Dorothy’s iconic footwear, the singer’s custom Schiaparelli gown had a ruby slipper adorned to the back of it.
Fans got a huge kick out of the Wizard Of Oz ‘easter egg’ — with many calling the sparkly addition ‘perfect.’
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Wicked co-stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo opened the 97th annual Academy Awards with a jaw-dropping medley paying tribute to the world of The Wizard Of Oz
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Grande kicked off the performance with a stunning rendition of Judy Garland’s Somewhere Over The Rainbow from the classic 1939 film
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But it was a ‘tiny detail’ on Grande’s glittery red ballgown that sent the singer’s fans wild as they tuned into the awards ceremony on ABC
After delivering her Somewhere Over The Rainbow cover, Grande passed the mic to Erivo — who, like Grande, is nominated for an Oscar.
The Tony Award-winner performed Home from the 1975 Broadway musical The Wiz, which was later turned into a film famously starring Michael Jackson.
Erivo glittered under the stage lights inside the Dolby Theatre in a billowing white gown decked out with glitzy 3D floral decals up and down the corset bodice.
The talented duo then launched into Wicked’s Defying Gravity as Grande and Erivo came together, holding hands.
A visibly emotional Grande then stepped to the side to allow Erivo the spotlight as she took over the final half of the epic number.
The audience erupted with applause as Erivo effortlessly hit the iconic final note in Defying Gravity while standing on a rising platform.
Wicked fans flocked to social media to praise the ‘powerful’ and ‘incredible’ opening performance — with some calling it ‘the best performance of the year.’
‘That was just beautiful — an incredible opening act,’ one Oscars viewer tweeted on X.
Another penned that the performance was ‘stirring’ and that it alone should guarantee both Grande and Erivo their Oscars.
It brought many ‘to tears’ as they remarked on the ’emotion’ between Erivo and Grande, who grew extremely close while filming the blockbuster musical.
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As a clear homage to Dorothy’s iconic footwear, the singer’s custom Schiaparelli gown had a ruby slipper adorned to the back of it
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Judy Garland seen wearing Dorothy’s ruby red slippers in The Wizard Of Oz (1939)
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Grande then passed the mic to Erivo, who performed Home from the 1975 Broadway musical The Wiz
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Erivo glittered under the stage lights inside the Dolby Theatre in a billowing white gown decked out with glitzy 3D floral decals up and down the bodice
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The talented duo then launched into Wicked’s Defying Gravity as Grande and Erivo
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The talented duo then launched into Wicked’s Defying Gravity as Grande and Erivo came together, holding hands
The 97th Academy Awards are honoring the best films of 2024, with the star-studded ceremony being held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
Conan O’Brien, 61, is making his debut as Oscars host, after joking: ‘I only agreed to host so that I could get invited.’
This year’s ceremony has an unusually unsettled field in many of the most high-profile categories, including best picture and most of the acting categories.
Emilia Pérez leads the nominations this year with 13, including for best picture, actress (for Karla Sofía Gascón), supporting actress (for Zoe Saldaña), director (for Jacques Audiard), adapted screenplay and original song.
Gascón stars as the title character, a former Mexican drug lord who comes out as a transgender woman and fakes her own death in order to reinvent herself as a pro-social force, while Saldaña plays an ethically challenged lawyer who helps set up her new identity.
The Brutalist landed in second place with 10 nominations, including for best picture, director (for Brady Corbet), actor (for Adrien Brody), supporting actor (for Guy Pearce), supporting actress (for Felicity Jones), and original screenplay.
Brody stars as a Jewish Hungarian architect who immigrates to the US after surviving the Holocaust. The epic historical drama follows his character László Tóth’s attempts to realize his creative vision even as it conflicts with the petty desires of his wealthy benefactor (Pearce).
Wicked tied it for 10 nominations, including for best picture, actress (for Cynthia Erivo), and supporting actress (for Ariana Grande).
The blockbuster musical is an adaptation of only the first half of the musical of the same name, a reimagined prequel to The Wizard Of Oz starring Erivo as Elphaba, future Wicked Witch of the West, and Grande as Galinda Upland, who becomes Glinda the Good
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A visibly emotional Grande then stepped to side stage to allow Erivo the spotlight as she took over the final half of the epic number
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The co-stars performed the medley on an epic set with a live orchestra
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Wicked fans flocked to social media to praise the ‘powerful’ and ‘incredible’ opening performance — with some calling it ‘the best performance of the year’
Other best pictures nominees include Anora, A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Dune: Part Two, I’m Still Here, Nickel Boys and The Substance.
The closely watched race for best actor in a leading role got a major shakeup just a week before the Oscars at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, when Timothée Chalamet scored a shock win for his Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.
Prior to that win, Brody was seemingly the favorite after winning best actor awards at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards, the BAFTAs, the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Movie Awards.
Ralph Fiennes has also doggedly stayed in the running for his role as a British Cardinal struggling to keep a secretive papal election from dissolving into competition and intrigue.
The critically acclaimed film has scored multiple actor wins at smaller ceremonies and festivals for Fiennes, as well as multiple awards for the entire acting ensemble, which Fiennes has accepted on more than one occasion.
Those three co-frontrunners are competing against Colman Domingo for Sing Sing and Sebastian Stan for his performance as a young Donald Trump in The Apprentice.
The best actress category also has no clear frontrunner. Demi Moore has been lauded for her comeback performance in the satirical body-horror film The Substance, which earned her best actress honors from the Critics Choice Awards and the Golden Globes, as well as several critics’ organizations.
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Emilia Pérez leads this year’s Oscar nominees with 13 nominations, including for best picture, actress (for Karla Sofía Gascón), supporting actress (for Zoe Saldaña) and director
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The Brutalist landed in second place with 10 nominations, including for best picture, director (for Brady Corbet), actor (for Adrien Brody), supporting actor (for Guy Pearce), supporting actress (for Felicity Jones), and original screenplay
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Wicked tied it for 10 nominations, including for best picture, actress (for Cynthia Erivo), and supporting actress (for Ariana Grande)
But her win a week before the Oscars at the SAG Awards suggests she may be in a prime spot to snatch the Oscar after being nominated for the first time.
Anora star Mikey Madison, who plays an adult dancer who impetuously marries the son of a Russian Oligarch, was widely acclaimed and was honored by several critics’ organizations early in the season.
Her chances increased significantly after she won the BAFTA for best lead actress, which she followed up with an Independent Spirit Award win in the gender-neutral lead performance category.
Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón was once a favorite for the award, but she was widely criticized after racist and Islamophobic tweets — some quite recent — that had somehow gone unremarked upon were translated into English and reported on.
Since then, Gascón has sat out awards ceremonies after her posts came to light. After multiple half-hearted apologies, Netflix reportedly opted to stop paying for Gascón’s travel and accommodations for awards shows, though a source told People that she still plans to attend the Oscars.
Before the controversy, her nomination was seen as historic, as she is the first openly transgender woman to be nominated in the best actress category.
The other nominees are Wicked star Cynthia Erivo, who has failed to capture any major awards, and the Brazilian actress Fernanda Torres, who stars in the historical drama I’m Still Here. She had her own controversy after a clip of her appearing in blackface in a comedy sketch from a Brazilian TV series 17 years ago resurfaced in January.
In the supporting actress category, the nominees including Monica Barbaro for A Complete Unknown, Ariana Grande for Wicked, Felicity Jones for The Brutalist, Isabella Rossellini for Conclave and Zoe Saldaña for Emilia Pérez
Saldaña appears to be the current favorite after a string of wins at the Golden Globes, BAFTA Awards, SAG Awards and Critics Choice Awards.
But some of those early awards had voting periods that cut off prior to the controversy around Gascón surfacing, which could potentially harm her chances from voters who were turned off of Emilia Pérez altogether.
The supporting actor category seems the easiest to predict, Kieran Culkin’s string of wins for A Real Pain making him the favorite.
The other nominees include Yura Borisov for Anora, Edward Norton for A Complete Unknown, Guy Pearce for The Brutalist and Jeremy Strong for The Apprentice.
Among the best picture nominees, Emilia Pérez once seemed like the most likely winner, but Gascon’s offensive posts have threatened its chances.
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This year’s best lead actor race is up in the air after Timothée Chalamet’s recent SAG win for A Complete Unknown
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Anora’s Mikey Madison is a late-breaking best actress co-frontrunner after recent wins and controversy that erupted after offensive tweets from Emilia Pérez’s Karla Sofía Gascón resurfaced
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Demi Moore is the other major frontrunner for the satirical body-horror film The Substance. She has won multiple major awards this season
The Palme d’Or–winning Anora got a late boost with wins for best picture at the Directors Guild of America Awards and the Producers Guild of America Awards, which are considered two of the best predictors of Oscars success by awards-season prognosticators, and its win at the Independent Spirit Awards didn’t hurt.
The best director category seems likely to be a three-man race between Anora’s Sean Baker, The Brutalist director Brady Corbet and Emilia Pérez’s Jacques Audiard.
This year’s original song category features two cutes from Emilia Pérez, El Mal and Mi Camino, the new Elton John song Never Too Late, from the documentary of the same name about him, Like a Bird from Sing Sing, and the latest Diane Warren effort The Journey.
The Academy Awards begin at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT and can be watched on ABC and, for the first time, on a streaming service, Hulu.
Subscribers to premium services including Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, AT&T TV and FuboTV can also also catch the ceremony live.
Oscar winners 2025 full list – see who received honors for this year’s Academy Awards
Best Picture
Anora
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Pérez
I’m Still Here
Nickel Boys
The Substance
Wicked
Emilia Pérez leads this year’s Oscar nominees with 13, including for best picture, actress, supporting actress and director
Best Director
Jacques Audiard — Emilia Pérez
Sean Baker — Anora
Brady Corbet — The Brutalist
Coralie Fargeat — The Substance
James Mangold — A Complete Unknown
Actress in a Leading Role
Cynthia Erivo — Wicked
Karla Sofía Gascón — Emilia Pérez
Mikey Madison — Anora
Demi Moore — The Substance
Fernanda Torres — I’m Still Here
The Substance has been nominated for numerous Oscars, including Best Actress for Demi Moore
Actor in a Leading Role
Adrien Brody — The Brutalist
Timothée Chalamet — A Complete Unknown
Colman Domingo — Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes — Conclave
Sebastian Stan — The Apprentice
The Brutalist came in second place with 10 nods, including for best picture, actor (Adrien Brody), supporting actor (Guy Peare) and supporting actress (Felicity Jones)
Actress in a Supporting Role
Monica Barbaro — A Complete Unknown
Ariana Grande — Wicked
Felicity Jones — The Brutalist
Isabella Rossellini — Conclave
Zoe Saldaña — Emilia Pérez – WINNER
Actor in a Supporting Role
Yura Borisov — Anora
Kieran Culkin — A Real Pain – WINNER
Edward Norton — A Complete Unknown
Guy Pearce — The Brutalist
Jeremy Strong — The Apprentice
Animated Feature Film
Flow – WINNER
Inside Out 2
Memoir of a Snail
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot
Cinematography
The Brutalist — Lol Crawley
Dune: Part Two — Greig Fraser
Emilia Pérez — Paul Guilhaume
Maria — Ed Lachman
Nosferatu — Jarin Blaschke
Original Screenplay
Anora — Sean Baker – WINNER
The Brutalist — Brady Corbet & Mona Fastvold
A Real Pain — Jesse Eisenberg
September 5 — Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum; co-Written by Alex David
The Substance — Coralie Fargeat
Adapted Screenplay
A Complete Unknown — James Mangold and Jay Cocks
Conclave — Peter Straughan – WINNER
Emilia Pérez — Jacques Audiard with Thomas Bidegain, Léa Mysius and Nicolas Livecchi
Nickel Boys — RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes
Sing Sing — Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar; Story by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin, John ‘Divine G’ Whitfield
Achievement in Production Design
The Brutalist
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Nosferatu
Wicked – Nathan Crowley and Lee Sandales – WINNER
