Who came in sixth at the 96th Academy Awards?
Saturday, January 27, 2024 at 8:00PM 
The last minute campaign for ORIGIN didn't work. But did the film come close to a nomination?
Every year, the aftermath of the Oscar nominations announcement is full of talk about "snubs," much outrage, speculation on who was closest to the lineup and which of the nominees took that last spot. This season, the reactions reached rare levels, igniting pure chaos all over social media and even prestige publications. Four days after it began, it seems like the animus is starting to quiet down – or maybe that's just wishful thinking. Alas, as reason's regained, here's hoping the conversation can be had with a bit more level-headedness and a little less fire. Hold that thought, for I've prepared a collection of polls about every one of the year's Oscar races so that The Film Experience readers can decide for themselves.
From Director to Live-Action Short, let's vote on who was the likelier sixth-placer, so close to the nomination but still left looking from the outside in. And, of course, in Best Picture, one must figure out what movie placed eleventh…
If you think the sixth-place contender of any given category wasn't present in these polls, please mention them in the comments.
Oscar Punditry, Oscars (23), polls
Reader Comments (8)
What is unfortunate is that "Dance the Night" may not even have come in 6th but 3rd, but due to the rules couldn't make the nomination.
I'm almost positive that BARBIE's "Dance the Night" was not #6 but in the top 5 (heck even #3 for all we know) with voters, but the "movie only gets 2 songs" rule disqualified it.
Ryan & TomG -- i was coming here to say the same thing. Great minds think alike.
The "sixth place" thing is fascinating this year since they glommed on so hard to three movies it makes it difficult to see what the vacuum was. For instance, SALTBURN was 100% shut-out. But that doesn't mean it wasn't in 6th place in multiple categories. Same with FERRARI. And does MAY DECEMBER's single nomination mean it was close in other areas or that they just weren't interested in more than 4 movies this year that had Original Screenplays?
I always fear the Oscars will take the wrong lesson from things, and Riseborough-gate last year, and barbie-gate this year, could teach them they need to expand categories to avoid heat.
Even though the heat is what makes them so exclusive.
This is a fun exercise - for supporting actor and actress its fascinating to see who we collectively think was edged out of these competitive categories. For actor and actress, fun to see where Claudio thinks other votes might have gone, beyond the 7th-placers.
Saltburn and Origin campaigned hard over the month before voting ended. I imagine they had to be close but just weren't seen enough. And to me, it seems Saltburn peaked just a bit too early and Origin a bit too late.
I have a strong feeling our "surprise" multiple nominee Napoleon was in 11th place.
Personally, I'm out.
I don't consider this an important exercise.
For me, it's just 5 - and in Best Picture, unfortunately, 10.
I think it's time to go back to a top5 Best Picture field. It's silly to nominate only 5 Directors, film editors, etc, when some Best Picture get only 1 other nomination. The Color Purple was probably #11, but would have only received a Best Supporting Actress nod. When the Academy eventually moves to non-gendered acting categories, they might nominate ten performers, but why not in other categories? There isn't a Best Female Director category.