Sawt Falasteen - Oscars kicks off with 'Oppenheimer' poised for glory

But it was the audience favorite "Barbie" that funnyman Jimmy Kimmel turned to for the start of his opening monologue, with a nod to the movie's stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.

"Ryan and Margot, I want you to know that even if neither of you wins an Oscar tonight, you both already won something much more important: the genetic lottery," he said.

Stars and guests donned their finest to strut down the red carpet at the Dolby Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, for the most anticipated night of the movie calendar.

Christopher Nolan's drama about the father of the atomic bomb, half of last summer's massive "Barbenheimer" phenomenon, is the firm favorite to win the prize for best picture and much more.

With an overdue director, stellar cast, commercial and critical success, and urgent subject matter, "there is no justifiable reason to predict anything else," said Hollywood Reporter awards columnist Scott Feinberg.

Variety awards editor Clayton Davis said "Oppenheimer" is the "biggest lock" to win best picture since the final "Lord of the Rings" film two decades ago.

It is tipped to take golden statuettes for best director, supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr., and technical prizes from cinematography and editing to sound and score.

The film has a strong chance at best actor honors for Cillian Murphy, who is locked in a tight race with Paul Giamatti of "The Holdovers," and could claim best adapted screenplay, too.

"It just had everything, the scale, the scope, the importance," said one Oscars voter, who asked to remain anonymous as Academy members are instructed not to discuss their ballots.

"This is the year for 'Oppenheimer,'" the voter told AFP.

Da'Vine Joy Randolph ("The Holdovers") won the first award of the night for best supporting actress for her performance in "The Holdovers."

Elsewhere, the competition for best actress promises to be a nail-biter.

Emma Stone, who previously won an Academy Award for "La La Land," gives a stunning, daring performance in the surreal, Frankenstein-esque "Poor Things."

But Lily Gladstone of "Killers of the Flower Moon" has not just the clout of her director Martin Scorsese, but the weight of history behind her.

She is seeking to become the first Native American to win an acting Oscar.

"Gladstone holds her own against Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, these towering actors" in Scorsese's historical crime epic, said the anonymous voter.

Should the two frontrunners cancel one another out, Sandra Hueller of "Anatomy of a Fall" could be "the underdog," the voter added.

The French courtroom thriller is the frontrunner for best original screenplay.

- Pink carpet -

And what about "Barbie," released on the same weekend last summer as "Oppenheimer," prompting a bizarre and highly meme-able double bill that collectively grossed $2.4 billion worldwide?

The surreal feminist comedy is likely to earn technical prizes including costume design, and boasts the two frontrunners for best original song.

Both Billie Eilish's "What Was I Made For?" and the movie's showstopping "I'm Just Ken" will be performed during the Oscars gala.

Supporting actor nominee Ryan Gosling's first-ever live performance of his character's signature power ballad is likely to be a standout moment.

With Margot Robbie nominated as a producer, America Ferrera as supporting actress, and Greta Gerwig for screenplay, the cast and crew of "Barbie" turned the Oscars' famous red carpet a bright shade of pink.

Simu Liu, who plays one of the Kens in the movie, told reporters making the movie had been "so much pink."

"More pink that I've ever seen in my entire life," he said.

- Protests -

In best documentary, a win for "20 Days in Mariupol" should help redirect attention -- however momentarily -- to the war in Ukraine.

And the United Kingdom is expecting its first-ever best international film Oscar with Auschwitz drama "The Zone of Interest."

But it was the war in Gaza that remained in focus, with some on the red carpet wearing pins calling for a ceasefire, while demonstrators gathered around the edges of the security curtain.

In one protest witnessed by AFP, around 50 people took over an intersection on Hollywood Boulevard.

A driver who tried to pass had his windshield broken when one demonstrator hurled a traffic cone at his car.

T.Khatib--SF-PST