SAG Awards: ‘Barbie,’ ‘Oppenheimer’ lead nominations in prelude to Oscars

Box office hits “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” landed four nominations each for Hollywood’s Screen Actors Guild awards on Wednesday, setting up a new battle between the blockbuster films ahead of the Academy Awards.

The movies that squared off in a showdown dubbed “Barbenheimer” last summer will vie for the top SAG award – best movie cast – alongside “The Color Purple,” “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “American Fiction.”

The SAG awards are closely watched because actors form the largest group of voters for the Oscars, the film industry’s top prizes that will be bestowed in March.

“Oppenheimer,” about the making of the atomic bomb, is coming off a dominating night this week at the Golden Globes, where the Christopher Nolan film took home five trophies, including Best Movie Drama.

“Poor Things,” the surprise Globe winner for Best Movie Musical or Comedy, was left out of SAG’s cast nominees, though star Emma Stone was nominated for Best Actress and Willem Dafoe for Supporting Actor.

Stone will compete against “Barbie” star Margot Robbie, Golden Globe winner Lily Gladstone of “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Annette Bening of “Nyad” and Carey Mulligan of “Maestro.”

Cillian Murphy, who played scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, was nominated for best actor. His competition will be Bradley Cooper of “Maestro,” “The Holdovers” star Paul Giamatti, Jeffrey Wright for “American Fiction” and Colman Domingo for “Rustin.”

SAG voters passed over “Flower Moon” star Leonardo DiCaprio.

For “Oppenheimer,” Robert Downey Jr. and Emily Blunt were nominated for their supporting roles. The other nods for “Barbie” came for supporting actor Ryan Gosling, who played Ken, and for the movie’s stunt performers.

“Succession,” about a cutthroat media mogul and his family, led TV categories with five nominations, including best drama series cast. “Ted Lasso,” “The Bear” and “The Last of Us” each received four nods.

For its final season, “Succession” won the Golden Globe for best TV drama, while season two of the restaurant dramedy “The Bear” prevailed in the TV comedy series category.

Winners of the SAG awards will be handed out at a red-carpet ceremony held in Los Angeles on Feb. 24 and streamed live on Netflix (NFLX.O).

At the event, SAG will award a lifetime achievement honour to singer, actor and director Barbra Streisand, the star of “Funny Girl,” “A Star is Born” and other classic films.