The National Board of Review names Wicked best film of 2024

Whether it’s because of the strikes last summer or simply the rapidly evolving nature of the industry, this year’s Oscar race is shaping up to be one of the most unpredictable in recent memory. The Gotham Awards provided a shock Monday night as A24’s bafflingly un-campaigned A Different Man took home the top honor over contenders like Anora, Challengers, Nickel Boys, and fellow A24 release Babygirl. Now, the National Board of Review has thrown a wrench into the works in a very different way by selecting Wicked as their best film of the year.

“Wicked represents the pure magic that movies can bring to audiences,” NBR president Annie Schulhof said in a statement, via The Hollywood Reporter. “Every detail is beautifully crafted and designed, the actors are all exceptional and the music is second-to-none—together it adds up to a transporting experience like no other.” The Broadway adaptation cleaned up in other categories too. Jon M. Chu was awarded Best Director, while the film’s stars, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, received an NBR spotlight award for creative collaboration. 

Wicked has been an unqualified commercial success, but the musical adaptation wasn’t necessarily expected to make this many waves with critics—especially in major awards conversations like this. (The A.V. Club gave it a B-.) Then again, last year the NBR awarded Best Film to Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon, which went on to leave the Oscars completely empty-handed. All this really tells us is that, at least at this point, this is still anyone’s race to win. March is going to be interesting.

Check out the NBR’s full list of 2024 award winners below:

Best Film: Wicked  

Best Director: Jon M. Chu, Wicked  

Best Actor: Daniel Craig, Queer  

Best Actress: Nicole Kidman, Babygirl  

Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain  

Best Supporting Actress: Elle Fanning, A Complete Unknown  

Best Ensemble: Conclave  

Breakthrough Performance: Mikey Madison, Anora 

Best Directorial Debut: India Donaldson, Good One 

Best Original Screenplay: Mike Leigh, Hard Truths  

Best Adapted Screenplay:  Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar, Sing Sing  

NBR Spotlight Award: Creative Collaboration of Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande 

NBR Freedom of Expression Award: No Other Land  

Best Animated Feature: Flow  

Best International Film: The Seed of the Sacred Fig 

Best Documentary: Sugarcane  

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography: Jarin Blaschke, Nosferatu 

Outstanding Achievement in Stunt Artistry: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga 

Top Films (in alphabetical order):  

Anora
Babygirl
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Gladiator II
Juror #2
Queer
A Real Pain
Sing Sing 

Top 5 International Films (in alphabetical order):

All We Imagine as Light
The Girl With the Needle
I’m Still Here
Santosh
Universal Language 

Top 5 Documentaries (in alphabetical order):  

Black Box Diaries
Dahomey
Look Into My Eyes
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
Will & Harper

Top 10 Independent Films (in alphabetical order): 

Bird
A Different Man
Dìdi
Ghostlight
Good One
Hard Truths
His Three Daughters
Love Lies Bleeding
My Old Ass
Thelma