“Oppenheimer”, a three-hour biopic that became an unlikely box office sensation, was crowned best picture at Sunday’s 96th Academy Awards.

The film, about the man behind the atom bomb, also won awards for Christopher Nolan as best director,  Cillian Murphy as best actor as well as the best supporting actor nod for Robert Downey Junior.

In what many are calling a suprise win, Emma Stone picked up the statuette for best actress in “Poor Things”, despite Lily Gladstone from “Killers of the Flower Moon” pegged as the early favourite.

Elsewhere, Da’Vine Joy Randolph won her first Oscar as supporting actress for her work in “The Holdovers.”

Protests over the war in Gaza snarled traffic around the Dolby Theatre, slowing some stars’ arrival at the red carpet.