Riot Headline Book Riot’s 2025 Read Harder Challenge
a graphic of movie posters and book covers
News

Read the Books These 2024 Oscar Nominees are Based On

Here are all the book adaptations that were nominated for Academy Awards this year, including Oppenheimer, adapted from American Prometheus.

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Community

Contributor

Always books. Never boring.

View All posts by Community

The complete list of the 2024 Academy Award nominees has been announced, and many of them are based on books. If you want to familiarize yourself with the source material, here are all the book adaptations that were nominated this year, along with the categories they were nominated in.

the cover of How Do You Live?

American Fiction, nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, and Original Score, was adapted from Erasure by Percival Everett.

The Boy and the Heron, nominated for Animated Feature, was adapted from How Do You Live? by Genzaburo Yoshino.

The Color Purple, nominated for Best Supporting Actress, was adapted from the musical based on the book of the same name by Alice Walker.

Flamin’ Hot, nominated for Original Song, was adapted from A Boy, a Burrito, and a Cookie (now retitled Flamin’ Hot) by Richard Montanez.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, nominated for Visual Effects, is a series based on the Guardians of the Galaxy comic series.

cover of nimona

Killers of the Flower Moon, nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Production Design, Costume Design, Cinematography, Editing, Original Score, and Original Song, was adapted from Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann.

Nimona, nominated for Animated Feature, was adapted from Nimona by ND Stevenson.

Nyad, nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, was adapted from Find a Way by Diana Nyad.

Oppenheimer, nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Production Design, Costume Design, Cinematography, Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Sound, and Original Score, was adapted from American Prometheus by Kai Bird.

the cover of American Prometheus

Poor Things, nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Production Design, Costume Design, Cinematography, Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, and Original Score, was adapted from Poor Things by Alasdair Gray.

Robot Dreams, nominated for Animated Feature, was adapted from Robot Dreams by Sara Varon.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, nominated for Animated Feature, is a series based on the Spider-Man comic series.

The Zone of Interest, nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Adapted Screenplay, Sound, and International Feature, was adapted from The Zone of Interest by Martin Amis.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, nominated for Live-Action Short was adapted from The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar by Roald Dahl.

Those are all the book adaptations nominated this year, but readers will also be interested in The ABCs of Book Banning, nominated for Documentary Short, as well as Rustin, nominated for Best Actor, which is based on the life of activist and author Bayard Rustin.

Check out the full list of 2024 Oscar Nominees at the New York Times.

Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books.

More breaking news here