Timothee Chalamet and Demi Moore are vying for their first Oscars at the red-carpet ceremony in Hollywood.
The show will air live on the US network ABC starting at 4pm Pacific time on Sunday (11am AEDT on Monday).
Among the early arrivals, Ariana Grande did her Glinda proud in a pale pink stunner on the Oscars red carpet as glam got off to a strong start. Others went for bold red, classic black and pops of pink.
Grande wore a look from the Schiaparelli spring-summer 2025 collection. It was a perfect Glinda ode with no straps and a structured skirt that fell into airy pleats.
Julianne Hough kicked things off in an elegant light beige ethereal look straight off the Christian Dior spring 2025 runway.
Comedian and host Conan O'Brien said he planned to mix jokes, celebrations of film makers and serious moments including tributes to Los Angeles as it recovers from January's wildfires.
He likely will address US politics but not dwell on it, he said.
"Good jokes are really important, but there's also more than that," O'Brien told reporters last week as he prepared for his first Oscars hosting gig.
"We're trying to go for different tones, different textures."
This year's Oscars race has featured twists and turns, and no movie has dominated the precursor film awards.
Any of three films could score best picture, according to Oscars pundits.
One is Anora, the story of a sex worker with a shot at a Cinderella story.
The other two are The Brutalist, about a Jewish immigrant and architect chasing the American dream, and Conclave, which imagines the secret proceedings for choosing a pontiff.
Others in the best picture field include blockbuster musical Wicked, a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, and A Complete Unknown, the Bob Dylan biopic starring Chalamet.
Netflix musical Emilia Perez heads into the ceremony with the most nominations.
But its chances of victory dwindled when offensive social media posts surfaced from star Karla Sofia Gascon.
The actress, the first openly transgender person nominated for an acting Oscar, disappeared from the awards circuit but is expected to attend Sunday's ceremony.
Her co-star, Zoe Saldana, is the favourite to win the supporting actress trophy for playing a fixer who helps a Mexican drug lord transition to a woman and start a new life.
Winners of the gold Oscar statuettes are chosen by the roughly 11,000 actors, producers, directors and film craftspeople who make up the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Supporting actor nominee Kieran Culkin is the favourite for his role as a man who travels with his cousin to Poland to study family history in A Real Pain.
Best actor could go to either Chalamet or The Brutalist star Adrien Brody, according to awards experts.
Brody became the youngest best actor winner when he landed the prize at age 29 for The Pianist in 2002.
Chalamet is nine months younger than Brody was at the time.
Best actress is widely expected to go to Moore for The Substance, although one pundit said the category could produce an upset win for Brazil's Fernanda Torres of I'm Still Here.
The academy has increased its international membership, which could favour Torres, said Ian Sandwell, movies editor at Digital Spy.
"She could well be a surprise and the only one to take it away from Demi on the night," Sandwell said.
Producers scrapped the annual tradition of having musicians perform each of the nominated original songs, saying they wanted to focus instead on the songwriters.
with AP
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