The 2025 Oscar shortlist in 10 categories for the 97th Academy Awards has been announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. As expected, the usual suspects have come out on top. The Spanish musical Emilia Pérez boasts six mentions, while the Broadway-originated Wicked has reached four. Both films are considered Oscar frontrunners in several key categories, including Best Picture.
Wednesday’s preliminary voting is for the following categories: animated short, feature documentary, documentary short, international feature, live-action short, makeup and hairstyling, original score, original song, and sound and visual effects. You can see the full shortlist on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences website. Here’s what stood out.
Big names
Emilia Pérez was nominated for Best Song (El Mal and Mi Camino), Best International Feature, Best Score, Best Makeup and Hair, and Best Sound. Wicked, meanwhile, received nods for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Score, Best Sound, and Best Visual Effects.
In addition to these two big names, animated hit The Wild Robot was nominated for Best Score, Best Sound and Best Song, while Gladiator II, Alien: Romulus and Dune: Part Two also deserved three inclusions.
In addition to Emilia Pérez, international feature films included the Palestinian film From Ground Zero, which has not been distributed in the US. According to Variety, many of the films appearing in the international category rather unusually also have the opportunity to receive additional nominations in other categories. Other notable inclusions are Irish film Kneecap, a revolutionary biopic of the rap group of the same name, Brazil’s I’m Still Here and Germany’s politically charged thriller The Seed of the Sacred Fig.
Snubs and surprises
However, India’s Laapataa Ladies failed to garner a mention in the international feature category. According to Variety, many felt the country should have chosen Cannes runner-up All We Imagine as Light, which will compete in all other categories, including best picture.
Other notable omissions from the overall list included Jon Baptiste’s score for Saturday Night, as well as Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Neither film appeared in any category despite being popular with critics. Meanwhile, omissions in the documentary series included HBO’s The Commandant’s Shadow, Magnolia’s Ernest Cole: Lost and Found and Together Films’ Mediha, which are said to be very popular with industry insiders, according to Variety. Likewise, Morgan Nevill’s Piece by Piece, an intimate look at Pharrell Williams’ life in Lego animated form, was nowhere to be found.
A surprise squeeze into the documentary lineup, however, was Alexis Bloom’s The Bibi Files, an inside look at the corruption charges against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Other notable documentary nominations included Netflix’s Daughters and Amazon’s Frida.
Unexpected inclusions
Unexpected films that garnered mention on the shortlist include Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice; Based on US President-elect Donald Trump, the film caused controversy upon release and failed to capture the box office figures, but did find a mention in the makeup and hairstyling category for actor Sebastian Stan’s stunning transformation into a young Trump. Stan, in fact, appears in the category twice, as his transformation in A Different Man has also appeared on the list. The lineup for the ten-film category included Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi sequel Dune: Part Two, along with Pablo Larraín’s Maria Callas biopic and Robert Eggers’ gothic horror drama Nosferatu.
The most surprising inclusion was Waltzing with Brando, starring Billy Zane. Zane stars as iconic movie star Marlon Brando and underwent an extensive hair and make-up program for his role. However, the film was not included in the Critics’ Choice, Golden Globes or BAFTAs, leading industry figures to consider its inclusion in the Oscar shortlist.
Another surprise shortlist was Joker: Folie à Deux, which received a mention in the sound category despite failing to wow audiences at the box office. The audio category also included the summer blockbuster Deadpool & Wolverine. In addition, the box office hit Inside Out 2 beat the academy members in the original score category. The visual effects category, meanwhile, unsurprisingly included Disney prequel Mufasa and disaster flick Twisters, as well as Gladiator II and Wicked.
Academy members from all disciplines were invited to participate in the preliminary round of voting. They must meet a minimum viewing requirement to be eligible to vote in the category. In the nominations round, Academy members from all disciplines are asked to opt-in and must see all the films selected in order to vote.
Voting for the Oscars to determine nominees in all 23 categories begins on January 8th and ends on January 12th. The final nominations will be announced on January 17, with Conan O’Brien hosting the 97th Academy Awards on March 2.
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