
Ralph Fiennes in Conclave
Let's keep this intro brief, partly because there are loads of words to come, and mostly because it feels awfully silly – if not outright disrespectful – to expound on Academy Awards possibilities when you know that golden tchotchkes are likely the furthest things from the minds of Southern Californians these days.
Yet the show must go on – and will go on (fingers crossed) on Sunday, March 2. With nominations for the 97th Oscars scheduled to be announced, after a couple of wholly understandable delays, on Thursday, January 23, we already have a lot of precursor knowledge: the winners of the Golden Globe Awards; the nominees for the Critics Choice Awards (CCA), Directors Guild Awards (DGA), Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG), and, just this morning, British Academy of Film & Television Awards (BAFTA), with that latter group also providing long-lists of 10 possibilities last week; honorees from the country's three most-prestigious film-critics organizations in the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFC), the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFC), and the National Society of Film Critics (NSFC); recipients of, no kidding, roughly four dozen regional film-critics groups to date, with another dozen or so still to land.
Now it's time for tea-leaf reading. So with nothing but emotional support and well wishes, from here in the Midwest, to the Hollywood community and the many thousands in their vicinity, the boldface names and titles below are my predicted nominees, with non-boldface denoting runners-up and predictions in order of probability.
BEST PICTURE
Conclave
Anora
The Brutalist
Emilia Pérez
A Complete Unknown
Wicked
Dune: Part Two
The Substance
A Real Pain
Sing Sing
Nickel Boys
Challengers
All We Imagine as Light
The Apprentice
September 5
Back in the days of yore, by which I mean the Oscars seasons between 2012 and 2021, we prognosticators not only had to guess which films would be up for Best Picture, but how many of them there would be, as that decade-long experiment would purportedly see anywhere between five and 10 movies in the mix. In retrospect, this period wasn't all that exciting: On six occasions, there with nine nominees, and on four occasions, there were eight. Since then, as in 2010 and 2011, and dating back to the '30s and '40s, Best Picture has been a sturdy 10, and only once in the last three years – cough, Nightmare Alley! – has there been an inclusion I would classify as a pretty obvious space-filler. I don't expect any eyebrow-raising titles making the lineup this time around … unless you share my season-long eyebrow-raise at the weird phenomenon that is Emilia Pérez. (I'm sorry, but I have yet to meet anyone who legitimately loves this Netflix musical – perhaps because no one I know has seen this Netflix musical.) Still, I would've been far more comfortable making official Best Picture predictions if there weren't 10 whole slots to fill, because the year seems ideal for an awfully solid seven – or maybe eight, presuming voters weren't put off by geysers of blood and the even-more-repellent sight of Dennis Quaid sloppily gorging on cocktail shrimp with his mouth open.
To simplify this roundup, let's presume that Conclave, Anora, The Brutalist, Emilia Pérez, A Complete Unknown, Wicked, and Dune: Part Two are all good to go, as even that latter title, with its minimal chances of scoring acting and directing nominations, will no doubt be overloaded with tech citations. Despite the film's raves and screenplay victory at last May's Cannes Film Festival, most in the Oscars-guessing field initially presumed The Substance would be far too gory and outré for Academy members. But you know who else writer/director Coralie Fargeat's dementedly gruesome satire would traditionally be too much for? Golden Globes voters. And Critics Choice voters. And SAG voters. And BAFTA voters. And they all found room, in major categories, for this wackadoodle look at Hollywood's eternal mistreatment of females of a certain age. As a lifelong fan of the body-horror genre, I deeply thank them for the support, and am thrilled that a Best Picture nod for Fargeat's inevitable cult classic is likely in the offing. I don't even like The Substance all that much, and I'm still rooting for it harder than anything else this season.
Another one I'm rooting for hard is director/writer/star Jesse Eisenberg's comedic war remembrance A Real Pain, which has only received a precursor Best Picture nomination at the Globes, but which I'm predicting here based solely on voters knowing that the movie has two major nominations already in the bag: Eisenberg's original screenplay, and Kieran Culkin's supporting (honestly lead) performance, which, in a delightful change from the norm, is the closest thing we have to a lock for the win in the four acting categories. And for the tenth Best Picture slot, I'm thinking it comes down to one of four challengers – one of them, ironically, titled Challengers.
It might merely be my bias toward Luca Guadagnino's tennis melodrama – my favorite movie of 2024 – that's keeping his film so firmly entrenched among the runners-up. But even though acting and directing nods are probably out of reach, there are the possibilities of Screenplay, Original Song, Film Editing, and Original Score (the latter two potentially winnable) on hand, and loads of movies have scored Best Picture nominations without half as much gas in the tank. I'm choosing to keep hope alive. I'd feel more confident about an All We Imagine as Light surprise if the Indian movie – whose Payal Kapadia scored an unexpected Globes nomination as Best Director – had made a stronger showing at BAFTA, where it only appeared among Film Not in the English Language titles. (That category header, by the way, is among the most British nomenclature of all time.) That leaves us with the prospect of choosing either Sing Sing or Nickel Boys – and isn't it sad, and sadly unsurprising, that we're down to one or the other? (Having not yet seen Nickel Boys, I'm firmly on-board with both making the lineup at the expense of Emilia Pérez … or, to be honest, A Complete Unknown.) Nickel Boys' NSFC Best Picture win notwithstanding, I'm going with Sing Sing both because I freaking adore that film and, as with A Real Pain, because it boasts at least one surefire major nomination, this one being Colman Domingo in the Best Actor race. In a perfect world, Sing Sing would be a threat for the Best Picture win. Hate to break it to you, but we're not living in a perfect world.
BEST DIRECTING
Brady Corbet, The Brutalist
Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez
Edward Berger, Conclave
Sean Baker, Anora
Coralie Fargeat, The Substance
Payal Kapadia, All We Imagine as Light
RaMell Ross, Nickel Boys
Denis Villeneuve, Dune: Part Two
Whatever happens in the Best Directing race this year, it's almost certain that we'll be seeing our first quintet of first-time nominees in this category since 1998, when the included no-names boasted the likes of Gus Van Sant and James Cameron. Really, the only returning contender with a semi-decent shot is CCA and BAFTA inclusion Villeneuve, and he (a) wasn't cited for the first Dune; (b) didn't get a Globes nomination; and (c) lost out on his largely expected DGA nod to … James Mangold. James Mangold? I mean, I get that A Complete Unknown is a good time and is making money and its helmer is a previous Oscars contender (for co-writing the Logan script) who has been a hardworking studio go-to for some three decades now. But still. James Mangold?!
Let's consequently presume that the DGA's chosen quintet of Mangold, Corbet, Audiard, Berger, and Baker is instead indicative, as usual, of the five strongest films in the Oscars' Best Picture race, not necessarily who offered the year's best directing. The Oscars, refreshingly, are more stringent on that front, which is why we have Best Directing nominees Justine Triet and Ryusuke Hamaguchi and not, say, Aaron Sorkin and Peter Farrelly. The trick, now, is to figure out who gets in at Mangold's – and perhaps someone else's – expense.
For the record, I think Globes winner Corbet and (though I personally hate saying so) Audiard are included regardless. While I can foresee Baker missing if voters think his exceptional script simply directed itself, and can imagine Berger coming up short if the sturdy professionalism of Conclave also appears self-directed (Berger having missed the Directing lineup when his All Quiet on the Western Front was a major force two years ago), I think they're also safe. But even though most of the other options here haven't shown up much in the way of precursors, this is the Oscars category in which we're routinely treated to surprises/shocks such as Cold War's Pawel Pawlikowski, Another Round's Thomas Vinterberg, and, leaning more nationally, Foxcatcher's Bennett Miller. Anything can happen! So let's keep in mind Globes nominee and NSFC winner Kapadia; the CCA- and NYFC-cited Ross for Nickel Boys and CCA choice Jon M. Chu for Wicked; LAFC victor Mohammad Rasoulof for The Seed of the Sacred Fig (the story behind that movie's creation/release deserving of its own movie); previously Oscars-acknowledged auteurs Mike Leigh for Hard Truths and Pedro Almodóvar for The Room Next Door; and maybe even, in a hail-Mary indie-drama pitch, Sing Sing's Greg Kwedar. And in the end, let's credit the Academy's directing branch for instead choosing Fargeat when even body-horror maestro David Cronenberg has eternally failed to snare that group's attention.
BEST ACTRESS
Mikey Madison, Anora
Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez
Demi Moore, The Substance
Cynthia Erivo, Wicked
Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths
Fernanda Torres, I'm Still Here
Pamela Anderson, The Last Showgirl
Saoirse Ronan, The Outrun
With this year's Best Actress race, the question isn't which of the widely acclaimed, precursor-acknowledged contenders will make the cut. It's which one won't. Last year, Margot Robbie, Carey Mulligan, and eventual Oscars champ Emma Stone all received the performance quadfecta of Globes/CCA/SAG/BAFTA recognition; Robbie wasn't nominated for the Oscar. The year before that, Cate Blanchett, Viola Davis, and eventual Oscars champ Michelle Yeoh went four for four; Davis wasn't nominated. The year before that, only Lady Gaga, for House of Gucci, scored with all four awards bodies; Lady Gaga wasn't nominated. (That was one cra-a-azy season.) It stands to reason that we might see the same scenario transpire in 2025. But if so, who gets left out?
The first four boldface names above are all in this year's quadfecta camp, and you could make an argument – some shakier than others – for any of them potentially missing out on nomination morning. Although it's frankly inconceivable given that she's the titular star of a beloved film that's expected to do quite well, Madison could be dinged for being too green a performer and, in person, not the live-wire firecracker that her title character is. (If anything, that should solidify Madison's inclusion.) Moore could suffer if voters, as was widely assumed at the season's start, don't take to The Substance's über-grossness. Erivo could fall if people deem her performance more vocals than acting – and she can always come back in '26 with Wicked's part two. (She won't be belting “Defying Gravity” in that one, though.) And while it's borderline-offensive to even consider it, there might just be a few members of the mostly male, mostly American, mostly straight, largely old Academy who don't want to make history by citing Spain's Gascón as this category's first openly trans nominee. None of those arguments seem quite strong enough to prevent any of those performers from being recognized – I predicted the Davis and Gaga dissings, if not Robbie's – so I'm stickin' with 'em. All that's left is to complete the five. And without benefit of having seen their films yet, for prediction purposes, I so wish it could be six.
Globes and SAG voters deserve hearty rounds of applause for citing Anderson, whose Best Actress inclusion I would happily trade for at least two of the other perceived front-runners; she's stunning in The Last Showgirl, which will likely go down as boasting the best role the former Baywatch star will ever get. That's the problem: I don't see the Academy checking Anderson's name for what will likely be perceived as a one-and-done. Yet unless BAFTA nominee Ronan miraculously sneaks in – or voters ignore the SAG/BAFTA precursors and choose, among unlikely options, Globes nominees such as Babygirl's Nicole Kidman, Maria's Angelina Jolie, or Lee's Kate Winslet – we're down to either Jean-Baptiste or Torres … and it doesn't really make sense to ignore either of them.
Hard Truths' Jean-Baptiste was denied Globes and SAG spots but nabbed CCA and BAFTA mentions, also scoring the critics-group triple crown of LAFC, NYFCC, and NSFC wins – a feat only matched by nine other female actors ever. Torres, meanwhile, has been almost universally ignored by precursors for her Brazilian drama I'm Still Here (she didn't even make BAFTA's long-list of 10), but did snag the Globe for Actress in a Drama, and over that organization's 82 years, only Madame Sousatzka's Shirley MacLaine ever won in that category without subsequent Academy recognition … and MacLaine got her Globe in a three-way tie. That said, there is precedent for someone nailing the LAFC/NYFC/NSFC honor and not getting Oscar-nominated; it happened in 2009 with Happy-Go-Lucky's Sally Hawkins, whose film, like Jean-Baptiste's, was directed by Mike Leigh. And regarding Torres' chances, if we presume that Gascón is good to go, the last time an acting category featured two or more foreign-language performances was indeed in Best Actress – but it last happened 48 years ago. I'm currently going with Jean-Baptiste, last nominated for Leigh's Secrets & Lies in 1997, over Torres, who would be only the second Brazilian ever cited in this category. The first was her mom Fernanda Montegro, for Central Station, in 1999. Crap. Lemme hit “publish” on this article before, for the dozenth time today, I change my mind.
BEST ACTOR
Ralph Fiennes, Conclave
Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown
Colman Domingo, Sing Sing
Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice
Daniel Craig, Queer
Hugh Grant, Heretic
Sebastian Stan, A Different Man
We were so close to having one acting race set in stone this year … and then those nutty Brits came in and ruined everything.
To be clear, I'm hardly suggesting that having Stan (for The Apprentice) and Grant join the givens of Brody, Chalamet, Domingo, and Fiennes as BAFTA Best Actor contenders is ruinous. I love that lineup; it would take some research, but assuming Brody is awesome in his film that I haven't yet seen, it might be my across-the-board-favorite performance roster this organization has yet produced. But now we've got some guessing to do, because before he was ignored by BAFTA, Craig sat right alongside the four front(ish)-runners with Globe, CCA, and SAG nominations. In truth, the eventuality of a Brody/Chalamet/Domingo/Fiennes/Craig Oscars lineup had been widely predicted since early September, right after festival audiences got a look at The Brutalist, Conclave, and Queer, and long before anyone had seen A Complete Unknown. (Domingo had been understandably predicted starting from Sing Sing's Sundance debut last January.) It always felt like the former Bond – or as I prefer to think of him, the forever Benoit Blanc – would have an uphill battle for Academy recognition with this one, given that the movie is intensely divisive, and for a number of voters, it'd likely be awkward to acknowledge the lead of Queer when Craig himself, you know … isn't. Until this morning's BAFTA reveal, however, those impediments didn't seem to matter. You've got to ask yourself, though: If the Brits aren't going to stand behind the very British Craig for Luca Guadagnino's gay bacchanal, what chance does he have with 'murican voters?
While admitting that Craig (who's incredible in his film) still has a more-than-decent shot at his first Academy recognition, and with the caveat that I'd also be tickled to see the never-nominated Grant recognized, I'm consequently going with Stan for The Apprentice, and for a number of reasons. One: This feels like a career culmination after years of frequently breathtaking character work, particularly in I, Tonya and Hulu's limited series Pam & Tommy. Two: Stan was similarly excellent as a wannabe actor who receives a miraculous change of face (if not soul) in A Different Man. Three: Upon winning his Globe for that movie, Stan delivered the type of humble, heartfelt, honorably message-y acceptance speech that makes people want to see and hear more of them – the Demi Moore effect. Four: Oscars voters love when famous people play other famous people, and without resorting to Baldwin-esque caricature, Stan plays one of the most famous people there is. And five: Although I initially wondered whether famously liberal Academy folk would even sit through a Donald Trump bio-pic, maybe they did, and realized they landed on a golden opportunity. Knowing how much the president-elect loathes the mere idea of this film, might voters not want to poke the once-and-future prez with their collective stamp of approval? 'Cause you just know telecast host Conan O'Brien will have jokes at the ready. Stan would be a worthy pick regardless. For some, anticipating the inevitable angry tweets might also make him an inspired one.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez
Ariana Grande, Wicked
Isabella Rossellini, Conclave
Monica Barbaro, A Complete Unknown
Jamie Lee Curtis, The Last Showgirl
Selena Gomez, Emilia Pérez
Felicity Jones, The Brutalist
Danielle Deadwyler, The Piano Lesson
Is it possible that, for what would have to be the first time ever, this year's Supporting Actress nominees will all be cited for roles requiring them to sing, dance, or sing and dance?
Evident front-runner Saldaña scored the quadfecta of Globes/CCT/SAG/BAFTA recognition, and her musical co-star Gomez got in with the Globes and BAFTA. (For what its worth, Emilia Pérez's Adriana Paz – who shared the Cannes Film Festival's Lead Actress prize along with Gascón, Saldaña, and Gomez – made the Brits' 10-person long-list.) Grande also scored with those four precursors, and this year, was the only other supporting-actress contender to do so. Obviously, as she plays Joan Baez, SAG nominee Barbaro sings in her film. Less obviously, as she plays a hardscrabble cocktail waitress, SAG and BAFTA inclusion Curtis dances in hers. (If she does get an Oscar nod, Curtis really should send Bonnie Tyler a thank-you note.) Throw the supreme longshot of Wicked's Michelle Yeoh into the mix and that's more than enough to fill the category with options equally suitable for the Tonys – though Globes/CCA/BAFTA competitor Rossellini might have something to say about such a lineup. And her character barely says anything.
If Best Actress is gonna be a nail-biter, Supporting Actress is gonna be a bloodbath: five available slots for no fewer than 10 wholly conceivable options, not to mention lovable underdogs such as Didi's Joan Chen, His Three Daughters' Natasha Lyonne, and Between the Temples' Carol Kane, all of whom nabbed at least one regional-critics prize. I can't even find room among my top eight for Nickel Boys' Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, who made the CCA list, or The Substance's Margaret Qualley, a CCA and Globes pick who currently has more critics citations than even Saldaña and Grande. (I feel more confident predicting Qualley's exclusion knowing how infrequently gorgeous 30-and-unders land in either supporting race, no matter how affecting Demi's other half was while putting on Monstro ElisaSue's earrings.) Because The Piano Lesson isn't really a factor anywhere else and lone supporting nominations are rare, I'm leaving CCA/SAG entry Deadwyler on the sidelines just two years after she missed the cut for her staggering lead performance in Till. Because her reviews are mixed and she apparently doesn't show up until after The Brutalist's 15-minute intermission – a.k.a. nearly two hours into the film – I'm also holding off on Globes/BAFTA inclusion Jones. And while Gomez could certainly make the cut, she, like Jones, was slighted by the CCA, and that's a bit of a warning sign, as that group loves nothing more than to be Oscars-predictive. So there you have it: I'm going with Saldaña, Grande, Barbaro, and two senior-citizen Nepo Babies. We knew they'd make good eventually.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown
Yura Borisov, Anora
Guy Pearce, The Brutalist
Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice
Clarence Maclin, Sing Sing
Jonathan Bailey, Wicked
Stanley Tucci, Conclave
If the January 8 announcement of SAG nominees upended commonly-agreed predictions with its Supporting Actress inclusions Barbaro and Curtis, its Supporting Actor assemblage absolutely annihilated them. No Pearce, a Globes/CCA inclusion who had been widely considered the only one capable of stopping the forthcoming – and, in my opinion, deserved – Kieran Culkin steamroller? And no Washington, a nine-time Oscar nominee for acting similarly cited by the Globes and CCA, who gets nominated even for badly reviewed movies? (Except, as I suppose it's important to remember, badly reviewed popcorn movies.) BAFTA, at least, came to Pearce's defense. But as much as Washington's dissing with that organization wasn't a surprise – can you believe that two-time Academy Award winner Denzel has never received a BAFTA nod?! – it might be time to agree that the best part of Gladiator II won't be quite good enough for this year's Supporting Actor race. Let's hope Washington isn't still in character, or things are about to get ugly.
So who did join Globes/CCA/SAG/BAFTA contenders Culkin, Norton, and Borisov among the Screen Actors Guild's top five? Well, one of them was Globes nominee Strong, and his subsequent endorsement by BAFTA makes me feel reasonably confident about predicting him. The role of Roy Cohn has been an awards magnet for actors including Al Pacino, James Woods, and Ron Leibman, and tag-team Apprentice recognition for both Strong and Stan makes a lot of sense. (Plus, with Culkin in the mix, isn't everyone looking forward to one more showdown between Succession's Roy boys?) But SAG also popped for Bailey, and although he's delightful in his film, I'm not sure how much that inclusion says about his performance. I think it simply says that voters re-e-e-eally liked Wicked.
I'm positioning Bailey as second-runner-up just in case Academy members feel the same, and placing Tucci right below him because nearly every Oscars season finds room for one fringe acting contender slighted for all four precursors. (Except, you know, last season, so that argument may not hold water.) With one exception, no one else is really an option at this point – and man did Paramount bungle September 5's release if acclaimed co-stars Peter Sarsgaard and John Magaro aren't anywhere in the conversation. Happily, though, that one exception is Maclin, a CCA and BAFTA honoree whom, back in the summer, I thought would win this category. That, however, was before Sing Sing's unignorable series of precursor downfalls including no Best Ensemble mention with SAG … and before I remembered how hesitant voters might be about acknowledging someone for not merely figuratively but literally playing himself. Ask John Malkovich how his awards run for Being John Malkovich ended.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Anora, Sean Baker
The Brutalist, Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold
A Real Pain, Jesse Eisenberg
The Substance, Coralie Fargeat
Challengers, Justin Kuritzkes
All We Imagine as Light. Payal Kapadia
Hard Truths, Mike Leigh
The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Mohammad Rasoulof
Kapadia's much-adored film, with its current 100-percent “freshness” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, won the Grand Prix at last year's Cannes Film Festival yet wasn't chosen as India's submission for the International Feature Oscar. (A prize I'm nearly certain it would've won.) Although I should be predicting it, I'm gonna instead be selfish and stick with my gut love Challengers. But this year's wealth of possible options – if I'm to believe the hype on the titles I haven't yet seen – delivers a field of riches, most significantly Hard Truths (Leigh being a five-time nominee in this category), The Seed of the Sacred Fig, September 5, Kneecap, Saturday Night, The Apprentice, and local champs Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, BAFTA-long-listed for Heretic. Seriously, folks: We're not far from watching these dudes on an awards show acknowledging their supportive patrons at Davenport's The Last Picture House and inspiring us to yell “I was just thanked on national television!!!”
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Conclave, Peter Straughan
Emilia Pérez, Jacques Audiard
A Complete Unknown, Jay Cocks, James Mangold
Nickel Boys, Joslyn Barnes, RaMell Ross
Sing Sing, Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin, John Whitfield
Dune: Part Two, Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve
Hit Man, Richard Linklater, Glen Powell
Wicked, Dana Fox, Winnie Holzman
The screenplay races are where directors who don't get cited for Best Directing get their kudos – a thanks-for-playing-here's-a-lovely-parting-gift apology for missing out on the theoretically bigger honor. So here's where I see Complete Unknown's Mangold, Nickel Boys' Ross, and hopefully Sing Sing's Kwedar receiving their laurels. In truth, though, I'm not feeling confident about any of my predictions outside of Straughan, and affection for contenders beyond my boldface five appears so spread out that no single alternate dominates. Considering the script for part one earned a nod in 2022, Dune deux is a solid option, but it also tracks that voters may give the series a pass this time (as they did with Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers) and see what happens in installment trois. Few think that Wicked's script is key to its success. Same, unfortunately, for The Wild Robot, which usurped Inside Out 2's awards mojo among animated films. (So did Flow.) The Room Next Door has been almost universally ignored. Likewise with The Piano Lesson. As a wild-card second-runner-up, then, I'm going with Hit Man, a collaboration between a five-time Oscar nominee and the guy whose stardom probably rose higher than anyone else's in 2024. After years of journeyman work, though, I'm guessing that simply being in the conversation is an honor for Powell. All pie is good pie.
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The Wild Robot
Flow
Inside Out 2
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Memoir of a Snail
Moana 2
Chicken for Linda!
Piece by Piece
Just how locked-and-loaded are the boldface titles above? The CCA, which cites a half-dozen nominees in each category beyond its Best Picture field of 10, wound up only nominating those five for Animated Feature. Given that the CCA, on occasion, even pads its lineups of six with an extra mention or two, that's a tell if ever I saw one.
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Emilia Pérez, “El Mal”
The Wild Robot, “Kiss the Sky”
The Six Triple Eight, “The Journey”
Challengers, “Compress/Repress”
Emilia Pérez, “Mi Camino”
Elton John: Never Too Late, “Never Too Late”
Sing Sing, “Like a Bird”
Piece by Piece, “Piece by Piece”
I should really be putting “The Journey” at the top of this guess list, because if we've learned anything from the last seven years, it's that composer Diane Warren always gets cited in this category. (The 15-time Oscars bridesmaid is why the Cheetos origin story Flamin' Hot received more Academy Award nominations than Kubrick's The Shining, Michael Mann's Heat, and Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times.) I'm placing Warren's tune third, though, because we've also learned that, despite the honorary statuette their creator received in 2021, Tyler Perry movies are never nominated for Oscars. One of those truisms, dammit, is about to be debunked!
BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
Emilia Pérez, France
The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Germany
I'm Still Here, Brazil
Flow, Latvia
The Girl with the Needle, Denmark
Kneecap, Ireland
Vermiglio, Italy
How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, Thailand
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
No Other Land
Daughters
Black Box Diaries
Sugarcane
Dahomey
The Remarkable Life of Ibelin
Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat
Will & Harper
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Brutalist
Dune: Part Two
Nosferatu
Conclave
Emilia Pérez
Nickel Boys
A Complete Unknown
The Substance
BEST FILM EDITING
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Pérez
Conclave
Challengers
A Complete Unknown
Anora
The Substance
Wicked
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Wicked
Dune: Part Two
The Brutalist
Conclave
Nosferatu
A Complete Unknown
Gladiator II
Emilia Pérez
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Wicked
Dune: Part Two
Nosferatu
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Gladiator II
Blitz
BEST SOUND
Dune: Part Two
Wicked
A Complete Unknown
Gladiator II
Emilia Pérez
The Wild Robot
Blitz
Alien: Romulus
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Brutalist
Conclave
Challengers
The Wild Robot
Emilia Pérez
Nosferatu
Wicked
The Room Next Door
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Dune: Part Two
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Wicked
Better Man
Alien: Romulus
Twisters
Gladiator II
Mufasa: The Lion King
BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
The Substance
Dune: Part Two
Nosferatu
Wicked
Emilia Pérez
A Different Man
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Waltzing with Brando