
2025 Oscar Nominations - Winners & Losers
January 23, 2025
By:
Hunter Friesen
Today was Christmas morning for Oscar lovers around the world. After months of anticipation, the nominees in each category were unveiled. It was an eventful morning, with plenty of surprise inclusions and omissions. Now that the dust has settled (for now), let's break down who the big winners and losers were.
Winner: I'm Still Here
Sony Pictures Classics strikes again! The distributor best known for securing come-from-behind acting nominations did exactly that and then some today with the Brazilian film I'm Still Here. Fernanda Torres secured that last slot in Best Lead Actress, repeating what her mother Fernanda Montenegro did with director Walter Salles almost thirty years ago. But the real shocker was the film getting into Best Picture, knocking out more expected nominees like Sing Sing and A Real Pain.
Loser: Sing Sing
Speaking of Sing Sing, this A24 acquisition was once pegged to be a serious contender to win Best Picture. Now it finds itself totally out of the race, only netting nominations for lead actor Colman Domingo, its adapted screenplay, and an original song. The ten total nominations for The Brutalist still give A24 a lot to cheer about, but the serious underperformance by Sing Sing both at the box office and at the major awards, should make them sit down and rethink their strategy.
Winner: The Apprentice
It's been a long and tumultuous road for the Donald Trump "biopic" ever since its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival back in May. But all that work turned out to be worth it, with both stars Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan netting acting nominations. Stan's came as a bigger surprise considering he was possibly facing vote splitting from his equally lauded performance in the A24 dark comedy A Different Man, for which he recently received a Golden Globe award.
Loser: Luca Guadagnino
It was a tough morning for the workaholic Italian director as both of his 2024 director efforts - Challengers and Queer - were totally blanked. Granted, neither was expected to net many mentions, but the Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross score and song from Challengers and Daniel Craig's lead performance from Queer were seen as totally gettable. Neither came to fruition, extending Guadagnino's Oscar slump since he broke out with Call Me By Your Name.
Winner: A Complete Unknown
The guild dominance of Searchlight's Bob Dylan biopic continued this morning. Both Monica Barbaro and director James Mangold were able to translate their surprise SAG and DGA nominations, respectively. Lead actor Timothée Chalamet expectedly got in, with the slew of craft nominations bolstering his case to be a serious contender to win his first acting trophy.
Loser: Edward Berger
What more does Edward Berger need to do to get some respect around here? His past two films All Quiet on the Western Front and Conclave netted a combined seventeen nominations, but his name was left off the list for Best Achievement in Directing both times. The film's last-minute surge could explain his absence from All Quiet on the Western Front. But there's no reasoning behind today's snub, especially when he received nominations from all major precursors (Golgden Globe, Critics Choice, BAFTA, DGA)
Winner: Robert Eggers
The filmmaker who's been known to be "too cool" for the Academy finally made his way into the club in a big way. Piggybacking off the $150 million it made at the box office so far, Nosferatu netted four total nominations: Costume Design, Production Design, Makeup & Hairstyling, and Cinematography. It now seems like a no-brainer decision that he and Focus Features have already announced their next project together, a supposed werewolf film dated for December 2026.
Loser: Paramount
Ridley Scott's sequel to his own Best Picture-winning film had a lot of Oscars in its sights when it premiered just before the Thanksgiving holiday. But so-so critical reactions and box office dollars eventually whittled down those prospects to a single category: Best Achievement in Costume Design. And after threatening to break into the Best Picture category all season, September 5 just couldn't get over the line, netting a lone nomination in Best Original Screenplay.
Winner: Emilia Pérez
Twitter's favorite punching bag this awards season just keeps winning. A total of thirteen nominations were bestowed upon Jacques Audiard's film, smashing the record for the most nominations received by a non-English language film. It also carried Netflix to sixteen total nominations, the best of any distributor. With all of their other projects falling by the wayside (Maria, The Piano Lesson), the streamer is going to throw everything and the kitchen sink in an effort to break their Best Picture curse.
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