2024 has been a historic year for cinema with a great deal of cinematic triumphs across various genres. The 2025 awards season has already commenced and will end on a high note with the prestigious 97th Academy Awards, aka the Oscars 2025. As expected, it’s going to be a neck-and-neck battle between the greats on the grandest awards night. While the Oscars will be held on March 3, we are ready with predictions for winners across categories. Check out our Oscar 2025 predictions for this year’s Academy Awards.
Best Picture
- Anora (WINNER)
- The Brutalist
- A Complete Unknown
- Conclave
- Dune: Part Two
- Emilia Perez
- I’m Still Here
- Nickel Boys
- The Substance
- Wicked
2024 saw the release of a fantastic set of movies. Thus, it will be a hard time for the jury to pick the Best Picture of 2024. Initially, The Brutalist was the frontrunner for Best Picture, however, the movie got into controversies along with Emilia Perez regarding the usage of AI recently. Therefore, Sean Baker’s Anora has been brought to the limelight and is a thoroughly deserving film to bag the Best Pictures in the Oscars 2025.
Best Actor in a Leading Role
- Adrien Brody, The Brutalist (WINNER)
- Timothee Chalamet, A Complete Unknown
- Colman Domingo, Sing Sing
- Ralph Fiennes, Conclave
- Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice
Next, we have one more close contest for the Best Actor in a Leading Role. All the nominees we have here have delivered masterful performances in their roles. However, this race is led by Adrien, Timothee, and Ralph Fiennes. Ralph Fiennes impressed the critics as Cardinal Lawrence in Conclave; Timothee Chalamet, on the other hand, lived his role as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown. But I firmly believe Adrien Brody will secure another Oscar for Best Actor this year after winning one for playing Wladyslaw Szpilman in The Pianist in 2003.
Best Actress in Leading Role
- Cynthia Erivo, Wicked
- Karla Sofia Gascon, Emilia Perez
- Mikey Madison, Anora
- Demi Moore, The Substance (WINNER)
- Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here
Similar to the Best Actor category, the Best Actress in Leading Role is going to be a dead-heat competition. Karla Sofia Gascon’s social media controversy pulled her down in the race, so the intense competition is between Mikey, Demi, and Fernanda Torres. Mikey Madison emerged as a new star in Hollywood town with her glorious performance in Anora. But Demi Moore, the veteran actress, has the edge to take home the Best Actress award at the Oscars 2025.
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
- Yura Borisov, Anora
- Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain (WINNER)
- Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown
- Guy Pearce, The Brutalist
- Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice
There is no doubt that the Succession star, Kieran Culkin, is going to be crowned as the Best Actor in a Supporting Role at the Academy Awards. He has dominated this category in all the previous esteemed awards such as the Golden Globes, the BAFTA, and the SAG awards recently. The Best Supporting Actor award is a well-deserved award for Kieran for his heartfelt performance in A Real Pain.
Best Actress in Supporting Role
- Monica Barbaro, A Complete Unknown
- Ariana Grande, Wicked
- Felicity Jones, The Brutalist
- Isabella Rosellini, Conclave
- Zoe Saldana, Emilia Perez (WINNER)
In line with Kieran Culkin, Zoe Saldana overshadowed the rest of the nominees to collect all the awards for the Best Supporting Actress awards in the award stages such as the Golden Globes, the BAFTA, and the SAG awards. She is expected to repeat the history again at the upcoming Oscars by winning the Best Actress in Supporting Role. Her performance in Emilia Perez is the only highlight of the movie personally for me, and let’s see if Felicity Jones or Monica Barbaro can give a tough competition.
Best Direction
- Sean Baker, Anora
- Brady Corbet, The Brutalist (WINNER)
- James Mangold, A Complete Unknown
- Jacques Audiard, Emilia Perez
- Coralie Fargeat, The Substance
While Anora is the prime candidate for the Best Picture, The Brutalist crew might take a win back with the Best Direction award at the Oscars 2025. Brady Corbet’s incredible direction of a 3-and-a-half-hour epic drama is completely worthy of winning the Best Direction award as per our predictions. However, we have to wait and see as Anora, A Complete Unknown, and The Substance are well-directed movies of last year as well.
Best Animated Feature Film
- Flow
- Inside Out 2
- Memoir of a Snail
- The Wild Robot (WINNER)
- Wallace and Gromit, Vengeance Most Fowl
2024 was a milestone year for animated movies where we got Flow, Inside Out 2, Memoir of a Snail, etc, all in a single year. While Flow is winning hearts by beating the massive budgeted movies, The Wild Robot can make a comeback by winning the Best Animated Feature Film at the Academy Awards. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved all of these nominees more than the live-action, but let’s see who emerges as the winner, as each movie deserves to win this title.
Best Film Editing
- Sean Baker, Anora
- David Jancso, The Brutalist
- Nick Emerson, Conclave (WINNER)
- Juliette Welfling, Emilia Perez
- Myron Kerstein, Wicked
Conclave is predicted to triumph in the editing category, thanks to Nick Emerson’s wonderful editing. But don’t forget that it is also closely followed by Anora and The Brutalist, which had terrific editing equally. Thus, it is going to be interesting to witness the winner of the Best Film Editing category at the Oscars 2025.
Best Cinematography
- Lol Crawley, The Brutalist (WINNER)
- Greig Fraser, Dune: Part Two
- Paul Guilhaume, Emilia Perez
- Ed Lachman, Maria
- Jarin Blaschke, Nosferatu
Greig Fraser claimed the Oscars for his world-class camera work in Dune: Part One. He repeated the same in Dune Part 2, but there are more solid contenders this time. Jarin Blaschke successfully recreated the gothic horror setting in Nosferatu. But Lol Crawley might beat the other two for the extraordinary cinematography in Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist.
Best International Feature Film
- I’m Still Here (Brazil) (WINNER)
- The Girl With the Needle (Denmark)
- Emilia Perez (France)
- The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Germany)
- Flow (Latvia)
The Brazilian drama I’m Still Here is being praised by both the audience and critics alike and is well-deserving of the Best International Feature Film award. Yet Emilia Perez or the animation sensation Flow has the chance to score the win in this category.
Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
- James Mangold and Jay Cocks, A Complete Unknown
- Peter Straughan, Conclave (WINNER)
- Jaques Audiard, Emilia Perez
- Ramell Ross and Joslyn Barnes, Nickel Boys
- Clint Bentley, Sing Sing
Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
- Sean Baker, Anora (WINNER)
- Mona Fastvold and Brady Corbet, The Brutalist
- Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain
- Moritz Binder, Time Fehlbaum and Alex David, September 5
- Coralie Fargeat, The Substance
Best Visual Effects
- Alien: Romulus
- Better Man
- Dune: Part Two (WINNER)
- Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
- Wicked
Best Music (Original Score)
- Daniel Blumberg, The Brutalist (WINNER)
- Volker Bertelmann, Conclave
- Clement Ducol and Camille, Emilia Perez
- John Powell and Stephen Schwartz, Wicked
- Kris Bowers, The Wild Robot
Best Sound
- A Complete Unknown
- Dune: Part Two (WINNER)
- Emilia Perez
- Wicked
- The Wild Robot
Best Original Song
- El Mal, Emilia Perez
- The Journey, The Six Tripple Eight
- Like a Bird, Sing Sing (WINNER)
- Mi Camino, Emilia Perez
- Never Too Late, Elton John: Never Too Late
Best Costume Design
- Arianne Phillips, A Complete Unknown
- Lisy Christl, Concave
- Janty Yates and Dave Crossman, Gladiator II
- Linda Muir, Nosferatu
- Paul Tazewell, Wicked (WINNER)
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
- A Different Man
- Emilia Perez
- Nosferatu
- The Substance (WINNER)
- Wicked
Best Production Design
- The Brutalist
- Conclave
- Dune: Part Two
- Nosferatu
- Wicked (WINNER)
Best Documentary Feature Film
- Black Box Diaries
- No Other Land (WINNER)
- Porcelain War
- Soundtrack to a Coup D’etat
- Sugarcane
Best Live Action Short Film
- A Lien
- Anuja
- I’m Not a Robot
- The Last Ranger
- The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent (WINNER)
Best Animated Short Film
- Beautiful Men (WINNER)
- In the Shadow of the Cypress
- Magic Candies
- Wonder to Wonder
- Yuck!
Best Documentary Short Film
- Death By Numbers
- I am Ready, Warden (WINNER)
- Incident
- Instruments of a Beating Heart
- The Only Girl in the Orchestra
These are our predictions for Oscars 2025 which will premiere on Mar 2, 2025. Like all the other years, grab your popcorn as there are going to be big surprises and upsets equally at the biggest night in entertainment awards. That said, let us your predictions for your favorite categories in the comments below.
