Oscar Nomination Predictions – 2025 Academy Awards

by Jacob Jones​

​Hello, all, and welcome back to The Friendly Film Fan! After multiple emergency delays and a chaotic awards season lead-up, we are less than 24 hours out from the official announcement of the nominations for the 97th Annual Academy Awards. The event will be hosted by Bowen Yang and Rachel Sennott beginning at 8:30am EST/5:30am PST and be broadcast across on both Good Morning America and ABC News Live, as well as available to stream through the Academy’s social network pages and on Disney+ and Hulu. It’s been a long road to this point through the 2024 awards season, and at this point, anything is likely to happen. Clarence Maclin could get his first nomination in Best Supporting Actor. Nickel Boys could bypass Best Cinematography entirely. Emilia Pérez could win Best Picture. Almost four different movies are competing for the number ten spot in the biggest category of the night! No matter what world we wake up to tomorrow, there will always be the inevitabilities of one big surprise and one heartbreaking miss. But before tomorrow arrives, let’s go category by category and attempt to predict what those hits and misses are ultimately going to be.

​For those of you who are new here or may not be familiar with the ways I predict these awards over here at The Friendly Film Fan: the Oscars has 23 categories, each of which contains five nomination slots (except for Best Picture, which contains ten). Using this knowledge, I predict what I think will be the most likely selections by AMPAS for nominations, even if they don’t match what I personally think would be best (see The Friendly Film Fan Awards nominations for that, coming soon). There are also include three “wildcard” selections, which can range from things I’m hoping for that have just enough of a shot to secure a nomination to things people are severely underestimating in terms of their chances to things that are simply the 6th or 7th most likely to compete in their respective categories. Typically, I do three rounds of nomination predictions here, but as this year has been a bit busier outside of this space than anticipated, I’ve only had time to draft this one list and unfortunately will not be able to break things down category by category as I usually do. I also have not had the time or access to watch everything on the Oscars Shortlists which were released in December, so while I’ve got a pretty good idea as to what’s competing in those fields, less obvious categories such Best Live-Action, Animated, or Documentary Short Film are far less certain than I’d personally like them to be (I more or less tried to go by the consensus picks on those).

​I’ll be going live on The Friendly Film Fan’s Instagram page shortly before the nominations announcement tomorrow morning, so be sure to follow us over there if you’d like to see how I react to each nomination as they happen! And now, without any further ado, here are my official predictions for the nominations at the 97th Annual Academy Awards!

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Predicted Nominees:

• Incident
• Makayla’s Voice: A Letter to the World
• Once Upon a Time in Ukraine
• The Only Girl in the Orchestra
• A Swim Lesson

Wildcard(s):

• Death by Numbers
• I Am Ready, Warden
• Instruments of a Beating Heart

 
BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Predicted Nominees:

• A Bear Named Wojtek
• In the Shadow of the Cypress
• Maybe Elephants
• Wander to Wonder
• Yuck!

Wildcard(s):

• Beautiful Men
• A Crab in the Pool
• Me

 
BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT
Predicted Nominees:

• Anuja
• Clodagh
• Dovecote
• The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent
• An Orange from Jaffa

Wildcard(s):

• A Lien
• The Masterpiece
• Room Taken

 
BEST SOUND
Predicted Nominees:

• Alien: Romulus
• A Complete Unknown
• Dune: Part Two
• Emilia Pérez
• Wicked

Wildcard(s):

• Blitz
• Gladiator II
• The Wild Robot

 
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Predicted Nominees:

• Alien: Romulus
• Better Man
• Dune: Part Two
• Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
• Wicked

Wildcard(s):

• Civil War
• Gladiator II
• Twisters

 
BEST ORIGNAL SCREENPLAY
Predicted Nominees:

• Sean Baker, Anora
• Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold, The Brutalist
• Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain
• Tim Fehlbaum and Moritz Binder, September 5
• Coralie Fargeat, The Substance

Wildcard(s):

• Payal Kapadia, All We Imagine as Light
• Justin Kuritzkes, Challengers
• Mike Leigh, Hard Truths

 
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Predicted Nominees:

• James Mangold and Jay Cocks, A Complete Unknown
• Peter Straughan, Conclave
• Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve, Dune: Part Two
• Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez
• Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin, & John “Divine G.” Whitfield, Sing Sing

Wildcard(s):

• Murilo Hauser, Walter Salles, & Heitor Lorega, I’m Still Here
• RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes, Nickel Boys
• Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, Wicked

 
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Predicted Nominees:

• “Compress/Repress,” Challengers
• “El Mal,” Emilia Pérez
• “The Journey,” The Six Triple Eight
• “Kiss The Sky,” The Wild Robot
• “Mi Camino,” Emilia Pérez

Wildcard(s):

• “Harper and Will Go West,” Will & Harper
• “Like a Bird,” Sing Sing
• “Never Too Late,” Elton John: Never Too Late

 
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Predicted Nominees:

• Daniel Blumberg, The Brutalist
• Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Challengers
• Volker Bertelmann, Conclave
• Clément Ducol & Camille, Emilia Pérez
• Kris Bowers, The Wild Robot

Wildcard(s):

• Robin Carolan, Nosferatu
• Alberto Iglesias, The Room Next Door
• John Powell & Stephen Schwartz, Wicked

 
BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
Predicted Nominees:

• A Different Man
• Dune: Part Two
• Nosferatu
• The Substance
• Wicked

Wildcard(s):

• The Apprentice
• Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
• Emilia Pérez

 
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Predicted Nominees:

• Lisy Christi, Conclave
• Jacqueline West, Dune: Part Two
• David Crossman and Janty Yates, Gladiator II
• Linda Muir, Nosferatu
• Paul Tazewell, Wicked

Wildcard(s):

• Jacqueline Durran, Blitz
• Arianne Phillips, A Complete Unknown
• Massimo Cantini Parrini, Maria

 
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Predicted Nominees:

• Judy Becker, The Brutalist
• Suzie Davies, Conclave
• Patrice Vermette, Dune: Part Two
• Craig Lathrop, Nosferatu
• Nathan Crowley, Wicked

Wildcard(s):

• Adam Stockhausen, Blitz
• Arthur Max, Gladiator II
• Stanislas Reydellet, The Substance

 
BEST FILM EDITING
Predicted Nominees:

• Sean Baker, Anora
• Dávid Janscó, The Brutalist
• Nick Emerson, Conclave
• Joe Walker, Dune: Part Two
• Hansjörg Weißbrich, September 5

Wildcard(s):

• Marco Costa, Challengers
• Juliette Welfling, Emilia Pérez
• Jérôme Eltabet, Coralie Fargeat, & Valentin Féron, The Substance

 
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Predicted Nominees:

• Lol Crowley, The Brutalist
• Stéphane Fontaine, Conclave
• Greig Fraser, Dune: Part Two
• Edward Lachmann, Maria
• Jarin Blaschke, Nosferatu

Wildcard(s):

• Phedon Papamichael, A Complete Unknown
• Paul Guihaume, Emilia Pérez
• Jomo Fray, Nickel Boys

 
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Predicted Nominees:

• Black Box Diaries
• Dahomey
• Daughters
• No Other Land
• Will & Harper

Wildcard(s):

• The Remarkable Life of Ibelin
• Sugarcane
• Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat

 
BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
Predicted Nominees:

• Emilia Pérez (France)
• Flow (Latvia)
• I’m Still Here (Brazil)
• Kneecap (Ireland)
• The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Germany)

Wildcard(s):

• The Girl with the Needle (Denmark)
• How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies (Thailand)
• Vermiglio (Italy)

 
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Predicted Nominees:

• Inside Out 2
• Flow
• Memoir of a Snail
• Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Foul
• The Wild Robot

Wildcard(s):

• Look Back
• Moana 2
• Piece by Piece

 
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Predicted Nominees:

• Yura Borisov, Anora
• Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
• Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown
• Guy Pierce, The Brutalist
• Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice

Wildcard(s):

• Jonathan Bailey, Wicked
• Clarence Maclin, Sing Sing
• Denzel Washington, Gladiator II

 
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Predicted Nominees:

• Monica Barbaro, A Complete Unknown
• Jamie Lee Curtis, The Last Showgirl
• Ariana Grande, Wicked
• Isabella Rossellini, Conclave
• Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez

Wildcard(s):

• Danielle Deadwyler, The Piano Lesson
• Felicity Jones, The Brutalist
• Margaret Qualley, The Substance

 
BEST ACTOR
Predicted Nominees

• Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
• Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown
• Colman Domingo, Sing Sing
• Ralph Fiennes, Conclave
• Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice

Wildcard(s):

• Daniel Craig, Queer
• Hugh Grant, Heretic
• Sebastian Stan, A Different Man

 
BEST ACTRESS
Predicted Nominees:

• Pamela Anderson, The Last Showgirl
• Cynthia Erivo, Wicked
• Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez
• Mikey Madison, Anora
• Demi Moore, The Substance

Wildcard(s):

• Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths
• Angelina Jolie, Maria
• Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here

 
BEST DIRECTOR
Predicted Nominees:

• Sean Baker, Anora
• Brady Corbet, The Brutalist
• Edward Berger, Conclave
• Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez
• Coralie Fargeat, The Substance

Wildcard(s):

• Payal Kapadia, All We Imagine as Light
• James Mangold, A Complete Unknown
• Denis Villeneuve, Dune: Part Two

 
BEST PICTURE
Predicted Nominees:

• Anora
• The Brutalist
• A Complete Unknown
• Conclave
• Dune: Part Two
• Emilia Pérez
• A Real Pain
• Sing Sing
• The Substance
• Wicked

Wildcard(s):

• Nickel Boys
• Nosferatu
• September 5

And those are my predicted nominees for the 97th Annual Academy Awards! What are you predicting gets nominated tomorrow morning? Any that you’re hoping will surprise? Any that you’ll crash out over if they don’t happen? Let us know in the comments section below, and thanks for reading!
 
- The Friendly Film Fan