Emilia Pérez' leads Oscar shortlist

Wicked', 'Gladiator II' also stand out

The Oscars 2025 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. Spanish musical Emilia Pérez boasts six mentions, whilst the Broadway-originated Wicked has landed four. Both films are considered Oscar frontrunners in several primary categories as well, including best picture.

Wednesday's preliminary voting applies to the following categories: animated short film, documentary feature, documentary short, international feature, live-action short, makeup and hairstyling, original score, original song, and sound and visual effects. The complete shortlist can be viewed in full on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences website. Here is what stood out.

Big-ticket names

Emilia Pérez was singled out for best song (El Mal and Mi Camino), best international feature, best score, best makeup and hairstyling, and best sound. Wicked, meanwhile, received a mention in best makeup and hairstyling, best score, best sound, and best visual effects.

In addition to these two big-ticket names, animated hit The Wild Robot was cited for best score, best sound, and best song, while Gladiator II, Alien: Romulus, and Dune: Part Two also merited three inclusions.

As well as Emilia Pérez, international feature category films included Palestinian film From Ground Zero, which has not been distributed in the US. According to Variety, many of the films featured in the international category rather unusually also have a chance of landing additional nominations in other categories. Other prominent inclusions are Irish film Kneecap, a rebellious biopic of the eponymous rap group, 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. As per Variety, many felt the country should have selected the Cannes runner-up All We Imagine as Light, which will compete in all other categories including best picture.

Other notable omissions from the overall shortlist included Jon Baptiste's score for Saturday Night, as well as Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Neither film featured in any category despite being popular with critics. Meanwhile, omissions in the documentary lineup included HBO's The Commandant's Shadow, Magnolia's Ernest Cole: Lost and Found and Together Films' Mediha, which have been said to be very popular with branch members, as per Variety. Similarly, Morgan Nevill's Piece by Piece, an intimate look at the life of Pharrell Williams in the form of Lego animation, was nowhere to be found.

One surprise that squeezed through the documentary lineup, however, was Alexis Bloom's The Bibi Files, an inside look into the corruption charges against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Other notable documentary nominations included the Netflix documentary Daughters and Amazon's Frida.

Unexpectedly inclusions

Unexpected films that garnered a mention on the shortlist include Ali Abbasi's The Apprentice. Based on US president-elect Donald Trump, the film generated controversy upon release and failed to capture box office figures, but nabbed a mention in the makeup and hairstyling category for actor Sebastian Stan's startling transformation into a young Trump. Stan, in fact, appears on the category twice, as his makeover in A Different Man has also been featured on the list. The lineup for the category, which comprised ten films, included Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi sequel Dune: Part Two, along with Pablo Larraín's Maria Callas biopic Maria and Robert Eggers' gothic horror drama Nosferatu.

The most surprising inclusion was Waltzing with Brando, starring Billy Zane. Zane stars as iconic film star Marlon Brando and underwent an extensive hair and makeup regimen for his role. However, the film did not feature on Critics Choice, Golden Globes or BAFTA, leading industry figures to ponder its inclusion on the Oscars shortlist.

Yet another surprise inclusion on the shortlist was Joker: Folie à Deux, which received a mention in the sound category despite failing to charm viewers at the box office. The sound category also included summer blockbuster Deadpool & Wolverine. In addition, box office hit Inside Out 2 struck a chord with academy members in the original score category. The visual effects category, meanwhile, unsurprisingly included the Disney prequel Mufasa and disaster film Twisters, as well as Gladiator II and Wicked.

Academy members from all branches were invited to participate in the preliminary round of voting. They must have met a minimum viewing requirement to be eligible to vote in the category. In the nominations round, Academy members from all branches are invited to opt in to participate and must view all shortlisted films to vote.

Oscar voting to determine the nominees in all 23 categories opens on January 8 and concludes on January 12. Final nominations will be announced on January 17, with Conan O'Brien hosting the 97th Oscars on March 2.