Emilia Perez directs Wicked and The Brutalist

“Emilia Pérez,” a musical about a drug kingpin who undergoes gender reassignment surgery, topped the 2025 Oscar nominations with 13 nods. It was closely followed by “The Brutalist,” a historical epic that examines the immigrant experience, and “Wicked,” the hit screen version of a long-running Broadway sensation, both of which nabbed 10 nominations. “Conclave,” a thriller about the election of a new pope, and “A Complete Unknown,” a look at Bob Dylan’s early freewheeling years, each had 8 nominations. All five of those films are up for best picture, the ceremony’s top prize, along with indies like “Anora,” “Nickel Boys” and “I’m Still Here,” as well as body horror film “The Substance.” and “Dune: Part Two,” one of the rare studio blockbusters to garner Oscar attention.

The Oscar nominations were revealed Thursday after voting was extended twice due to the wildfires that have devastated Los Angeles, resulting in the deaths of at least 28 people and catastrophic property damage. This week, the Academy Awards announced that their March broadcast will “recognize those who fought so bravely against the wildfires.”

Timothée Chalamet, who has proven his box office pull with “Dune” and “Wonka,” was nominated for best actor for his chameleon performance as Dylan in “A Complete Unknown.” He will face “The Brutalist” star Adrien Brody, who became the youngest Best Actor winner in history at age 29 for 2003’s “The Pianist.” Other Best Actor nominees include Colman Domingo (“Sing Sing”), Ralph Fiennes (“Conclave”) and Sebastian Stan (“The Apprentice”). Stan’s recognition came after “The Apprentice,” a Donald Trump biopic in which he plays the real estate mogul, struggled to get distribution — companies worried about getting on the bad side of the 47th president. His co-star Jeremy Strong, who plays Trump mentor Roy Cohn, was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

Demi Moore, who had been one of Hollywood’s brightest stars in the 1990s, continued her career comeback, capturing a best actress nomination for “The Substance,” a subversive horror film that examines the sexism and ageism of the movie industry. Her second best actress, “Emilia Pérez” star Karla Sofía Gascón, made history as the first openly transgender actor nominated for an Oscar. Mikey Madison (“Anora”), Fernanda Torres (“I’m Still Here”) and Cynthia Erivo (“Wicked”) rounded out the list of Best Actress nominees.

Strong’s “Success” co-star Kieran Culkin was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his work as a young man whose tricks mask his emotional turmoil in “A Real Pain.” He is widely considered the front-runner after winning several critics’ awards and a Golden Globe Culkin and Strong will compete for the award are Edward Norton (“A Complete Unknown”), Yura Borisov (“Anora”) and Guy Pearce (“The Brutalist”).

Zoe Saldaña, best known for starring in blockbusters like “Avatar,” showed another singing and dancing side of herself as an idealistic lawyer in “Emilia Pérez.” She was rewarded with a nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Her competition includes Ariana Grande (“Wicked”), Felicity Jones (“The Brutalist”), Monica Barbaro (“A Complete Unknown”) and Isabella Rossellini (“Conclave”). Rossellini’s mother, Ingrid Bergman, won the third of her Oscars in the Best Supporting Actress category for 1974’s “Murder on the Orient Express.”

Brady Corbet, who struggled for nearly a decade to bring “The Brutalist” to the screen after funding for the project collapsed several times, was nominated for best director. His competition includes French writer Jacques Audiard (“Emilia Pérez”), James Mangold (“A Complete Unknown”), Coralie Fargeat (“The Substance”) and Sean Baker (“Anora”). Each of these filmmakers was nominated in multiple categories, having played multiple roles in the films they made. Baker, for example, is also nominated for editing, producing and writing the screenplay, while Audiard was recognized for writing a song for his film, as well as the screenplay.

There were several notable snubs and surprises. Denzel Washington, once seen as a lock for his villainous performance in “Gladiator II,” was overlooked, as was Margaret Qualley, who earned raves for her work as Moore’s younger doppelganger in “The Substance.” And Edward Berger, who gave “Conclave” that momentum, was shut out of the best director race, while “A Real Pain” failed to snag a best picture nomination despite garnering some of the best reviews of the year.

The Academy Awards were first presented almost a century ago as a way to promote the film industry. In the ensuing 97 years, the film industry has undergone tectonic shifts—with the introduction of sound and color (revolutions that changed the business forever), as well as 3D and Smell-O-Vision and 4DX (gambits that had less impact)—but few have been more significant than the rise of streaming platforms such as Netflix.

These services have fundamentally changed the way movies are watched and experienced, and the theatrical end of the movie business has often struggled to keep up. At the same time, COVID and a series of labor strikes in 2023 have left Hollywood with fewer films to show in theaters. The box office has not managed to recover from the pandemic. Domestic box office sales in 2024 peaked at $8.7 billion, down more than 3.3% from 2023 (where revenue reached $9.04 billion) and down 23.5% from 2019 (where revenue reached $11.3 billion dollars in the last period before COVID-19). And the stalled recovery has come as studios and streamers have implemented a series of cutbacks and job cuts. Many of these companies—from Warner Bros. Discovery to Paramount Global – has sold itself as the company has been engaged in a period of frenzied consolidation that shows no signs of stopping.

The natural disasters Los Angeles is still experiencing, as well as the corporate upheaval the company is stumbling through, means the Oscars may feel less festive than usual. It will be up to Conan O’Brien, a former popular talk show host turned podcasting mogul, to try to lift the spirits as he begins his first stint as Oscar host.

Universal, which owns indie label Focus, dominated the nominations with 25 nods, the bulk of which came for “Wicked” and “Conclave.” Netflix, which released “Emilia Pérez,” got 16 nods, while A24, a bold indie distributor known for embracing risky fare like “The Brutalist,” a 3-hour meditation on art and commerce, had 14 nominations.

The Academy Awards will be held at the Dolby Theater on March 2, with the show airing on ABC. For the first time, it will also be available to stream live on Hulu.

See the full list of nominees below as they are announced.

Actor in supporting role

Yura Borisov, “Anora”

Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain”

Edward Norton, “A Complete Unknown”

Guy Pearce, “The Brutalist”

Jeremy Strong, “The Apprentice”

Actress in supporting role

Monica Barbaro, “A Complete Unknown”

Ariana Grande, “Wicked”

Felicity Jones, “The Brutalist”

Isabella Rossellini, “Conclave”

Zoe Saldaña, “Emilia Perez”

Animated short film

“Beautiful Men”

“In the Shadow of the Cypress”

“Magic Candy”

“Walk to wonder”

“Yuck!”

Costume design

“A Complete Unknown”

“Conclave”

“Gladiator II”

“Nosferatu”

“Evil”

Live action short film

“A Lien”

“Anuja”

“I’m not a robot”

“The Last Ranger”

“The Man Who Couldn’t Stay Silent”

Makeup and hairstyling

“A Different Man”

“Emilia Perez”

“Nosferatu”

“The Substance”

“Evil”

Original score

“The Brutalist”

“Conclave”

“Emilia Perez”

“Evil”

“The Wild Robot”

Adapted script

“A Complete Unknown”

“Conclave”

“Emilia Perez”

“Nickel Boys”

“Sing Sing”

Original script

“Anora”

“The Brutalist”

“A Real Pain”

“5. September”

“The Substance”

Actor in a leading role

Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist”

Timothée Chalamet, “A Complete Unknown”

Colman Domingo, “Sing Sing”

Ralph Fiennes, “Conclave”

Sebastian Stan, “The Apprentice”

Actress in a leading role

Cynthia Erivo, “Wicked”

Karla Sofia Gascón, “Emilia Pérez”

Mikey Madison, “Anora”

Demi Moore, “The Substance”

Fernanda Torres, “I’m Still Here”

Animated feature film

“Flow”

“Inside Out 2”

“Memoirs of a Snail”

“Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl”

“The Wild Robot”

Cinematography

“The Brutalist”

“Dune: Part Two”

“Emilia Perez”

“Mary”

“Nosferatu”

Best instructor

Sean Baker, “Anora”

Brady Corbett “The Brutalist”

James Mangold, “A Complete Unknown”

Jacques Audiard, “Emilia Perez”

Coralie Fargeat, “The Substance”

Documentary feature film

“Black Box Diaries”

“No other country”

“Porcelain War”

“Soundtrack to a coup d’état”

“Cane”

Short documentary film

“Death by Numbers”

“I’m ready, Warden”

“Incident”

“Instruments of a Beating Heart”

“The Only Girl in the Orchestra”

Film editing

“Anora”

“The Brutalist”

“Conclave”

“Emilia Perez”

“Evil”

International feature film

“I’m still here”

“The Girl with the Needle”

“Emilia Perez”

“The Seat of the Sacred Fig”

“Flow”

Original song

“El Mal” from “Emilia Pérez”

“The Journey” from “The Six Triple Eight”

“Like a Bird” from “Sing Sing”

“Mi Camino” from “Emilia Pérez”

“Never Too Late” from “Elton John: Never Too Late”

Production design

“The Brutalist”

“Conclave”

“Dune: Part Two”

“Nosferatu”

“Evil”

Healthy

“A Complete Unknown”

“Dune: Part Two”

“Emilia Perez”

“Evil”

“The Wild Robot”

Visual effects

“Alien: Romulus”

“Better Man”

“Dune: Part Two”

“The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes”

“Evil”

Best picture

“Anora”

“The Brutalist”

“A Complete Unknown”

“Conclave”

“Dune: Part Two”

“Emilia Perez”

“I’m still here”

“Nickel Boys”

“The Substance”

“Evil”