Oscars 2025: Here Is Who Should Win, And Who Will Win

Oscars 2025 has been quite the race. For once, there really is no clear-cut leader in the race. heading into the awards tonight, the three films expected to do well include The Brutalist, Anora, Conclave, and Wicked in the lower-end categories. Here, I will give you my predictions on who I think will win and who should win since sometimes those do not match up. The Oscars like to surprise people, and this year should be full of them. I will be focusing on the ten biggest categories but will leave my picks for the others below as well. This year's ceremony takes place tonight and can be watched on ABC and Hulu starting at 7 PM EST. It will be hosted by Conan O'Brien.

Oscars 2025: Here Are The Picks

Best Picture

Anora (Alex Coco, Samantha Quan, and Sean Baker, Producers)
The Brutalist (Nick Gordon, Brian Young, Andrew Morrison, D.J. Gugenhei,m and Brady Corbet, Producers)
A Complete Unknown (Fred Berger, James Mangold, and Alex Heineman, Producers)
Conclave (Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell, and Michael A. Jackman, Producers)
Dune: Part Two (Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Tanya Lapointe, and Denis Villeneuve, Producers)
Emilia Pérez (Pascal Caucheteux and Jacques Audiard, Producers)
I'm Still Here (Maria Carlota Bruno and Rodrigo Teixeira, Producers)
Nickel Boys (Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, and Joslyn Barnes, Producers)
The Substance (Coralie Fargeat, Tim Bevan, and Eric Fellner, Producers)
Wicked (Marc Platt, Producer)

What should win: This feels like a two-horse race between Anora and Conclave right now, with The Brutalist on the outside looking in. While Anora is my favorite movie of 2024, I think The Brutalist is the best film of 2024. It is just a staggering achievement from top to bottom, but I do not think enough voters actually watched the whole film. That is a shame because it should win.

What will win: Anora. It swept all but the BAFTA and the SAG awards, and while Conclave could upset, I will go with what was the leader in the clubhouse since Cannes last spring.

Directing

Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez
Sean Baker, Anora
Brady Corbet, The Brutalist
Coralie Fargeat, The Substance
James Mangold, A Complete Unknown

Who should win: Coraline Fargeat should be recognized for her mesmerizing melding of multiple genres with The Substance.

Who will win: Sean Baker, who has great respect in the DGA and has won all of the important wards leading up to tonight.

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

Who should win: Chalamet. This could be one of those moments where the Oscars anoint someone, though they could also make him wait as they did with Leonardo DiCaprio. All five could realistically win, and anyone would be okay with it, as all five performances were strong this year.

Who will win: Chalamet. I think more of the voting body was charmed by A Complete Unknown than people realize. Brody was superb, but I think he just missed his second statue.

Actress in a Leading Role

Cynthia Erivo, Wicked
Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez
Mikey Madison, Anora
Demi Moore, The Substance
Fernanda Torres, I'm Still Here

Who should win: Demi Moore, in the role of her career, has done great work for decades. But Mikey Madison made Anora special, without her I am not sure that film has anywhere near the accolades it has received. Madison should take it.

Who will win: Moore. And I do not have a problem with it whatsoever.

Actor in a Supporting Role

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

Who should win: I loved Norton and Pearce in their roles, but Kieran Culkin locked in his Oscars moment months ago.

Who will win: Culkin

Actress in a Supporting Role

Monica Barbaro, A Complete Unknown
Ariana Grande, Wicked
Felicity Jones, The Brutalist
Isabella Rossellini, Conclave
Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez

Who should win: Barbaro was fantastic as Joan Baez, and it was a star-making role. But Felicity Jones gave one of the most searing and affecting performances of the year in The Brutalist.

Who will win: Saldaña. She was the only good part of Emilia Perez, as far as I am concerned, and she has pretty much swept everything.

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

A Complete Unknown (Screenplay by James Mangold and Jay Cocks)
Conclave (Screenplay by Peter Straughan)
Emilia Pérez (Screenplay by Jacques Audiard; In collaboration with Thomas Bidegain, Léa Mysius, and Nicolas Livecchi)
Nickel Boys (Screenplay by RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes)
Sing Sing (Screenplay by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar; Story by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin, John "Divine G" Whitfield)

Who should win: RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes wrote one hell of a screenplay for Nickel Boys and should be awarded for it.

Who will win: I think they upset and take it. Nickel Boys.

Writing (Original Screenplay)

Anora (Written by Sean Baker)
The Brutalist (Written by Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold)
A Real Pain (Written by Jesse Eisenberg)
September 5 (Written by Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum; Co-Written by Alex David)
The Substance (Written by Coralie Fargeat)

Who should win: A Real Pain was my favorite screenplay of 2024, and gave a subtle and inviting feeling to what is a very sad and affecting film.
Who will win: A Real Pain

Animated Feature Film

Flow (Gints Zilbalodis, Matīss Kaža, Ron Dyens and Gregory Zalcman)
Inside Out 2 (Kelsey Mann and Mark Nielsen)
Memoir of a Snail (Adam Elliot and Liz Kearney)
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Nick Park, Merlin Crossingham and Richard Beek)
The Wild Robot (Chris Sanders and Jeff Hermann)

Who should win: As much as I loved The Wild Robot, Flow had me in tears multiple times, to the point that I had to down an entire bottle of water. It is one of the most beautiful films of the year, period.

What will win: I think Flow takes a close race, but if The Wild Robot wins, I will not be mad.

Many of the below categories will just have the Oscars winner bolded.

Animated Short Film

Beautiful Men (Nicolas Keppens and Brecht Van Elslande)
In the Shadow of the Cypress (Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi) Oscars winner
Magic Candies (Daisuke Nishio and Takashi Washio)
Wander to Wonder (Nina Gantz and Stienette Bosklopper)
Yuck! (Loïc Espuche and Juliette Marquet)

Cinematography

The Brutalist (Lol Crawley)
Dune: Part Two (Greig Fraser) Oscars winner
Emilia Pérez (Paul Guilhaume)
Maria (Ed Lachman)
Nosferatu (Jarin Blaschke)

Costume Design

A Complete Unknown (Arianne Phillips)
Conclave (Lisy Christl)
Gladiator II (Janty Yates and Dave Crossman)
Nosferatu (Linda Muir)
Wicked (Paul Tazewell) Oscars Winner

Film Editing

Anora (Sean Baker) Oscars winner
The Brutalist (David Jancso)
Conclave (Nick Emerson)
Emilia Pérez (Juliette Welfling)
Wicked (Myron Kerstein)

Makeup and Hairstyling

A Different Man (Mike Marino, David Presto and Crystal Jurado)
Emilia Pérez (Julia Floch Carbonel, Emmanuel Janvier and Jean-Christophe Spadaccini)
Nosferatu (David White, Traci Loader and Suzanne Stokes-Munton) Oscars Winner
The Substance (Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon and Marilyne Scarselli)
Wicked (Frances Hannon, Laura Blount and Sarah Nuth)

Live-Action Short Film

A Lien (Sam Cutler-Kreutz and David Cutler-Kreutz)
Anuja (Adam J. Graves and Suchitra Mattai)
I'm Not a Robot (Victoria Warmerdam and Trent) Oscars winner
The Last Ranger (Cindy Lee and Darwin Shaw)
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent (Nebojša Slijepčević and Danijel Pek)

Music (Original Score)

The Brutalist (Daniel Blumberg) Oscars winner
Conclave (Volker Bertelmann)
Emilia Pérez (Clément Ducol and Camille)
Wicked (John Powell and Stephen Schwartz)
The Wild Robot (Kris Bowers)

Music (Original Song)

"El Mal" from Emilia Pérez (Music by Clément Ducol and Camille; Lyric by Clément Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard) Oscars winner
"The Journey" from The Six Triple Eight (Music and Lyric by Diane Warren)
"Like a Bird" from Sing Sing (Music and Lyric by Abraham Alexander and Adrian Quesada)
"Mi Camino" from Emilia Pérez (Music and Lyric by Camille and Clément Ducol)
"Never Too Late" from Elton John: Never Too Late (Music and Lyric by Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt and Bernie Taupin)

Documentary Feature Film

Black Box Diaries (Shiori Ito, Eric Nyari and Hanna Aqvilin)
No Other Land (Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham)
Porcelain War (Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev, Aniela Sidorska and Paula DuPre' Pesmen)
Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat (Johan Grimonprez, Daan Milius and Rémi Grellety) Oscars winner
Sugarcane (Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie and Kellen Quinn)

Documentary Short Film

Death by Numbers (Kim A. Snyder and Janique L. Robillard)
I Am Ready, Warden (Smriti Mundhra and Maya Gnyp)
Incident (Bill Morrison and Jamie Kalven)
Instruments of a Beating Heart (Ema Ryan Yamazaki and Eric Nyari) Oscars winner
The Only Girl in the Orchestra (Molly O'Brien and Lisa Remington)

International Feature Film

I'm Still Here (Brazil) Oscars Winner
The Girl With the Needle (Denmark)
Emilia Pérez (France)
The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Germany)
Flow (Latvia)

Production Design

The Brutalist (Production Design: Judy Becker; Set Decoration: Patricia Cuccia) Oscars Winner
Conclave (Production Design: Suzie Davies; Set Decoration: Cynthia Sleiter)
Dune: Part Two (Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau)
Nosferatu (Production Design: Craig Lathrop; Set Decoration: Beatrice Brentnerová)
Wicked (Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales)

Sound

A Complete Unknown (Tod A. Maitland, Donald Sylvester, Ted Caplan, Paul Massey and David Giammarco)
Dune: Part Two (Gareth John, Richard King, Ron Bartlett and Doug Hemphill) Oscars winner
Emilia Pérez (Erwan Kerzanet, Aymeric Devoldère, Maxence Dussère, Cyril Holtz and Niels Barletta)
Wicked (Simon Hayes, Nancy Nugent Title, Jack Dolman, Andy Nelson and John Marquis)
The Wild Robot (Randy Thom, Brian Chumney, Gary A. Rizzo and Leff Lefferts)

Visual Effects

Alien: Romulus (Eric Barba, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser, Daniel Macarin and Shane Mahan)
Better Man (Luke Millar, David Clayton, Keith Herft and Peter Stubbs)
Dune: Part Two (Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe and Gerd Nefzer)
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (Erik Winquist, Stephen Unterfranz, Paul Story and Rodney Burke) Oscars winner
Wicked (Pablo Helman, Jonathan Fawkner, David Shirk and Paul Corbould)