Avery East
Staff Writer
When Oscar nominations are announced, other awards shows from the season often serve as a reliable preview. This year, however, the nominations brought several surprises. One of the most notable omissions was “Wicked: For Good,” which failed to receive a single nomination. A supporting actress nod for Ariana Grande seemed likely, but the film was ultimately left off the ballot entirely. While surprising, the exclusion is not entirely undeserved. The original film already had its moment, and the sequel failed to live up to expectations. I was quite a bit more offended by the snubbing of Chase Infiniti for “One Battle After Another.” She absolutely made that film for me, for that to have been her first film credit is incredible.
Another pleasant surprise for me is how prevalent “Bugonia” is on the ballot. I have always been fond of Yorgos Lanthimos’s directing, and “Bugonia” was very much one of my favorite films of 2025. While I do not think it is quite Best Picture material(my vote for that is still staunchly “Sinners”), it is nice to see it in the running. I would for “Bugonia” to win the award for Best Score. Unfortunately, what I would really like to see from this film is a Best Actor award given to Jesse Plemons, but he was absolutely snubbed from that nomination.
Here is something that definitely suprised me: F1’s nomination for Best Picture. As I mentioned earlier, I do hope that “Sinners” takes that trophy home, but it definitely has some competition. “Marty Supreme,” One Battle After Another,” “Hamnet,” and all of the others up at bat were very good, and I could see any of them taking the prize – except for F1. It is not often you see a movie like that nominated for an award of that caliber. I am very interested to see how that ends up.
I was also a little surprised by both “Train Dreams” adn “Frankenstein” being on this list. Both of those films were produced by Netflix and had very short theatrical releases, as well as being dropped on Netflix’s streaming service immediately. They played it very strategically this year, only releasing films in theaters long enough to be considered during awards season, but not quite long enough to lose out on ny money they could mke from their streaming services. I will be interested to see how Netflix continues to plot things like this in the future, and how it my affect the future of both streming nd wrds ceremonies.
Speking of “Hmnet,” if you read my column in January, you know how much I loved it. I loved the film, and I loved the source material. While it is not my top pick for Best Picture, I would not be surprised at all if it ended up taking it. I, howere, would like it to win for Best Production Design. The set dressing absolutely blew me away, and I think it is leagues above the other films nominated for that category.
All in all, there are some incredible films nominated this year, as wel as some interesting choices, and I am so excited to see what the ceremony holds.
The Oscars will air Sunday, March 15, at 7 p.m. on ABC or Hulu.
