The 2025 Academy Awards Watch List

This is it - the ultimate Oscars watch list!

For those who are glued to movie screens between now and the first Sunday in March, I’ve assembled a tiered guide to watching the 50 Academy Award-nominated movies. To get the most holistic view of the race, start with the Best Picture nominees, then make your way through Multiple Nominations before taking a look at the remaining categories. Screenplays & Songs, International Stories, Technical Achievements, Animation Station, and Shorts! are all made up of single nominees. This should give you an easy way to prioritize what movies you want to see before the Academy announces their winners, and for the awards season nuts like me who are on the Oscars Death Race will appreciate the lowdown on how to see this year’s nominated films.

Because this list literally contains 50 movies, you’ll want to open this email in the browser to peep every last detail. Just click on the little heart and it should automatically open up.

A note about the shorts: Movie theaters will often play the Live-Action Shorts and Animated Shorts nominees as one big slate. The short films can be hard to track down if they’re not on a major streaming platform, and we here at Brunello Bombshell are big advocates for seeing movies in theaters as much as possible. Check out the showtimes for your local cinema and catch the shorts on the big screen!

I’ve done a few wine and movie pairings for the movies listed here, so you’ll see them linked in the titles. And of course, I will continue to link the upcoming wine and movie pairings for awards season movies here.

You can check out this watch list - and a few other thematic watch lists compiled by me - on Letterboxd. They’re previewed down below if you want a sneak peak! If you’re also on Letterboxd, follow me at @brnllobombshell and let’s share watch lists.

The 97th Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, March 2 at 4 PM Pacific Time. You can tune into the awards ceremony on ABC.

And now… the list!

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BEST PICTURE NOMINEES

Academy Award nominee Timothée Chalamet in A Complete Unknown (Photo Credit: Searchlight Pictures)

A Complete Unknown (Searchlight, 120 minutes)

8 Academy Award nominations

Best Picture

Best Director: James Mangold

Best Actor: Timothée Chalamet

Best Supporting Actor: Edward Norton

Best Supporting Actress: Monica Barbaro

Best Adapted Screenplay: James Mangold & Jay Cocks

Best Costume Design: Arianne Phillips

Best Sound: Tod A. Maitland, Donald Sylvester, Ted Caplan, Paul Massey & David Giammarco

Now playing in theaters

Anora (Neon, 138 minutes)

6 Academy Award nominations

Best Picture

Best Director: Sean Baker

Best Actress: Mikey Madison

Best Supporting Actor: Yura Borisov

Best Original Screenplay: Sean Baker

Best Film Editing: Sean Baker

Now available to rent or buy on Premium Video On Demand

Coming to Criterion Collection in 4K UHD + Blu-Ray on April 29

Conclave (Focus, 120 minutes)

8 Academy Award nominations

Best Picture

Best Actor: Ralph Fiennes

Best Supporting Actress: Isabella Rossellini

Best Adapted Screenplay: Peter Straughan

Best Costume Design: Lisy Christl

Best Film Editing: Nick Emerson

Best Original Score: Volker Bertelmann

Best Production Design: Suzie Davies & Cynthia Sleiter

Now streaming on Peacock

Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros., 166 minutes)

5 Academy Award nominations

Best Picture

Best Cinematography: Greig Fraser

Best Production Design: Patrice Vermette & Shane Vieau

Best Sound: Gareth John, Richard King, Ron Bartlett & Doug Hemphill

Best Visual Effects: Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe & Gerd Nefzer

Now streaming on Max and Netflix

Emilia Pérez (Netflix, 130 minutes)

13 Academy Award nominations

Best Picture

Best Director: Jacques Audiard

Best Actress: Karla Sofía Gascón

Best Supporting Actress: Zoe Saldaña

Best Adapted Screenplay: Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, Léa Mysius & Nicolas Livecchi

Best Cinematography: Paul Guilhaume

Best Film Editing: Juliette Welfling

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Julia Floch Carbonel, Emmanuel Janvier & Jean-Christophe Spadaccini

Best Original Score: Clément Ducol & Camille

Best Original Song: “El Mal” by Clément Ducol, Camille & Jacques Audiard

Best Original Song: “Mi Camino” by Clément Ducol & Camille

Best International Feature Film: France

Best Sound: Erwan Kerzanet, Aymeric Devoldère, Maxence Dussère, Cyril Holtz & Niels Barletta

Now streaming on Netflix

Academy Award nominee Fernanda Torres in I’m Still Here (Photo Credit: Sony Pictures Classics)

I’m Still Here (Sony, 135 minutes)

3 Academy Award nominations

Best Picture

Best Actress: Fernanda Torres

Best International Feature Film: Brazil

Now playing in select theaters

Feb. 14 wide theatrical release

Nickel Boys (Amazon/MGM, 140 minutes)

2 Academy Award nominations

Best Picture

Best Adapted Screenplay: RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes

Now playing in theaters

The Brutalist (A24, 215 minutes)

10 Academy Award nominations

Best Picture

Best Director: Brady Corbet

Best Actor: Adrien Brody

Best Supporting Actor: Guy Pearce

Best Supporting Actress: Felicity Jones

Best Original Screenplay: Brady Corbet & Mona Fastvold

Best Cinematography: Lol Crawley

Best Film Editing: David Jancso

Best Original Score: Daniel Blumberg

Best Production Design: Judy Becker & Patricia Cuccia

Now playing in theaters (IMAX, 70mm and Standard formats available)

The Substance (Mubi, 140 minutes)

5 Academy Award nominations

Best Picture

Best Director: Coralie Fargeat

Best Actress: Demi Moore

Best Original Screenplay: Coralie Fargeat

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon & Marilyne Scarselli

Now playing in select theaters

Now streaming on Mubi

Wicked (Universal, 160 minutes)

10 Golden Globe nominations

Best Picture

Best Actress: Cynthia Erivo

Best Supporting Actress: Ariana Grande

Best Costume Design: Paul Tazewell

Best Film Editing: Myron Kerstein

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Frances Hannon, Laura Blount & Sarah Nuth

Best Original Score: John Powell & Stephen Schwartz

Best Production Design: Nathan Crowley & Lee Sandales

Best Sound: Simon Hayes, Nancy Nugent Title, Jack Dolman, Andy Nelson & John Marquis

Best Visual Effects: Pablo Helman, Jonathan Fawkner, David Shirk & Paul Corbould

Now available to rent or buy on Premium Video On Demand

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Academy Award nominees Jesse Eisenberg (left) and Kieran Culkin (right) in A Real Pain (Photo Credit: Searchlight Pictures)

MULTIPLE NOMINATIONS

A Real Pain (Searchlight, 90 minutes)

2 Academy Award nominations

Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin

Best Original Screenplay: Jesse Eisenberg

Now streaming on Hulu

Flow (Sideshow/Janus, 86 minutes)

2 Academy Award nominations

Best Animated Feature Film

Best International Feature Film: Latvia

Now playing in select theaters

Now available to rent or buy on Premium Video On Demand

Nosferatu (Focus, 134 minutes)

4 Academy Award nominations

Best Cinematography: Jarin Blaschke

Best Costume Design: Linda Muir

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: David White, Traci Loader & Suzanne Stokes-Munton

Best Production Design: Craig Lathrop & Beatrice Brentnerová

Now available to rent or buy on Premium Video On Demand

Sing Sing (A24, 105 minutes)

3 Academy Award nominations

Best Actor: Colman Domingo

Best Adapted Screenplay: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin, & John “Divine G” Whitfield

Best Original Song: “Like A Bird” by Abraham Alexander & Adrian Quesada

Available to rent or buy on Premium Video On Demand starting Friday, Jan. 31

The Apprentice (Briarcliff/Rich Spirit, 120 minutes)

2 Academy Award nominations

Best Actor: Sebastian Stan

Best Supporting Actor: Jeremy Strong

Now available to rent or buy on Premium Video On Demand

The Wild Robot (DreamWorks, 102 minutes)

3 Academy Award nominations

Best Animated Feature Film

Best Original Score: Kris Bowers

Best Sound: Randy Thom, Brian Chumney, Gary A. Rizzo & Leff Lefferts

Now streaming on Peacock

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Academy Award nominees Elton John (left) and Brandi Carlisle (right) in Elton John: Never Too Late (Photo Credit: Hannah Hanseroth Photography)

SCREENPLAYS & SONGS

Elton John: Never Too Late (Disney, 102 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Original Song: “Never Too Late” by Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt & Bernie Taupin

Now streaming on Disney+

September 5 (Paramount, 94 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Original Screenplay: Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum & Alex David

Now playing in theaters

Available to rent or buy on Premium Video On Demand on Tuesday, Feb. 4

The Six Triple Eight (Netflix, 127 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Original Song: “The Journey” by Diane Warren

Now streaming on Netflix

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Shiori Itō in Black Box Diaries (Photo Credit: MTV Documentary Films)

INTERNATIONAL STORIES

Black Box Diaries (MTV, 102 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Documentary Feature

Now streaming on Hulu, Paramount+, and Prime Video

No Other Land (Still seeking U.S. distribution, 95 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Documentary Feature

Not available to stream

Porcelain War (Picturehouse, 87 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Documentary Feature

Not available to stream

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (Photo Credit: Kino Lorber)

Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat (Picturehouse, 150 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Documentary Feature

Now available to rent or buy on Premium Video On Demand

Sugarcane (Nat Geo, 107 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Documentary Feature

Now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu

The Girl With The Needle (Mubi, 115 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best International Feature Film: Denmark

Now streaming on Mubi

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Neon, 168 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best International Feature Film: Germany

Available to rent or buy on Premium Video On Demand on Tuesday, Feb. 18

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Cailee Spaeny meets a xenomorph in Alien: Romulus (Photo Credit: 20th Century Studios)

TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE

Alien: Romulus (20th Century Studios, 119 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Visual Effects: Eric Barba, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser, Daniel Macarin & Shane Mahan

Now streaming on Hulu

A Different Man (A24, 112 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Mike Marino, David Presto & Crystal Jurado

Now streaming on Max

Better Man (Paramount, 134 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Visual Effects: Luke Millar, David Clayton, Keith Herft & Peter Stubbs

Available to rent or buy on Premium Video On Demand on Tuesday, Feb. 11

Gladiator II (Paramount, 141 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Costume Design: Janty Yates & David Crossman

Now streaming on Paramount+

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (20th Century, 145 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Visual Effects: Erik Winquist, Stephen Unterfranz, Paul Story & Rodney Burke

Now streaming on Hulu

Maria (Netflix, 123 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Cinematography: Ed Lachman

Now streaming on Netflix

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The titular subjects of Beautiful Men (Photo Credit: IMDB)

ANIMATION STATION

Beautiful Men (19 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Animated Short Film

Now available to rent or buy on Vimeo

Inside Out 2 (Disney/Pixar, 96 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Animated Feature Film

Now streaming on Disney+ (with subscription)

In The Shadow Of The Cypress (20 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Animated Short Film

Not available to stream

Magic Candies (21 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Animated Short Film

Not available to stream

A still from Memoir of a Snail (Photo Credit: IFC Films)

Memoir of a Snail (IFC, 94 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Animated Feature Film

Now available to rent or buy on Premium Video On Demand

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Netflix, 79 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Animated Feature Film

Now streaming on Netflix

Wander to Wonder (14 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Animated Short Film

Now available to rent or buy on Vimeo

Yuck! (13 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Animated Short Film

Not available to stream

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A Lien by David Cutler-Kreutz and Sam Cutler-Kreutz

SHORTS!

A Lien (15 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Live-Action Short Film

Now available to stream on Vimeo

Anuja (22 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Live-Action Short Film

Available to stream on Netflix; date TBD

Death by Numbers (33 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Documentary Short Film

Not available to stream

I Am Ready, Warden (37 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Documentary Short Film

Now streaming on Paramount+

I’m Not A Robot (Photo Credit: The New Yorker)

I’m Not A Robot (22 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Live-Action Short Film

Now available to stream on The New Yorker

Incident (30 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Documentary Short Film

Now available to stream on The New Yorker

Instruments of a Beating Heart (23 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Documentary Short Film

Now available to stream on The New York Times

The Last Ranger (28 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Live-Action Short Film

Not available to stream

The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent (13 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Live-Action Short Film

Not available to stream

The Only Girl in the Orchestra (34 minutes)

1 Academy Award nomination

Best Documentary Short Film

Now streaming on Netflix

The Only Girl In The Orchestra (Photo Credit: Netflix)

Congratulations! If you made it this far, you get major cinephile points. Here’s a preview of my additional themed watch lists on Letterboxd, just for you…

OSCARS 2025: ACTING NOMINEES

OSCARS 2025: SCREENPLAY NOMINEES

OSCARS 2025: MUSICALS, MUSICIANS, SONGS & SCORES

OSCARS 2025: SNUBBED, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN