The most likely Oscars nominations from the first half of 2025

Yahoo

19 hours ago

Somehow, 2025 is halfway over, and as alarming as that might be, it does bring us all that much closer to another Oscar season. The first six months of the year featured not only some stellar films, but a handful of potential nominees that could linger in the minds of Academy voters.
While movies released in the first half of the year may generally have a harder time on ballots thanks to recency bias, we're only a few years removed from a Best Picture winner that opened in March.
More from Gold Derby
2025's 10 best TV shows so far: 'Adolescence,' 'Cobra Kai,' and 'Severance' among our editors' top picks
'No way we're changing the title': 'Trainwreck: Poop Cruise' director on creating Netflix smash hit and why a sequel is 'screaming to be made'
With that in mind, here are a few early predictions for movies released from January to June that could go the distance and possibly ride it out to year-end awards.
Let's get this one out of the way now. As the sun sets on the first half of 2025, it's not a question of whether Ryan Coogler's vampire thriller is in the conversation for a Best Picture nomination, but how many other nods it will rack up in all. Obviously, everything is contingent on how the rest of the year shakes out, but there are compelling arguments to be made for Michael B. Jordan in Best Actor, Autumn Durald Arkapaw's gorgeous large-format work in Best Cinematography, previous winner Hannah Beachler in Best Production Design, two-time winners Ruth E. Carter in Best Costumes and Ludwig Göransson in Best Score, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling, just to name a few. Sinners could very well be an absolute monster.
Danny Boyle and Alex Garland's follow-up to their revolutionary zombie flick has garnered some of the best reviews of the summer movie season, which could serve to legitimize it in the eyes of awards voters at the end of the year. There would still be a major anti-horror stigma within the Academy that Years would need to overcome in order to secure a nomination. (Could Sinners help with that?) But the safest bet at this juncture would be the stellar makeup work on the film's myriad infected.
The latest Disney live-action remake is currently sitting at number two for the year's domestic box office so far, and it brought in the haul largely on the strength of a visual effect. A cute, little blue visual effect. The studio's redoes have a spotty track record for making it into the category, and none has won apart from 2016's The Jungle Book. But with Lilo & Stitch as the bona fide hit of the year (that doesn't have intentionally blocky CGI like A Minecraft Movie), inclusion in Best Visual Effects seems like a safe bet.
Pixar's latest effort did not get the reception that the animation studio was hoping for, but with decent reviews and the company's sterling track record for nominations behind it, Elio is more likely to get a nomination than not. (A context-free fact: Elemental was nominated for Best Animated Feature.)
Just making the cut-off for consideration is writer-director Eva Victor's heartfelt breakout Sorry, Baby. It earned some of the best reviews coming out of Sundance in January, where Victor took home the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. Considering that the Best Original Screenplay lineup can often function as the Oscar's own "Our Favorite Indie Movies," Victor's sparkling debut could make the leap to the Academy Awards if it's received broadly enough as its rollout continues in the coming weeks.
It took six years to get a new Bong Joon Ho film into theaters after he emerged triumphant at the 2020 Academy Awards with Parasite — recently named the best movie of the century so far by the New York Times. The result was Mickey 17, a somewhat divisive, but undeniably playful movie that indulged in Bong's wackier instincts (a compliment). If there's any hope for Mickey 17 to make an appearance on Oscar night, the writers branch seems most likely to celebrate Bong's return with a nomination in Adapted Screenplay.
No actor has ever been nominated for their work in a Wes Anderson movie. A horrifying fact, but a fact nonetheless. And it makes this pick more of a wishdiction than a prediction. The fact remains, however, that Cera slotted so effortlessly into the Anderson milieu that it's hard to believe that this is their first collaboration. Comedic performances across the board deserve more of the Academy's attention, and a perfectly calibrated one in a Wes Anderson movie wouldn't be a bad place to start.
Best of Gold Derby
Everything to know about 'The Batman 2': Returning cast, script finalized
Tom Cruise movies: 17 greatest films ranked worst to best
'It was wonderful to be on that ride': Christian Slater talks his beloved roles, from cult classics ('Heathers,' 'True Romance') to TV hits ('Mr. Robot,' 'Dexter: Original Sin')
Click here to read the full article.