By Bianca Wright
This year’s 98th Academy Awards, honouring the best films released in 2025, will be taking place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California, on Sunday 15 March.
The event is set to be hosted for the second year in a row by Conan O’Brien, following announcements of the 24 categories on January 22.
The Oscars are the biggest annual awards in the film industry, recognising outstanding filmmaking, acting, directing and costume design, and more.
“Sinners” comes in as top contender, breaking records with 16 nominations including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.
Warner Bros landed the most nominations with 30, Neon coming in second with 18 and Netflix just behind with 16.
This year the Oscars has seen a change with a new category being added, Recognizing Best Casting, the first award addition since Best Animated Feature in 2022.
Categories and nominees
Nominees for Best picture
While “Sinners” has become the first film in history to receive 16 nominations, other major contenders up for nomination include “One Battle After Another” receiving 13, “Marty Supreme”, “Frankenstein” and “Sentimental Value” having nine each.
Other contenders are “Hamnet”, “Bugonia”, “F1”, “The Secret Agent” and “Train Dreams”.
Best Actor
Michael B. Jordan is up for nomination for his role in Sinners playing identical twin brothers Elijah ‘Smoke’ Moore and Elias ‘Stack’ Moore.
Leonardo DiCaprio is up again after winning his first Oscar in 2016 for playing Bob Ferguson in “One Battle After Another”.
Other nominees include Timothee Chalamet for the role Marty in “Marty Supreme”, Ethan Hawke for playing Lorenz Hart in “Blue Moon” and Wagner Moura starring as Armando Solomones in “The Secret Agent”.
Best Actress
Nominees in this category include Jessie Buckley for her role as Agnes Shakespeare in “Hamnet”, Rose Byrne for playing Linda in “If I Had Legs, I Would Kick You”, Kate Hudson for her character as Claire Sardina in “Song Sung Blue”, Renate Reinsve who played the lead role Nora in “Sentimental Value” and Emma Stone for her role as Michelle Fuller in “Bugonia”.
Best Directing
Nominees for Best Director include Ryan Coogler for “Sinners”, Paul Thomas Anderson for “One Battle After Another”, Josh Safdie for “Marty Supreme”, Chloe Zhao for “Hamnet” and Joachim Trier for “Sentimental Value”.
Best supporting Actor
Nominees for Best Supporting Actor include Delroy Lindo for “Sinners”, Benicio del Toro for “One Battle After Another”, Jacob Elordi for “Frankenstein”, Stellan Skarsgard for “Sentimental Value” and Sean Penn for “One Battle After Another”.
Best supporting Actress
Nominees for Best Supporting Actress are Wunmi Mosaku for “Sinners”, Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas for “Sentimental Value”, Amy Madigan for “Weapons” and Teyana Taylor for “One Battle After Another”.
Recognizing Best Casting
“Hamnet”, “Marty Supreme”, “One Battle After Another”, “Sinners” and “The Secret Agent” are nominated in this category.
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Best Documentary Feature Film
“The Alabama Solution”, “Cutting Through Rocks”, “The Perfect Neighbour”, “Mr Nobody Against Putin” and “Come See Me in the Good Light” are nominees for Best Documentary Feature.
Best Documentary Short Film
“Perfectly a Strangeness”, “The Devil is Busy”, “All the Empty Rooms”, “Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud” and “Children No More: Were and Are Gone” are in this category.
Other categories and their respective nominations are listed below:
Best Screenplay
“It Was Just an Accident”, “Sentimental Value”, “Blue Moon”, “Sinners” and “Marty Supreme”.
Best Adapted Screenplay
“Frankenstein”, “Hamnet”, “One Battle After Another”, “Train Dreams” and “Bugonia”.
Best Animated Film
“KPop Demon Hunters”, “Zootopia 2”, “Little Emelie or The Character of Rain”, “Elio” and “Arco”.
Best Animated Short Film
“Butterfly”, “Retirement Plan”, “The Girl Who Cried Pearls”, “The Three Sisters” and
“Forevergreen”.
Best International Feature film
“It Was Just an Accident”, “Sentimental Value”, “Sirat”, “The Voice of Hind Rajab” and “The Secret Agent”.
Best live Action Short Film
“A Friend of Dorothy”, “Jane Austen’s Period Drama”, “The Singers”, “Butcher’s Stain” and “Two People Exchanging Saliva”.
Best Cinematography
“Train Dreams”, “Marty Supreme”, “Sinners”, “One Battle After Another” and “Frankenstein”.
Best Film Editing
“Marty Supreme”, “Sinners”, “F1”, “Sentimental Value” and “One Battle After Another”.
Best Costume Design
“Sinners”, “Frankenstein”, “Hamnet”, “Marty Supreme” and “Avatar: Fire and Ash”.
Best Original Song
Tracks nominated for Best Original song include Golden featured in “KPop Demon Hunters”, Sweet Dreams of Joy featured in “Viva Verdi”, Train Dreams featured in “Train Dreams”, I Lied to You featured in “Sinners” and Dear Me featured in “Diane Warren: Relentless”.
Best Production Design
“Hamnet”, “Marty Supreme”, “One Battle After Another”, “Sinners” and “Frankenstein”.
Best Original Score
“Hamnet”, “Sinners”, “Frankenstein”, “Bugonia” and “One Battle After Another”.
Best Visual Effects
“Avatar: Fire and Ash”, “Jurassic World:Rebirth”, “The Lost Bus”, “Sinners” and “F1”.
Best Sound
“Sinners”, “F1”, “Frankenstein”, “One Battle After Another” and “Sirat”.
Best Makeup and Hair
“The Smashing Machine”, “The Ugly Stepsister”, “Kokuho”, “Sinners” and “Frankenstein”.
The Oscars are broadcast on over 200 streaming and local networks with the exact channel depending on where you live.
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