Snubs & Surprises at the 2025 Oscars

Often, by the time the Oscars finally roll around, even people with just a casual interest in movies know who’s likely to win the big awards. All the shows that precede the Oscars (the Golden Globes, the Critics Choice Awards, the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the BAFTAs and many, many more) have taken a lot of the suspense out of the granddaddy of all award shows.

This year, however, several categories seemed to go down to the wire. Best picture, best actor and best actress were all less than certain, as were the two categories that mean the most to us at Billboard – best original song and best original score.

To be sure, some of the awards were entirely predictable. Kieran Culkin was a lock for best supporting actor for A Real Pain, and Zoe Saldaña was nearly as strong a bet as best supporting actress for Emilia Pérez.

Other categories that were never really in doubt include Wicked for best production design and best costume design; The Substance for best make-up and hairstyling; I’m Still Here for best international feature (especially after Emilia Pérez suffered a backlash after its star’s old tweets were uncovered); and Dune: Part Two for best visual effects. (The Oscars have a long history of using technical categories to honor blockbusters such as Dune: Part Two that don’t quite align with their tastes.)

But our focus here is on snubs and surprises, and there were several sprinkled throughout the show. Take a look.