Our way-too-early Oscars 2025 predictions

Two years ago, right around the time Everything Everywhere All At Once came out during awards season, we thought it would be a fun and admittedly silly exercise to try and predict which films would be part of an awards season that was still a year away. Our early predictions for 2023 turned out pretty well, even if one of them didn’t actually pan out until this year (yep, that’s how long Martin Scorsese has been waiting to not win an Oscar again for a film with multiple nominations). It went so well we figured we’d try again last year for 2024, and hit on seven of the 10 nominees for Best Picture.

But even if we hadn’t already established a pattern, we might have been tempted to invent it from scratch anyway after the recent release of last year’s delayed Oscar contender, Dune: Part Two. In fact, we’ve already engaged in some wild speculation about what the Oscar race might have looked like had it come out when it was supposed to last fall. Now, we’re turning our gaze toward the future and what might be in store come next awards season. It’s a harder year to predict than usual this far out, as the industry continues to deal with the aftermath of last year’s work stoppages due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. But we’re going to give it a shot anyway, so join us for our way-too-early look at the promising films and stars that may become contenders in 2025.

Back To Black

Musical biopics are like catnip to the Academy, and Back To Black, based on the life and untimely death of British singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse, is just dramatic enough to get their attention. Marisa Abela, of HBO’s Industry, plays the uniquely talented but troubled Winehouse, and even does her own singing. The film was written by Matt Greenhalgh, and directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, who previously collaborated on the 2009 film Nowhere Boy, about the early life of John Lennon. If the film does turn out to be awards worthy, it would make for a compelling comeback story for Taylor-Johnson after being nominated in 2016 for a Golden Raspberry for Fifty Shades Of Grey. It’s a longshot, but this is Hollywood, where you’re only as good (or bad) as your last project.