2025 Oscars: 5 movies to expect at next year’s ceremony

We’re not even 24 hours removed from the 2024 Academy Awards, and our attention has turned toward the 2025 Oscars. The 2024 Oscars will be remembered for Oppenheimer, which won the biggest prize, Best Picture. The ceremony was also a coronation for Christopher Nolan, who can now add Oscar-winner to his impressive resume after taking home Best Director.

What will be 2024’s version of Oppenheimer? Could it Dune: Part Two, which could pull a Return of the King by dominating the technical categories before taking home Best Picture? Will George Miller’s Furiosa win over the Academy like its predecessor, Fury Road, did in 2016? These are five movies we expect to see at the 2025 Oscars.

Dune: Part Two (2024)

One film has already entered the Best Picture discussion at the 2025 Oscars, and that movie is Dune: Part Two, the second chapter of Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic. Dune: Part Two has been met with universal acclaim, with many citing the sequel as Villeneuve’s masterpiece. While nothing is guaranteed, Dune: Part Two is the closest thing to a lock to be nominated for multiple Oscars.

In 2022, Dune was nominated for 10 Oscars and won six, most of which were in the technical categories. Let’s assume Part Two is nominated in the same 10 categories. Villeneuve is almost certain to be nominated for Best Director. Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, and Austin Butler will be on shortlists for acting nominations. If one of those actors scores a nomination, Dune: Part Two is looking at 12 nominations at the 2025 Oscars.

Watch Dune: Part Two in theaters.

Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson film (2024)

One of Hollywood’s best auteurs, Paul Thomas Anderson, is in the middle of filming his next movie. Though plot details are under wraps, the film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Regina Hall, Sean Penn, Alana Haim, Teyana Taylor, and Wood Harris. Leaked set photos depicted a heist scene featuring DiCaprio and Taylor, with the former wearing a ski mask and holding a gun.

Known for making smaller character dramas, PTA’s new film has a rumored budget of $115 million, the largest of his career. Anderson has been nominated for 11 Oscars, with his first coming in the screenplay category for 1997’s Boogie Nights. However, Anderson has never won, which could persuade Academy members to reward him with a long overdue Oscar.

The film does not have a release date.

Blitz (2024)

Steve McQueen, one of the most acclaimed filmmakers in the U.K., will release his latest film, Blitz, in 2024. While plot details remain scarce, Blitz follows “the stories of a group of Londoners during the events of the British capital bombing in World War II.” Blitz stars Saoirse Ronan, Harris Dickinson, Erin Kellyman, and Stephen Graham.

Apple is distributing the film, so expect Blitz to be the company’s top awards play of 2024. At the 2014 Oscars, McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave received nine Oscar nominations, winning six, including Best Picture. Over a decade later, can McQueen reestablish his Oscar-winning prowess for Blitz?

Blitz does not have a release date.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)

How do you follow up on one of the greatest action films of the 21st century, Mad Max: Fury Road? Well, you take Fury Road’s best character, Imperator Furiosa, explore her backstory, and make her the subject of a prequel. The result is Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Stepping into the role of Furiosa is Anya Taylor-Joy, who plays a younger version of Charlize Theron’s character from Fury Road.

The initial footage looks promising, as the trailer teases more enthralling action and wild chase sequences. At the 2016 Oscars, Fury Road dominated the technical categories, winning six Academy Awards. If Furiosa looks half as good as Fury Road, Miller and his team will return to the Dolby Theatre in 2025.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga will be released in theaters on May 24, 2024.

Kinds of Kindness (2024)

The Academy loves Yorgos Lanthimos. The Greek director’s last two films – The Favourite and Poor Things – combined for 21 Oscar nominations. If history repeats itself, then Lanthimos’ next feature, Kinds of Kindness, is in line for double-digit nominations. Kind of Kindness is a reunion for Lanthimos and his top muse, Emma Stone, who is coming off an Oscar nomination for Poor Things. Besides Stone, Kind of Kindness stars Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou Athie, and Hunter Schafer.

Kinds of Kindness is “a contemporary film, set in the U.S. – three different stories, with four or five actors who play one part in each story.” Expect Kinds of Kindness to follow Poor Things’ release strategy: splashy festival premiere, followed by a fall release date.

Kinds of Kindness does not have a release date.