Nominations voting is from January 8-12, 2025, with official Oscar nominations introduced January 17, 2025. Ultimate voting is February 11-18, 2025. And at last, the 97th Oscars telecast will probably be broadcast on Sunday, March 2, and air dwell on ABC at 7 p.m. ET/ 4 p.m. PT. We replace our picks all through awards season, so maintain checking IndieWire for all our 2025 Oscar predictions.
As we enter the autumn/vacation season, “Depraved” (Common) and “Gladiator II” (Paramount) are gathering early buzz for the Finest Sound Oscar. Different standouts embody “Emilia Pérez” (Netflix), “Blitz” (Apple TV+), “Maria” (Netflix), and “Nickel Boys” (Amazon MGM Studios). Nonetheless to come back are the extremely anticipated “Nosferatu” (Focus Options) and “A Full Unknown” (Searchlight Footage). One other main contender, course, is “Dune: Half Two” (Warner Bros.).
In “Depraved,” Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of the Broadway musical by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman, we get the unlikely friendship between Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Galinda (Ariana Grande), who finally turn into the Depraved Witch of the West and Glinda. The sound workforce was led by supervising sound editor/sound designer/re-recording sound mixer John Marquis, supervising sound editor/sound designer Nancy Nugent-Title, and Oscar-winning re-recording mixer Andy Nelson (“Les Miserables”), and supervising music editor Jack Dolman. The film provides musical spectacle that leans into magical realism in addition to the intimate drama between the 2 leads, which primarily takes place at Shiz College.
“Gladiator II,” Ridley Scott’s sequel to his Oscar winner, takes place 20 years later because the Roman Empire continues to implode. It issues Lucius (Paul Mescal), the previous inheritor to the Empire, pressured to enter the Colosseum as a ruthless gladiator in what turns into a political energy play engineered by former slave-turned-merchant Macrinus (Denzel Washington). Dealing with the action-packed sound design are supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer Matthew Collinge, supervising sound editor Danny Sheehan, and Oscar-winning re-recording mixer Paul Massey (“Bohemian Rhapsody”).
In “Dune: Half Two,” Oscar-winning supervising sound editor/sound designer Richard King (“Dunkirk,” “Inception”) reunited with re-recording mixers Ron Bartlett and Doug Hemphill and labored with director Denis Villeneuve for the primary time. “Dune” received the sound Oscar, however the sequel was extra action-driven with a lot of battles on Arrakis, in addition to the noise of Harkonnen crowds in the course of the gladiator fights on Giedi Prime. Crucially, there have been many sand recordings within the area and on the foley stage, essentially the most fascinating of which have been low-end groans. Plus, the sandworms have been way more distinguished and required extra motion sounds within the sequel.
“Emilia Pérez,” the musical crime thriller from Jacques Audiard, stars Zoe Saldaña as a lawyer who assists the titular Mexican cartel chief (Karla Sofía Gascón) in present process gender affirmation surgical procedure. The director audaciously provides an operatic fever dream in regards to the hope of a brand new life by track and dance — however it’s additionally in regards to the problem in main double lives. Supervising sound editor Aymeric Devoldère dealt with the essential musical numbers with re-recording sound mixer Cyril Holtzm, who created a brand new vocal device to stylize and modulate Gascón’s singing performances.
Steve McQueen’s “Blitz” explores the harrowing German aerial assault on London throughout World Struggle II as a social realist fable. Editor Peter Sciberras deftly balances the communal and private tales, during which using track permeates the movie as a present of energy and a coping machine. It focuses on biracial teen George (Elliott Heffernan), who’s hurled on an unimaginable “Oliver Twist”-like journey whereas heading again house to his munitions employee mother (Saoirse Ronan) and musical grandfather (Paul Weller). Dealing with the myriad sounds of London throughout wartime, together with the loud, damaging bombings and flooding of the practice station, and the musical performances, is the sound workforce led by supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer Paul Cotterell.
“Maria,” Pablo Larraín’s drama about opera singer Maria Callas (Angelina Jolie), happens throughout her remaining years in Paris within the ’70s. It continues the director’s cycle of psychological portraits (“Jackie,” “Spencer”) and incorporates a visible idea that fuses the ’40s by the ’70s interval with surreal musical sequences. The sound workforce was led by Oscar-winning supervising sound editor John Warhurst (“Bohemian Rhapsody”), sound designer Gwennolé Le Borgne, and re-recording mixers Lars Ginzel and Luise Hofmann.
“Nickel Boys,” RaMell Ross’ adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, explores two Black youngsters, Elwood (Ethan Herisse) and Turner (Brandon Wilson), who turn into pals as wards of a barbaric juvenile reform college in Jim Crow–period Florida. The movie is a sensory expertise about their completely different POVs — hope and despair— with a lot of summary imagery and sounds. The intent is to tug us right into a world that contrasts brutality with the fantastic thing about the on a regular basis mundane. Tony Volante and Daniel Timmons function the co-supervising sound editors and re-recording mixers.
Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu” reworks the legendary silent vampire movie with Invoice Skarsgård as Depend Orlok, Lily-Rose Depp as Ellen Hutter, and Nicholas Hoult as her husband. Damian Volpe, sound designer/supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer, dealt with the unnerving soundscape of roving from Nineteenth-century London to a Gothic fortress.
Michael Sarnoski’s “A Quiet Place: Day One” (Paramount) prequel required a brand new soundscape to accompany the alien invasion of Manhattan, which finds Sam (Lupita Nyong’o) decided to seize the final slice of pizza within the metropolis. Supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer Lee Salevan reveled in recording on a regular basis sounds, reminiscent of dripping water and creaking chainlink fences which might be abruptly amplified. Moreover, the alien creatures roam Manhattan in a pack and make extra advanced sounds.
Lee Isaac Chung’s “Twisters” (Common), which boasts six completely different tornadoes created by ILM, required distinctive soundscapes from Oscar-winning supervising sound editors Al Nelson and Bjørn Ole Schroeder (“Prime Gun: Maverick”). They have been variations of a form of freight practice sound with howls, pulses, and whipping winds, run by a filter and handled as particularly orchestrated layers.
Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” (Amazon MGM Studios) treats love and tennis as a contest between rivals Mike Faist, Josh O’Connor, and the girl of their life, Zendaya. The sound design by supervising sound editor Craig Berkey and sound designer Paul Carter centered on the tennis combatants, emphasizing the racquets hitting balls and shoe squeaks, recorded by sound mixer Lisa Piñero with genuine slap echo. They picked up what they may naturally (constructing an efficient library of reverb) and added the remainder in submit.
“Longlegs” (Neon), Osgood Perkins’ horror thriller, centered round Nicolas Cage’s serial killer, boasts a terrifying soundscape from sound designer and editor Eugenio Battaglia, who leaned on the glam rock aesthetic for creating creepy sounds as nicely. Each creaky noise, heartbeat, and footstep was recorded at completely different auditory ranges to place us within the complicated mindscape of FBI agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe).
“Inside Out 2” (Pixar/Disney), the animated sequel from director Kelsey Mann, launched the hyperactive Anxiousness (Maya Hawke) as the latest and most resonant emotion for 13-year-old Riley (Kensington Tallman). Returning sound designer Ren Klyce had a a lot bigger soundscape to take care of inside Riley’s thoughts, in addition to the addition of hockey motion.
“The Wild Robotic” (DreamWorks/Common), directed by Chris Sanders, is an animated sci-fi journey that finds robotic Roz (Lupita Nyong’o) washed ashore on an uninhabited island, who should adapt and dwell among the many animals. The sound workforce was led by legendary sound designer Randy Thom (director of sound design at Skywalker Sound), supervising sound editor Brian Chumney, and supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer Leff Lefferts.
As for the remainder: “Joker: Folie à Deux,” Todd Phillips’ musical thriller, picks up with Arthur/Joker (Joaquin Phoenix) going through the demise penalty for a number of murders and placing up a delusional romance with Woman Gaga’s Harley Quinn whereas incarcerated in Arkham Asylum. The sound workforce had the weirdness of the musical sequences to soundscape together with the Joker mayhem. It was led by Oscar-winning sound designer/supervising sound editor Ethan Van der Ryn (“King Kong,” “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers”), sound designer/supervising sound editor Erik Aadahl, and re-recording mixers Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic.
“A Full Unknown,” James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic starring Timothée Chalamet, chronicles the folks star’s rise in New York’s West Village in 1961 to the controversial 1965 Newport Folks Competition, the place he turned electrical. The sound workforce dealing with the musical performances is led by Oscar-winning supervising sound editor Donald Sylvester (“Ford v Ferrari”) and re-recording sound mixer Paul Massey.
Potential nominees are listed in alphabetical order; no movie will probably be deemed a frontrunner till we have now seen it.
“Blitz”
“Dune: Half Two”
“Emilia Pérez”
“Gladiator II”
“Depraved”
“Challengers”
“A Full Unknown”
“Inside Out 2”
“Joker: Folie à Deux”
“Longlegs”
“Maria”
“Nickel Boys”
“Nosferatu”
“A Quiet Place: Day One”
“Twisters”
“The Wild Robotic”
