2025 Oscar Predictions: Below the Line Categories Part 1 – FILM EDITING, CINEMATOGRAPHY, COSTUME DESIGN, PRODUCTION DESIGN (October)

While 2025 Oscar predictions began in earnest back in May with above the line categories like Best Picture and Best Actress, it’s finally time to dig into the technical crafts of Film Editing, Cinematography and Production Design.

As anyone who dabbles in Oscar predictions for fun or does it for a living knows, even with Best Picture being a consensus pick, it’s here that individual branches tell us where broad support lies. But, like most things Oscar, it’s only one piece of the puzzle. A contemporary film like Anora won’t be competitive in certain categories like Costume Design and Production Design in the way a period piece like The Brutalist would be. But, a nod in Film Editing speaks loudly and has often been the bellwether we look for. We also have branches that consistently pick their favorites for nominations. If Roger Deakins shot a film you can almost be assured the Cinematography branch will check his name. Same goes for Colleen Atwood or Sandy Powell for Costume Design. Even as isolated nominations you can often easily pencil them in.

We won’t have guild and industry nominations (like the Gothams, Spirit Awards and Golden Globes) until early December, we can foresee the path for several films that look like top tier contenders across multiple categories like Dune: Part Two or Emilia Pérez or standouts in just a few categories that could build towards something bigger, like The Substance or A Real Pain. Then there’s the mystery of the unseen non-festival contenders like Gladiator II (which will be unveiled this Friday), Wicked, A Complete Unknown and Nosferatu, all or any of which could become the major players many of us think they can or will be.

The Oscar shortlist for Original Score, Original Song, Sound, Makeup & Hairstyling and Visual Effects (as well as feature and short film categories for animated, documentary and international features) will be revealed on December 17, 2024. Academy Awards nominations will be announced January 17, 2025 and the 97th Oscars will be held on March 2.

Here are my 2025 Oscar predictions in Film Editing, Cinematography, Costume Design and Production Design for October.

Film Editing

1. Dune: Part Two — Joe Walker (Warner Bros)
2. Gladiator II — Sam Restivo, Claire Simpson (Paramount Pictures)
3. The Brutalist — Dávid Jancsó (A24)
4. Emilia Pérez — Juliette Welfling (Netflix)
5. Anora — Sean Baker (NEON)
6. A Complete Unknown — Andrew Buckland (Searchlight Pictures)
7. Conclave — Nick Emerson (Focus Features)
8. September 5 — Hansjörg Weißbrich (Paramount Pictures)
9. Challengers — Marco Costa (Amazon MGM)
10. Nickel Boys — Nicholas Monsour (Amazon MGM)

Next up: Better Man — Martin Connor, Jeff Groth, Lee Smith, Spencer Susser (Paramount Pictures), Blitz — Peter Sciberras (Apple Original Films), Civil War — Jake Roberts (A24), A Real Pain — Robert Nassau (Searchlight Pictures), Saturday Night — Nathan Orloff, Shane Reid (Sony Pictures)

Other contenders: Babygirl — Matthew Hannam (A24), Beetlejuice Beetlejuice — Jay Prychidny (Warner Bros), The Bikeriders — Julie Monroe (Focus Features), Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga — Eliot Knapman, Margaret Sixel (Warner Bros), Here — Jesse Goldsmith (Sony Pictures/Columbia Pictures), Joker: Folie à Deux — Jeff Groth (Warner Bros), Juror #2 — David S. Cox, Joel Cox (Warner Bros), Nosferatu — Louise Ford (Focus Features), The Piano Lesson — Leslie Jones (Netflix), The Room Next Door — Teresa Font (Sony Pictures Classics), The Seed of the Sacred Fig — Andrew Bird (NEON), Sing Sing — Parker Laramie (A24), The Substance — Coralie Fargeat, Jérôme Eltabet, Valentin Feron (MUBI), Wicked Part I — Myron Kerstein (Universal Pictures), The Wild Robot — Mary Blee (Universal Pictures/Dreamworks Animation)

Cinematography

1. Dune: Part Two — Greig Fraser (Warner Bros)
2. Gladiator II — John Mathieson (Paramount Pictures)
3. The Brutalist — Lol Crawley (A24)
4. Nickel Boys — Jomo Fray (Amazon MGM)
5. Maria — Edward Lachman (Netflix)
6. Emilia Pérez — Paul Guillaume (Netflix)
7. A Complete Unknown — Phedon Papamichael (Searchlight Pictures)
8. Conclave — Stéphane Fontaine (Focus Features)
9. Challengers — Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (Amazon MGM)
10. Blitz — Yorick Le Saux (Apple Original Films)

Next up: Anora — Drew Daniels (NEON), Joker: Folie à Deux — Lawrence Sher (Warner Bros), Nosferatu — Jarin Blaschke (Focus Features), Queer — Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (A24), Saturday Night — Eric Steelberg (Sony Pictures)

Other contenders: Better Man — Erik Wilson (Paramount Pictures), Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga — Simon Duggan (Warner Bros), The Girl with the Needle — Michal Dymek (MUBI), Here — Don Burgess (Sony Pictures/Columbia Pictures), Kinds of Kindness — Robbie Ryan (Searchlight Pictures), The Piano Lesson — Mike Gioulakis (Netflix), The Room Next Door — Edu Grau (Sony Pictures Classics), September 5 — Markus Förderer (Paramount Pictures), The Substance — Benjamin Kracun (MUBI), Wicked Part I — Alice Brooks (Universal Pictures)

Costume Design

1. Gladiator II — Janty Yates (Paramount Pictures)
2. Dune: Part Two — Jacqueline West (Warner Bros)
3. Wicked Part I — Paul Tazewell (Universal Pictures)
4. Maria — Massimo Cantini Parrini (Netflix)
5. Nosferatu — Linda Muir (Focus Features)
6. Blitz — Jacqueline Durran (Apple Original Films)
7. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice — Colleen Atwood (Warner Bros)
8. Queer — J.W. Anderson (A24)
9. Conclave — Lisy Christi (Focus Features)
10. A Complete Unknown — Arianne Phillips (Searchlight Pictures)

Next up: The Brutalist — Kate Forbes (A24), The Count of Monte-Cristo — Thierry Delettre (Samuel Goldwyn Films), Emilia Pérez — Virginie Montel (Netflix), Firebrand — Michael O’Connor (Roadside Attractions/Vertical Entertainment), Saturday Night — Danny Glicker (Sony Pictures)

Other contenders: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga — Jenny Beavan (Warner Bros), Here — Johanna Johnston (Sony Pictures/Columbia Pictures), Joker: Folie à Deux — Arianne Phillips (Warner Bros), Lee — Michael O’Connor (Roadside Attractions), Megalopolis — Milena Canonero (Lionsgate), Nickel Boys — Brittany Loar (Amazon MGM), The Piano Lesson — Francine Jamison-Tanchuck (Netflix), The Room Next Door — Bina Daigeler (Sony Pictures Classics), The Substance — Emmanuelle Youchnovski (MUBI)

Production Design

1. Gladiator II — Arthur Max (Paramount Pictures)
2. Dune: Part Two — Patrice Vermette (Warner Bros
3. The Brutalist — Judy Becker (A24)
4. Wicked Part I — Nathan Crowley (Universal Pictures)
5. Conclave — Suzie Davies (Focus Features)
6. Blitz — Adam Stockhausen (Apple Original Films)
7. A Complete Unknown — François Audouy (Searchlight Pictures)
8. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice — Mark Scruton (Warner Bros)
9. Saturday Night — Jess Gonchor (Sony Pictures)
10. Queer — Stefano Baisi (A24)

Next up: Emilia Pérez — Emmanuelle Duplay (Netflix), Maria — Guy Hendrix Dyas (Netflix), Nosferatu — Craig Lathrop (Focus Features), The Room Next Door — Inbal Weinberg (Sony Pictures Classics), September 5 — Julian R. Wagner (Paramount Pictures)

Other contenders: Alien Romulus — Naaman Marshall (20th Century Studios), Firebrand — Helen Scott (Roadside Attractions), Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga — Colin Gibson (Warner Bros), Here — Ashley Lamont (Sony Pictures/Columbia Pictures), Lee — Gemma Jackson (Roadside Attractions), Megalopolis — Beth Mickle, Bradley Rubin (Lionsgate), Nickel Boys — Nora Mendis (Amazon MGM), The Piano Lesson — David J. Bomba (Netflix)

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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