2025 Oscar Predictions: MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING, ORIGINAL SCORE, ORIGINAL SONG, SOUND, VISUAL EFFECTS (December)

The Oscar shortlists are in and here are my 2025 Oscar predictions for Makeup & Hairstyling, Original Score, Original Song, Sound and Visual Effects for December.

For Makeup & Hairstyling, there is Critics Choice and MUAH crossover for The Substance, Wicked Part 1, A Different Man and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Dune: Part Two and Nosferatu come in with just CCA and three titles will fight for a spot with no precursors so far (but with BAFTA yet to come), including Maria, The Apprentice and the shock of shortlist day, Waltzing with Brando, which so far has no eligible release date to speak of.

Makeup & Hairstyling (10)

Conclave, Emilia Pérez, and The Wild Robot lead the precursor run for original score with The Brutalist and Challengers not far behind. As we know, Dune: Part Two is Oscar-ineligible.

Original Score (20)

Both Emilia Pérez songs (“El Mal” and “Mi Camino”) haven’t missed a beat, neither has “Kiss the Sky” from The Wild Robot and “Compress/Repress” from Challengers. “Harper & Will Go West” is performing well but with Diane Warren in the race, as she is this year with “The Journey” from The Six Triple Eight, just pencil her in because it’s happening.

UPDATE: “Forbidden Road” from Better Man has been disqualified and removed from contention for having too many similarities to the song “I Got a Name” from the 1973 film The Last American Hero. There will be no replacement.

Original Song (15)

With some strange misses here we have blockbuster action, sci-fi and musicals holding space for the five eventual spots for the Oscar. Motion Picture Sound Editors nominations will be here on January 6, Cinema Audio Society nominations on January 7, and BAFTA noms on January 15.

Sound (10)

With just CCA so far we have five films with a precursor (The Substance didn’t make the Oscar shortlist cut). Visual Effect Society noms will be January 14 and BAFTA the next day.

Visual Effects (10)

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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), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) 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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