98th Academy Awards Nominations: Breakdown powered by Origin

The Academy Awards coverage is often driven by headlines and predictions, but a closer look at the data behind the nominations reveals clearer patterns shaping awards season. From talent recognition and genre momentum to international collaboration and technical ambition, the Academy nominations reflect how creative and production forces align across the global film industry. 

Best Picture

The Best Picture category reflects where creative ambition, production scale, and cultural impact converge. Origin data shows that many of this year’s nominees also appear across acting, directing, writing, and technical categories — a strong indicator of overall awards strength.

Sinners (2025)

• Studios: Warner Bros., Proximity Media, Warner Bros. Pictures

• Genres: Drama, Horror, Thriller

• Runtime: 2h 17m | Rating: R

Origin Data Points

• Tracked theatrical opens in 77 countries

• Global box office cume: $367,853,537

• Marketing: 514 related images and 35 promotional videos

• Award Tracking

  • 16 total Academy nominations, a record for any film nominated by the Academy

  • Academy Best Director nominee

  • Golden Globe Best Director nominee, winner of Best Cinematic and Box Office Achievement

  • Director’s Guild of America Award nominee for Outstanding Directing in Theatrical Feature Film 

Directed by Ryan Coogler, Sinners is one of the most broadly recognized films of the year. Alongside its Best Picture nomination, the film earned recognition for Best Director, Best Actor (Michael B. Jordan, in a dual role), and Best Supporting Actress (Wunmi Mosaku).

The film also appears in Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, and multiple technical categories, highlighting its cross-disciplinary reach. Extensive VFX and post-production collaboration further reinforce its presence across craft nominations.

Bugonia (2025)

• Studios: CJ ENM, Element Pictures, Fruit Tree

• Genres: Comedy, Sci-Fi, Crime, Thriller

• Runtime: 1h 59m | Rating: R

Origin Data Points

• Tracked theatrical opens in 73 countries

• Global box office cume: $37,418,495

• Marketing: 495 related images and 30 promotional videos

• Award Tracking

  • 4 total Academy nominations

  • Golden Globe nominee for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

A genre-blending satire with sharp social commentary, Bugonia earned a Best Picture nomination alongside Best Actress recognition for Emma Stone. The film is also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score, positioning it as one of the year’s most unconventional contenders.

Hamnet (2025)

• Studios: Book of Shadows, Hera Pictures, Neal Street Productions

• Genres: Biography, Drama, History, Romance

• Runtime: 2h 6m | Rating: PG-13

Origin Data Points

• Tracked theatrical opens in 49 countries

• Global box office cume: $70,562,000

• Marketing: 90 related images and 46 promotional videos

• Award Tracking

  • 8 total Academy nominations

  • Academy Best Director nominee

  • 2nd time director nominated for Academy for Best Picture

  • Golden Globe Best Motion Picture - Drama winner

  • Golden Globe Best Director nominee

Directed by Chloé Zhao, Hamnet appears in Best Picture and Best Director, with Jessie Buckley earning a Best Actress nomination. The film is also recognized in Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Casting, and multiple design categories, reinforcing the Academy’s continued appreciation for literary adaptations grounded in performance and period detail.

One Battle After Another (2025)

• Studios: Warner Bros., Ghoulardi Film Company

• Genres: Crime, Drama, Thriller, Action-Adventure

• Runtime: 2h 42m | Rating: R

Origin Data Points

• Tracked theatrical opens in 101 countries

• Global box office cume: $203,583,482

• Marketing: 490 related images and 45 promotional videos

• Award Tracking

  • 13 total Academy nominations, tying for the fifth-most nominated film

  • Academy Best Director nominee

  • 4th time director nominated for Academy for Best Picture

  • Golden Globe Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy winner

  • Golden Globe Best Director winner

A major studio contender, One Battle After Another is nominated for Best Picture and Best Director (Paul Thomas Anderson). Leonardo DiCaprio received a Best Actor nomination, with Benicio del Toro and Sean Penn recognized in Best Supporting Actor.

The film’s reach extends into Sound, Editing, and Cinematography, reflecting its technical and narrative ambition.

Sentimental Value (2025)

• Studios: ARTE France Cinema, Eye Eye Pictures, Komplizen Film

• Primary Language: Norwegian

• Genres: Drama

Origin Data Points

• Tracked theatrical opens in 42 countries

• Global box office cume: $10,536,583

• Marketing: 77 related images and 10 promotional videos

• Award Tracking

  • 9 total Academy nominations

  • Academy Best Director nominee

  • Golden Globe Best Motion Picture - Non-English Language nominee

  • Golden Globe Best Director nominee

One of the most frequently nominated films this year, Sentimental Value appears in Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Original Screenplay. Renate Reinsve leads the acting recognition, supported by Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas.

Its broad nomination spread illustrates how international, performance-driven dramas are increasingly competitive in top categories.

F1 (2025)

• Studios: Apple Original Films, Warner Bros.

• Primary Language: English

• Genres: Drama

Origin Data Points

• Tracked theatrical opens in 42 countries

• Global box office cume: $631,527,111

• Marketing: 432 related images and 60 promotional videos

• Award Tracking

  • 4 total Academy nominations

  • 4th time director nominated for Academy for Best Picture

  • Golden Globe nomination for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement

F1 is nominated for Best Picture, Film Editing, Visual Effects, and Sound. Trying to recreate the magic of Top Gun: Maverick by pairing legendary producer Jerry Bruckheimer with director Joseph Kosinski, F1 has plenty of visual excitement and action. 

Frankenstein (2025)

• Studios: Netflix, Bluegrass Films, Double Dare You

• Primary Language: English

• Genres: Horror, Drama

Origin Data Points

• Limited Theatrical Release

• Global box office cume: Limited

• Marketing: 242 related images and 20 promotional videos

• Award Tracking

  • 9 total Academy nominations

  • Academy Best Director nominee

  • Golden Globe Best Motion Picture - Drama nominee

With a limited theatrical release and a negligible box office total, this Netflix release by Academy Award winning director Guillermo del Toro is a new take on a very familiar subject. No other Frankenstein inspired movie has ever been nominated for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, and more. Only Frankenstein adaptions to be nominated for an Academy Award are Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Young Frankenstein (1974)

Marty Supreme (2025)

• Studios: A24, IPR.VC, Ascot Elite Entertainment Group

• Primary Language: English

• Genres: Drama

Origin Data Points

• Tracked theatrical opens in 57 countries

• Global box office cume: $133,526,731

• Marketing: 71 related images and 19 promotional videos

• Award Tracking

  • 9 total Academy nominations

  • Academy Best Director nominee

  • Golden Globe Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy nominee

  • Golden Globe Best Director nominee

A-list actor Timothée Chalamet has received three Academy Award nominations for Best Actor now at 30 years old, making him the youngest male actor to do so. He took the prize for Best Actor with the Golden Globes but the film did not win the Best Picture. The Academy does love a character-driven story and this odd ball period piece might get the nod.

The Secret Agent (2025)

• Studios: ARTE France Cinema, CinemaScópio Produções, MK Productions

• Primary Language: Portuguese

• Genres: Drama

Origin Data Points

• Tracked theatrical opens in 23 countries

• Global box office cume: $14,355,120

• Marketing: 67 related images and 7 promotional videos

• Award Tracking

  • 4 total Academy nominations

  • Golden Globe Best Motion Picture - Drama nominee

  • Golden Globe Best Motion Picture - Non-English Language winner

Few actors find themselves become a meme like Wagner Moura has from his portrayal of Pablo Escobar in the Netflix series Narcos. Acclaim for his acting might overshadow his role in Narcos with his win at the Golden Globe for Best Actor and his nomination for Best Actor at the Academy Awards this year.  

Train Dreams (2025)

• Studios: Netflix, Black Bear, Kamala Films

• Primary Language: English

• Genres: Drama

Origin Data Points

• Limited Theatrical Release

• Global box office cume: Limited

• Marketing: 16 related images and 5 promotional videos

• Award Tracking

  • 4 total Academy nominations

Netflix has had 9 different titles nominated by the Academy for Best Picture but has fallen to titles with wider theatrical releases. This year, they have two including Train Dreams which is also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Song. 

Using Origin data points, we put AI to the test to see which title it would think would win the Best Picture at the Academy. Read the predictions here.

Best International Feature Film

This category highlights global storytelling shaped by language, political context, and cultural specificity.

• The Secret Agent (Portuguese) — Wagner Moura’s performance strengthens the film’s international awards presence

• It Was Just an Accident (Persian) — Jafar Panahi’s politically defiant filmmaking continues to resonate with the Academy

• Sentimental Value (Norwegian) — Also crossing into Best Picture and acting categories

• Sirat (Spanish) — A genre-fluid film blending music, movement, and emotional storytelling

• The Voice of Hind Rajab (Arabic) — A powerful intersection of real-world events and dramatic narrative

Best Documentary Feature

This year’s documentary nominees emphasize access, resistance, and personal testimony:

• The Alabama Solution — Investigative reporting inside the U.S. prison system

• Come See Me in the Good Light — A character-driven portrait of love and resilience

• Cutting Through Rocks — Grassroots political change through personal biography

• Mr. Nobody Against Putin — Rare internal documentation of propaganda and dissent

• The Perfect Neighbor — Bodycam footage revealing systemic breakdown

Best Animated Feature

Animation continues to span franchises, original IP, and international artistry:

• Arco — Independent sci-fi adventure with a strong emotional core

• Elio — Pixar’s blend of science fiction and identity-driven storytelling

• KPop Demon Hunters — Genre-crossing animation rooted in global pop culture

• Little Amélie or the Character of Rain — Intimate, literary adaptation

• Zootopia 2 — Franchise expansion with continued social commentary
  
  

Visual Effects and Technical Achievement

Among the technical categories, Visual Effects continues to be one of the strongest indicators of production scale, cross-studio collaboration, and technological ambition. The 2025 contenders reflect a clear shift toward effects that enhance realism, world continuity, and physical immersion — not just spectacle.

Avatar: Fire and Ash sets the benchmark once again for large-scale world-building. The film’s nomination reinforces the franchise’s leadership in performance capture, environmental simulation, and long-horizon VFX pipelines, supported by extensive international collaboration across visual effects and post-production vendors.

Other nominees illustrate how visual effects are increasingly embedded in grounded storytelling. F1: The Movie relies on precision-driven VFX to recreate high-speed racing environments with physical authenticity, blending practical cinematography with digital augmentation to preserve realism. Jurassic World Rebirth continues the evolution of creature effects, combining advanced animation, lighting, and compositing to integrate digital characters seamlessly into live-action settings.

More restrained but equally complex, The Lost Bus uses visual effects to support environmental scale and disaster realism, while Sinners applies VFX as a narrative tool — enhancing atmosphere, period detail, and supernatural elements without overpowering performance or story.

Together, these films highlight how the Academy’s Visual Effects recognition increasingly favors technical execution that serves narrative immersion, production credibility, and experiential depth — a trend clearly reflected in Origin’s structured film data across vendors, workflows, and technical credits.

Additional Categories to Watch

Beyond the headline awards, several categories are shaping up to be especially compelling — the kind of moments that tend to spark conversation during the ceremony and reward close attention from industry watchers.

Casting stands out this year, with ensemble-driven films such as Sinners and The Secret Agent gaining momentum for the strength and balance of their performances. These nominations highlight how casting choices increasingly function as a creative backbone, particularly in films built around layered character dynamics.

Short Films, especially in Animation and Documentary, continue to draw attention for their creative range and storytelling efficiency. These categories often surface emerging voices and experimental formats, making them some of the most engaging segments to watch during the broadcast.

Sound and Post-Production also remain highly competitive, driven by large-scale studio releases where audio design, mixing, and editorial precision play a central role in audience immersion. These categories frequently reflect the technical craftsmanship that underpins many of the year’s top-tier films.

Together, these awards add texture to the ceremony — offering insight into the creative and technical decisions that shape the films audiences remember long after awards night.

What the Oscar Nominations Reveal

Taken together, the 98th Oscar nominations point to a film landscape shaped by crossover recognition, global storytelling, and craft-driven ambition. Films that perform strongly in one category increasingly surface across acting, directing, writing, and technical disciplines — signaling how interconnected creative success has become.

By organizing nominations through structured film data, Origin reveals relationships that traditional awards coverage often misses: how international films compete at the highest level, how ensemble casting drives momentum, and how technical achievement supports narrative impact across genres and budgets.

As awards season continues, this category-based view offers a clearer lens on how films earn recognition — not just for what they are, but for how they’re made, who’s behind them, and how creative decisions resonate across the industry.