The 97th Academy Awards took place in Los Angeles on Mar. 2, 2025. This is the most important night of the year in film, and some of the biggest names in Hollywood gathered at the ceremony to celebrate a year of monumental releases.
The show kicked off to a very “Wicked” start — with co-stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo taking the stage. Grande set the scene with her powerful version of “Over the Rainbow,” paying respects to all things “Wizard of Oz.” Erivo continued this Oz-focused opener, delivering her version of “Home” from “The Wiz.”
The duo then joined forces to belt “Defying Gravity” from their best picture nominated movie, “Wicked.” This was a very powerful and captivating beginning to a three-hour event. Other performances included Doja Cat, Raye and Lisa.
Host Conan O’Brien then took the stage with his hilarious entrance parodying “The Substance,” in which he comes out of Demi Moore’s back — in true Margaret Qualley fashion. His opening monologue recognized some of the biggest nominees of the night; giving us an exclusive peak at the many stars in attendance, including Timothée Chalamet, Mikey Madison and Karla Sofía Gascón — there was even a very unexpected cameo from Adam Sandler.
Now, to the main event: here are the biggest winners, losers and snubs from the 2025 Oscars.
It was a disappointing night for “Emilia Perez,” a musical about a Mexican transgender cartel leader. The film led with 13 nominations at this year’s ceremony, but left nearly empty-handed, only winning in two of its categories: Best Original Song (“El Mal”) and Best Supporting Actress (Zoe Saldaña).
This fallout was anticipated — Karla Sofía Gascón recently received major backlash after her offensive posts on X resurfaced, in which she openly criticized the Academy Awards. Surprisingly, O’Brien included a tongue-in-cheek reference to this in his monologue.
“A little fact for you. ‘Anora’ uses the F-word 479 times. That’s three more than the record set by Karla Sofía Gascón’s publicist,” he said. O’Brien then singled out Gascón in the audience. “Karla Sofia Gascón, is here tonight, and Karla if you are going to tweet about the Oscars, remember, my name is Jimmy Kimmel!”
On top of this controversy, the film harnessed tons of criticism, as viewers felt it did not accurately represent the transgender community.
The next most-nominated film, “Wicked,” also took home two of its ten nominations. The film won Best Costume Design and Best Production Design. Much to fans dismay, Grande and Erivo both lost in their respective categories.
Fans were also left unsatisfied by the lack of recognition of Timothée Chalamet in his Bob Dylan biopic, “A Complete Unknown.” Other snubs include “Nosferatu” and “The Substance,” as well as “Challengers” — a film that got zero nominations.
However, “Anora” had a night of massive success. The independent film walked away with five Oscars, and Mikey Madison took home an Oscar for Best Actress. Other winners include Adrien Brody (“The Brutalist”), Kieran Culkin (“A Real Pain”) and “Dune: Part Two.”
Of course, “Wicked” has a second chance at a successful Oscar’s run, with “Wicked: For Good” hitting theaters on Nov. 21, 2025. As far as the other nominees, we will see what the future (and film industry) has in store for them next year.
