After being discounted from the Oscars race for a while,Sean Baker’sAnorahas surprisingly emerged as the frontrunner to win Best Picture. Whenthe nominations for the 97th Academy Awardswere announced, there were plenty of nominees that were expected, but they also included a few surprises.I’m Still Heretranscended the Best International Feature Film category to earn a Best Picture nomination. Denis Villeneuve was snubbed for Best Director for his work onDune: Part Two, while Monica Barbaro earned a surprise nod for her turn as Joan Baez inA Complete Unknown.
The frontrunners in most of the Oscar categories have been set for a while. Timothée Chalamet is expected to win Best Actor forA Complete Unknown. Kieran Culkin is expected to win Best Supporting Actor forA Real Pain. But the top prize, Best Picture, has been up in the air for a while. The frontrunner has changed a couple of times. It’s anyone’s guess which movie will actually take the trophy home, butthe current frontrunner to win Best Picture isAnora— and there are a few reasons for that.
5Anora Won The Critics' Choice Award For Best Picture
The First Movie To Win Best Picture Without Winning In Any Other Categories
The frontrunners for the Oscars are determined by how well each movie does at all the smaller awards ceremonies leading up to the Oscars.The Golden Globes are usually the biggest indicator for the Oscars, butthe other awards shows have an impact, too. At the 30th Critics’ Choice Awards,Anorawon Best Picture, making it the first ever film to win Best Picture at the Critics’ Choice Awards without winning in any other categories.
$6 million
$36 million
94%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score
90%
Mikey Madison lost Best Actress to Demi Moore forThe Substance. Sean Baker lost Best Director to Jon M. Chu forWicked, Best Original Screenplay to Coralie Fargeat forThe Substance, and Best Editing to Marco Costa forChallengers. But in spite of these losses, it still took home Best Picture.
4Anora Won The Biggest Award At PGA
The Darryl F. Zanuck Award
Whereas Best Director honors the best achievement in directing and Best Original Screenplay honors the best achievement in screenwriting, Best Picture is technically reserved for the producers steering the ship. The award goes to the movie itself, but the actual trophies go to the producers that got the film made. So, naturally, the Producers Guild of America’s opinion carries a lot of weight in that department.
Anorawon the top prize at the 36th PGA Awards.The Darryl F. Zanuck Award is the PGA’s equivalent of Best Picture. The nominees were almost identical to the Oscar nominees (albeit withA Real PainandSeptember 5taking the place ofI’m Still HereandNickel Boys), butAnoratook it home.
3Sean Baker Won Best Director At DGA
Or Outstanding Directorial Achievement In Motion Pictures
At the 77th Directors Guild of America Awards,Anora’s Sean Baker won for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures. As the flowery name would suggest,this is the DGA’s equivalent of Best Director. Baker beat out Oscar frontrunners like Jacques Audiard and Brady Corbet to take home the trophy.
This is a promising sign that Baker could win Best Director at the Oscars, which, in turn, isa promising sign thatAnoracould win Best Picture. Four of the last five Best Director winners correlated with the Best Picture winner. If history repeats itself,Anoracould take home both Best Picture and Best Director.
2The Brutalist & Emilia Pérez Have Been Hurt By Controversies
Use of A.I., Hateful Tweets And More
BeforeAnorabecame the frontrunner, the previous favorites to win Best Picture at the 2025 Oscars wereThe BrutalistandEmilia Pérez, but they’ve both been marred by controversy.The Brutalisthas faced some backlash for its use of A.I.— not just for technical touch-ups, but for creative purposes, too. SinceA.I. art is the antithesis of real art, this will likely costThe Brutalistone of the world’s top prizes for artistic achievement.
Anora Ending Explained
Sean Baker’s Anora ends in a way that will leave viewers rattled. We break down the biggest and most important moments from the movie’s ending.
Emilia Pérez, on the other hand, has faced a whirlwind of controversy. The movie itself has been criticized for its inauthentic portrayal of Mexican culture and the trans experience, while its title star,Karla Sofía Gascón, has come under fire for a long backlog of hateful tweets.Anorafaced some minor controversy for not using an intimacy coordinator, but that choice was made by the actors themselves, and it’s been massively overshadowed by the othercontroversies in the 2025 Oscars race.
1Anora Is Both Arthouse Fare & Crowd-Pleasing Entertainment
The Winner Tends To Be A Combination Of Both
Every year, the Best Picture nominees at the Oscars are a mix of obscure arthouse movies, likeTárandThe Zone of Interest, and crowd-pleasing blockbuster entertainment, likeBarbieandTop Gun: Maverick. But the winner tends to be a combination of both;the best of both worlds.Last year’s winner,Oppenheimer, is both a three-hour historical epic and a star-studded Christopher Nolan thriller. The previous winner,Everything Everywhere All at Once, is both a sobering, experimental family drama and a mind-bending sci-fi action comedy.
Out of this year’s nominees,Anora,The Substance, andDune: Part Twoare the only movies that fit the bill.
Out of this year’s nominees,Anora,The Substance, andDune: Part Twoare the only movies that fit the bill.Wickedis a populist blockbuster, whileThe Brutalistis a bleak, harrowing affair; they both fall on just one side of the spectrum.Anorais both a challenging arthouse drama and a laugh-out-loud crowd-pleasing romcom.
