Snubs and Surprises from the 97th Academy Award Nominations

The dust has officially settled from Thursday morning’s Oscar nominations. We now know who and what the nominees for the 97th Academy Awards are. So, with that information in hand, we can turn our attend to potential award winners, as well snubs and surprises. The former will hit in an updated predictions piece next week (though my initial picks are already up on the site here). The latter, however? That’s what I’m tackling today.

Below, you can see my Oscar snubs and surprises. These aren’t all of them, just ones that sprung to mind for me. If you have additional ones, definitely don’t be shy about sharing them. I detailed an alternate slate of nominees here yesterday. Today? It’s time to look at some of what actually did go down with the nominations.

Here are some of the snubs and surprises from the 97th Academy Award nominations:

Snubs

Challengers is Shut Out – Now, there was no assurances that Challengers would be nominated for anything. At the same time, it felt in the mix not just for a Best Original Score nomination, but potentially the win as well. Missing there, as well as in Best Original Screenplay, let alone Zendaya in Best Actress and Best Picture itself, doomed it to a goose egg on Thursday morning.

Conclave’s Edward Berger Misses in Best Director – For so much of the season, Edward Berger felt essentially locked into the fourth position in Best Director. The Conclave helmer had everything needed, yet the Directors Branch of the Academy went elsewhere, leading to Berger being one of the bigger snubs we saw.

Daniel Craig Doesn’t Crack the Best Actor Lineup for Queer – The fifth slot in Best Actor had seemed for weeks to be between Daniel Craig for Queer and Sebastian Stan for either The Apprentice or A Different Man. Much of the season made it seem like Craig was in the lead, even when Stan won for the latter title. Instead, it’s the former film that gets him in, leaving the former 007 actor still looking for his first citation.

Dune: Part Two Gets Nearly Wiped Out – The first part of the nominations Thursday morning saw Dune: Part Two miss in category after category. The Best Picture nomination saved it from disaster, but places like Best Adapted Screenplay should have been safe haven for the movie. Instead, it was snubbed even below the line in spots as well. Oof.

A Real Pain is Snubbed in Best Picture – This notion of A Real Pain missing in Best Picture had started to build in the final days of Phase One. I didn’t buy it, given that it likely walks into the show with a win in its pocked, but lo and behold, the snub happened. It still got into Best Original Screenplay for Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin is still almost certainly winning Best Supporting Actor, but Picture did not ultimately happen.

Surprises

Emilia Pérez Nearly Ties the Nomination Record – We all knew that Emilia Pérez would do well with nominations. It was simply a question of how well. It ended up with thirteen, one shy of tying the overall record, while setting the record for a non-English film. Pretty good for a movie that’s dealing with a slow moving backlash. The Best Picture frontrunner? Maybe. Read on there…

I’m Still Here is a Best Picture Nominee – A month ago, I’m Still Here was getting into Best International Feature and that was it. Then, it become a legitimate player in Best Actress for Fernanda Torres. On nomination morning, the film itself came along for the ride. One nomination for Best Picture later and the movie had the most surprising haul.

Nickel Boys Gets a Best Picture Nomination But Not Best Cinematography – It had seemed like Nickel Boys was running the risk of a shut out as the nominations came closer. Then, it managed to get into Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, but while that happened, Best Cinematography did not. Given how intertwined those aspects are, not getting into all three was a legitimate surprise (or maybe a snub) to see.

Nosferatu Does Better Than Expected – There was a general sense that Nosferatu was not going to get shut out by Oscar. The question was if it would get a single nomination or do better than that. Well, four nominations later, it over-performed in a way that’s truly beneficial for the horror genre. More fright flicks at the Oscars!

The Race for Best Picture is Still Wide Open – What is winning Best Picture? Arguments can easily still be made for Anora, The Brutalist, Conclave, Emilia Pérez, and Wicked. Now, nothing has made an overwhelming case to win, or has notable issues pertaining to a win. So, we’re going into Phase Two with the big category as wide open as ever before. Regardless of what ends up wining, this is very cool to see and should be embraced by any fan of the Academy Awards. It’s exciting times…

What are your biggest snubs and surprises from the Oscar nominations? Let us know!