The most surprising part of the 97th Academy Awards was that there weren’t that many surprises or snubs as nearly all of the Oscar winners went to frontrunners or favorites. The 2025 Oscars took place on March 2, 2025, at The Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, California. First-time host and “four-time viewer” Conan O’Brien kicked off the night with a sharp and hilarious opening monologue following magical live performances by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande performing songs off the Wicked soundtrack.

Some of the most predictable winners of the night arrived early, starting with Kieran Culkin’s win over Succession co-star Jeremy Strong for Best Supporting Actor. The big winner of the night was Anora, which took home five of its six Oscar nominations, including the coveted Best Picture. Other notable wins include Adrien Brody winning his second Best Actor Oscar for The Brutalist and Zoe Saldaña besting the Emilia Pérez controversy and completing her awards season sweep, earning her first Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Check out all of Screen Rant’s Oscars coverage and the complete list of 2025 Oscars winners.

4

Flow Wins Best Animated Feature Over The Wild Robot & Inside Out 2

Flow winning Best Animated Feature was the first big surprise of the 2025 Oscars. Apart from being the first Oscar win for Latvia, it is also a surprise considering the critical acclaim of The Wild Robot and the box office success of Inside Out 2, both of which had a great chance of taking home the Oscar. Disney and Pixar’s original Inside Out won the award in 2016, which set Inside Out 2 up nicely to take home the Oscar after earning the highest-grossing box office of 2024 – of any feature film, not just animated – with a whopping $1.699 billion at the worldwide box office.

The real surprise, or even snub, in the category, was Flow beating The Wild Robot, which earned nearly universal critical acclaim and a Rotten Tomatoes score of 96%. The Wild Robot, which starred Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o and Emmy nominee Pedro Pascal, was an original project by Chris Sanders, the mastermind behind celebrated animated films such as Lilo & Sтιтch and How to Train Your Dragon, both of which are getting live-action remakes this year.

The Wild Robot was nominated for three Oscars, including Original Score and Best Sound. Unfortunately, the film walked away arguably snubbed by Flow, which is still a beloved animal adventure movie for cat lovers and the like.

3

Sean Baker Wins Best Editing For Anora Over Conclave

It’s not often that a feature film director and screenwriter also edits their movie. It’s even rarer if that multi-hyphenate filmmaker wins an Oscar for Best Editing. Sean Baker becomes just the third director in Oscars history to win an editing Oscar, joining Alfonso Cuarón for Gravity and James Cameron for тιтanic ​​​​​​before him. He beat out BAFTA-winner Nick Emerson, who edited Edward Berger’s Conclave and was considered the favorite heading into the 2025 Oscars.

Anora winning Best Editing was one of the earliest indications that it would take home the biggest award of the night, which it ultimately did. Sean Baker frequented the 2025 Oscars stage more than any other winner that night, beating out David Jancso of The Brutalist, Juliette Welfling of Emilia Pérez, and (Myron Kerstein) of Wicked. Anora beating Conclave for the Editing Oscar isn’t a mᴀssive surprise or snub, as both films could have walked away with the honor without protest.

2

I’m Still Here Beats Emilia Pérez With Best International Feature Win

Emilia Pérez had the most nominations of the night with 13, compared to I’m Still Here’s three, which makes the fact that it did not even win Best International Feature pretty surprising. Overall, Emilia Pérez earned two Oscars in its most predictable categories: Saldaña for Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Song for “El Mal.” On the other hand, I’m Still Here was somewhat unfairly undervalued in the shadow of Emilia Pérez’s 13 nominations.

I’m Still Here received outstanding reviews, thanks to the leading performance of Fernanda Torres, who was up for the Best Actress award. Emilia Pérez had the wildest shift in trajectory out of any Oscar nominee this year, instantly becoming the most divisive film of the year as well, only partly due to the resurfaced tweets of its Best Actress nominee, Karla Sofía Gascón. In retrospect, the Academy made the right choice given all the context, but Emilia Pérez only winning two Oscars is statistically shocking.

1

Mikey Madison Stuns Demi Moore By Winning Best Actress

The surprise of the night – and the year – arrived when Mikey Madison took home the Academy Award for Best Actress over Demi Moore. Although both actresses received their first Oscar nominations this year, Moore was an industry veteran going up against a breakout star, which had many projecting her to be the clear favorite heading into Oscars night, which she in fact was.

Moore had a lot of individual momentum heading into the 2025 Oscars as well, winning the Golden Globe and the SAG Award for Best Actress leading up to Oscars night. Since the SAG Awards are considered to be quite predictive of the acting categories at the Oscars, Madison’s win is undoubtedly stunning and a magnificent achievement for the rising actress. Madison had gained momentum from her Best Actress wins at the BAFTA Awards and Independent Spirit Awards, which were two other great nights for Anora ahead of its Oscars dominance.