Challengers was snubbed by the 2025 Oscar nominations, and there are likely several reasons why this was the case. The 2024 movie was directed by Call Me By Your Name‘s Luca Guadagnino and starred Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor as a trio of tennis professionals caught in a torrid love triangle. There were additional major names behind the camera of the movie, including Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (The Social Network) composing the score, Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives) handling the cinematography, and Justin Kuritzkes (Queer, Luca Guadagnino’s other 2024 movie) penning the screenplay.
The movie was a major success, with a $96.1 million worldwide box office gross seeing it outpace other major 2024 releases including Terrifier 3 ($88.7 miilion), Trap ($83.7 million), Conclave ($77.9 million), Speak No Evil ($76.7 million), and The Substance ($76.5 million). Glowing Challengers reviews also earned the sports drama a Certified Fresh score of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes with a similarly Fresh 75% audience score. However, when the 2025 Oscar nominations were announced on January 23, the movie was completely shut out by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in every possible category, earning zero nominations overall.
Which Oscars Challengers Realistically Could Have Been Nominated For
It Was A Frontrunner In Multiple Categories
There are some 2025 Oscar categories where it makes sense that the Guadagnino movie was snubbed. For instance, none of the three stars at the center of the Challengers cast were frontrunners in the performance categories. However, it seemed like a lock for both major music categories. The movie’s iconic musical sensibility saw it shortlisted both for Best Original Song (for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ “Compress / Repress”) and Best Original Score (a category in which Reznor and Ross have been nominated three times and which they won twice). See the movies that were actually nominated in both categories below:
|
Best Original Score |
Best Original Song |
|---|---|
|
The Brutalist |
“El Mal” – Emilia Pérez |
|
Conclave |
“The Journey” – The Six Triple Eight |
|
Emilia Pérez |
“Like a Bird” – Sing Sing |
|
Wicked |
“Mi Camino” – Emilia Pérez |
|
The Wild Robot |
“Never Too Late” – Elton John: Never Too Late |
Ahead of the 2025 Oscar nominations, it also seemed possible that Justin Kuritzkes would also earn a nod for Best Original Screenplay. However, the actual nominations in that category went to Sean Baker for Anora, Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold for The Brutalist, Jesse Eisenberg for A Real Pain, Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum, and Alex David for September 5, and Coralie Fargeat for The Substance. It was a particularly auteur driven year, as every nominated movie was either written or co-written by its director (Corbet and Fehlbaum helmed their respective movies), which could explain the snub in that particular category.
Challengers Looked Like An Oscar Nominee Based On Its Awards Season Performance
It Was Honored At Other Major Ceremonies
This Oscars shutout for Challengers is a surprise considering how well it has performed at other major ceremonies in the 2024-2025 awards season, including the 2025 Golden Globes. Two of its nominations, Best Picture and Best Actress, came in categories with more possible nominations because the Globes split several categories between Drama and Musical or Comedy, allowing for 10 overall nominees across genres rather than five. However, it was also nominated in the more limited Best Original Song and Best Score categories, with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross winning the latter award, marking their third win out of six nominations.
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross were previously nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Original Score for Mank, Soul, Gone Girl, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and The Social Network, winning for The Social Network and Soul.
The Golden Globes ceremony was not the only time when Challengers performed well. The movie also earned two Gotham Awards nominations (winning one, a Spotlight Tribute for Zendaya), four Critics’ Choice Movie Awards nominations (which are pending), a Grammy Award nomination (pending), and a Writers Guild of America award (pending). Overall, Reznor and Ross’ music has been nominated at least 21 times, winning seven accolades, while Kuritzkes’ screenplay has been nominated 10 times, winning once so far. Elsewhere, it has also been nominated in a variety of other categories including Best Picture, Best Editing, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Director.
Luca Guadagnino’s Oscars History Also Pointed To Challengers Getting Nominations
Previous Movies Have Earned The Academy’s Attention
Quite a few previous Luca Guadagnino movies have earned much more attention from the Academy. The first Oscar nomination for one of his movies came when 2010’s I Am Love was nominated for Best Costume Design. This was followed by his 2017 Timothée Chalamet-led romance Call Me By Your Name earning four nominations, winning the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for James Ivory’s interpretation of the André Aciman novel of the same name. That movie also earned Guadagnino himself his first and only nomination, as he earned a nod as the movie’s producer when it was nominated for Best Picture.
Call Me By Your Name‘s other Oscar nominations were for Best Actor for Timothée Chalamet and Best Original Song for Sufjan Stevens’ “Mystery of Love.”
However, the director’s more recent output has had a habit of being snubbed, beginning with 2018’s Suspiria. The remake of the 1977 Dario Argento horror movie of the same name was snubbed by the Academy entirely, as was his subsequent movie, the 2022 cannibal love story Bones and All, which saw him reunite with lead actor Timothée Chalamet. Additionally, his other 2024 movie, the William S. Boroughs adaptation Queer, was similarly shut out by the 2025 Oscar nominations.
Challengers May Have Come Out Too Early To Be A Serious Oscar Contender
Awards Season Truly Begins In October
In spite of the Challengers love triangle becoming a major topic of social media conversation at the time when the movie was released, along with its many other merits including its score, it is also possible that the fact that the movie was released on April 26 meant that it came far too early for serious awards consideration. Many movies that are awards hopefuls are released between October and December, shortly before the Academy’s voting process, in the hopes of remaining fresh in voters’ minds when it comes time to make their decisions.
The majority of the year’s major Oscars nominees were released later in 2024.
An early 2024 release date did not hamper the sci-fi sequel Dune: Part Two, which debuted on March 1 and was nominated for five Oscars including Best Picture. However, the majority of the year’s major Oscars nominees were released later in 2024. This includes all nine of the other Best Picture nominees. The earliest of those тιтles was The Substance, which premiered on September 20, but every other nominee premiered between October 18 and December 25, which emphasizes how damaging the Challengers release date may have been.
