‘Emilia Pérez,’ ‘Challengers,’ ‘Wicked’ & More Shortlisted for Best Original Score at 2025 Oscars

Two composing teams are on the Oscar shortlist for best original score, along with 18 individual composers.

Clément Ducol and Camille are shortlisted for their work on Emilia Pérez (Netflix); Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are shortlisted for Challengers. A second Reznor/Ross score, Queer, didn’t make the cut. The Nine Inch Nails members have won two Oscars in this category, for The Social Network and Soul, the latter a collaboration with Jon Batiste.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences released shortlists in 10 categories, including best original score and best original song, on Tuesday (Dec. 17). The number of shortlisted scores jumped from 15 to 20 this year, on the grounds that there are so many entries in this category. This year, 145 scores were eligible in the category, compared to 89 songs in the best original song category. (The number of shortlisted songs remained at 15.)

Hans Zimmer in on the score shortlist for his work on Steve McQueen’s Blitz. Zimmer might have had two scores on the shortlist, but his score for Dune: Part Two was ruled ineligible due to exceeding the Academy’s limit on pre-existing music. Academy rules state: “In cases such as sequels and franchises from any media, the score must not use more than 20% of pre-existing themes and music borrowed from previous scores in the franchise.” Zimmer’s score for Dune: Part Two incorporates substantial elements from his Oscar-winning score for 2021’s Dune.

Dune: Part Two was nominated for both a Golden Globe and a Critics Choice Award for best original score. The other scores that are nominated for those two awards were all shortlisted for Oscars – Daniel Blumberg’s The Brutalist, Reznor & Ross’ Challengers, Volker Bertelmann’s Conclave, Ducol & Camille’s Emilia Pérez and Kris Bowers’ The Wild Robot.

John Powell’s score for Wicked made the shortlist. The film is closing in on Mamma Mia! as the top-grossing film ever adapted from a Broadway musical.

Andrea Datzman is shortlisted for Inside Out 2. With this release, Datzman became the first woman to score a Pixar feature film.

Here’s a complete list of this year’s 20 shortlisted scores for best original score:

Shortlisted

Alien: Romulus (20th Century Studios) – Benjamin Wallfisch

Babygirl (A24) – Critobal Tapia de Veer

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Warner Bros. Pictures) – Danny Elfman

Blink Twice (Amazon MGM Studios) – Chanda Dancy

Blitz (Apple Original Films) — Hans Zimmer

The Brutalist (A24) — Daniel Blumberg

Challengers (Amazon MGM) — Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Conclave (Focus Features) — Volker Bertelmann

Emilia Pérez (Netflix) — Clément Ducol, Camille

The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM) — Tamar-kali

Gladiator II (Paramount Pictures) — Harry Gregson-Williams

Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 (New Line Cinema) – John Debney

Inside Out 2 (Pixar) — Andrea Datzman

Nosferatu (Focus Features) – Robin Carolan

The Room Next Door (Sony Pictures Classics) — Alberto Iglesias

Sing Sing (A24) — Bryce Dessner

The Six Triple Eight (Netflix) – Aaron Zigman

Wicked (Universal Pictures) – John Powell

The Wild Robot (DreamWorks Animation) — Kris Bowers

Young Woman and the Sea (Walt Disney Pictures) — Amelia Warner

And here are some of the highly-touted scores that were passed over for the shortlist.

Not Shortlisted

Deadpool & Wolverine (Marvel Studios) — Rob Simonsen

Drive-Away Dolls (Focus Features) — Carter Burwell

Flow (Janus Films/Sideshow) — Gints Zilbalodis, Rihards Zalupe

Hard Truths (Bleecker Street) — Gary Yershon

Here (Sony Pictures) — Alan Silvestri

IF (Paramount Pictures) — Michael Giacchino

I’m Still Here (Sony Pictures Classics) — Warren Ellis

Memoir of a Snail (IFC Films) — Elena Kats-Chernin

Mufasa: The Lion King (Walt Disney Pictures) — Nicholas Britell, Dave Metzger, Pharrell Williams

Moana 2 (Walt Disney Pictures) — Mark Mancina, Opetaia Foaʻi

The Piano Lesson (Netflix) — Alexandre Desplat

Queer (A24) — Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Saturday Night (Sony Pictures) — Jon Batiste

September 5 (Paramount Pictures) — Lorenz Dangel

The Substance (Mubi) — Raffertie

Transformers One (Paramount Pictures) — Brian Tyler

We Live in Time (A24) — Bryce Dessner

Nominations-round voting runs from Jan. 8-12. Nominations will be announced Jan. 17. Final-round voting runs from Feb. 11-18. The 97th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 2 at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide. The show will also stream live on Hulu for the first time.