97th Academy Awards Nominees Announced Amid California Wildfires

The nominees for the 97th Academy Awards have been officially revealed. On January 23, 2025, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the final list of nominees via an online live stream. Prior to the announcement, the Academy expressed condolences for those affected by the recent wildfires in Los Angeles. Originally scheduled for January 17, the announcement was postponed due to the impact of the wildfires. The Academy also opted for an online-only event, canceling the in-person nominees' luncheon planned for February 10. Instead, the $250,000 budget for the luncheon will be donated to assist residents affected by the fires.

This year's nominees for Best Picture include films such as Anora, Brutalist, Complete Unknown, Conclave, Dune: Part Two, Emilia Perez, I'm Still Here, Nickel Boys, Substance, and Wicked. In the Best Actor category, nominees include Adrien Brody, Timothée Chalamet, Coleman Domingo, Ralph Fiennes, and Sebastian Stan. For Best Actress, Cynthia Erivo, Mikey Madison, and Fernanda Torres are among the nominees.

Notably, Demi Moore, who won the Best Actress award at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards for her role in Substance, has also been nominated for the Oscar in the same category, marking her first acting nomination in 45 years. Additionally, Karla Sofia Gascon from Emilia Perez has made history as the first transgender nominee for an Oscar acting award.

The musical film Emilia Perez leads the nominations with 14 categories, followed by Wicked and Brutalist, each with 10 nominations. Unfortunately, no South Korean films made the nominee list this year. The film Seoul's Spring was submitted as South Korea's entry for the International Feature Film category but did not make the preliminary list.

However, the Japanese animated film Magic Candies (알사탕), based on the picture book by Baek Heena, has been nominated in the Short Animated Film category. Directed by Nishio Daisuke, Magic Candies is a 21-minute animation that tells the story of a lonely child named Dongdong who, while buying new marbles with his dog, encounters a special candy that helps him understand others' feelings.

The 97th Academy Awards ceremony is set to take place on March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, and will be broadcast live on ABC.