Oscars 2025: Anora Wins Big With Five Awards
Oscars 2025: Anora Wins Big With Five Award : The 97th Academy Awards was a night to remember, with the drama-comedy Anora stealing the spotlight. The film won Best Picture along with four other top honors, making it the biggest winner of the evening.
Major Wins of the Night
Best Actor: Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)
Best Actress: Mikey Madison (Anora)
Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)
Best Supporting Actress: Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)
Best Director: Sean Baker (Anora)
Sean Baker, the director of Anora, also won Oscars for Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing. While accepting the screenwriting award, he expressed gratitude to the sex worker community, saying, “My deepest respect. I share this with you.” He later dedicated his Best Director award to his mother.
Mikey Madison, who played the title role iAnora, was overwhelmed with emotion as she won Best Actress. “This is a dream come true,” she said in her speech.
Other Notable Wins
The night wasn’t just about Anora. Other films took home some prestigious awards:
The Brutalist, an immigrant drama, won three Oscars, including Best Actor for Adrien Brody. His role as a Holocaust survivor earned him his second Oscar, the first being in 2003 for The Pianist. In his acceptance speech, he emphasized the importance of learning from history, saying, “If the past teaches us anything, it’s to never let hate go unchecked.”
Wicked won in Best Production Design andBest Costume Design.
Dune: Part Two picked up awards for Best Sound and Best Visual Effects.
Emilia Pérez, the Netflix musical, won Best Original Song and Best Supporting Actress for Zoe Saldaña.
Flow, an independent Latvian animated film about a brave cat, won Best Animated Feature, beating The Wild Robot and Inside Out 2.
A Night of Surprises
The show opened with a tribute to Los Angeles, which had recently been affected by wildfires. Ariana Grande performed Somewhere Over the Rainbow, followed by a powerful duet with Cynthia Erivo singing Defying Gravity from *Wicked.
Late in the evening, the documentary No Other Land won Best Documentary Feature. The film, which focuses on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, brought a rare moment of political commentary when director Basel Andra urged the world to take action against injustice.
Host and Audience Reactions
Conan O’Brien made his Oscars hosting debut with a lighthearted approach, avoiding political controversy and keeping the mood entertaining. His opening monologue was filled with witty jokes, making the audience laugh throughout the night.
Box Office Shock
Despite its massive Oscar success,Anora set a record for the lowest domestic box office earnings for a Best Picture winner outside of a pandemic, with only $15.6 million in ticket sales since its October release.
The Big Oscar Upset
The most-nominated film of the night, Emilia Pérez, which had 13 nominations, ended up winning just two awards. It was initially a frontrunner for Best Picture, but its chances dropped after old social media posts from its star, Karla Sofía Gascón, surfaced, causing controversy.
The 2025 Oscars delivered big wins, emotional moments, and unexpected turns. Anora dominated the night, but many other films also had their moments of glory. With so many great performances and storytelling, Hollywood once again proved its magic on the biggest stage in cinema.