Last Sunday, March 2, 2025, the 97th Academy Awards Ceremony, more commonly known as the Oscars, was held at Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. Honoring films released in 2024, the event gave awards spanning across 24 different categories. The awards show was broadcasted live on ABC and is now streaming on Hulu.
The movie that won the most awards Sunday night was “Anora,” a comedy-drama with a small $6 million budget. Out of the six it was nominated for, “Anora,” directed by Sean Baker, took home five Oscars in total, including Best Picture and Best Director. Lead actress Mikey Madison won Best Actress for her starring role in the film. It was a deserved win, unlike the five nominations for “The Substance”, according to sophomore Kate Jones.
“I think ‘Anora’ was pretty good and deserved the awards it won, but I was surprised that ‘The Substance’ was nominated for so many awards, especially for Best Picture,” Jones said. “It really disappointed me because I thought the satire was done poorly and it was over-the-top; its only win being for makeup and styling makes sense.”
“The Substance” wasn’t the only surprise of the evening. “Emelia Pérez”, a comedic musical about a transgender gang leader faking her death after her transition, was nominated for 19 Oscars, breaking the record for the most Oscar nominations for a non-English language film, according to The Oscars. Even though it was the most nominated movie of the night, “Emelia Pérez” only ended up bringing home two awards: Best Original Song and Best Supporting Actress, granting Zoe Saldaña, who plays a lawyer, her first Oscar nomination and win. The comedy-musical had many different elements, which was too much for some viewers, according to sophomore Morgan Miller.
“When I watched ‘Emelia Pérez’, I thought there were too many things going on and that it didn’t deserve to be nominated for as many awards as it did,” Miller said. “I’m very surprised it won for Best Original Song because the music was not as good as its competitions, especially for being a musical— I much preferred the songs in Wicked.”
“Wicked”, a musical based on The Wizard of Oz, was the highest-grossing film to win an Oscar this year, pulling in over $700 million at the box office, according to Box Office Mojo. Wicked, which was nominated for awards across 10 categories, took away two Oscars for Best Costume Design and Best Production Design. “Wicked” stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo performed “Defying Gravity,” a song from the film, to open the ceremony. This act was headlined by this year’s host, Conan O’Brien. There were over 19.7 million television viewers in the United States, according to Statista. This was his first year hosting the Oscars, but he did a very good job, according to English teacher Ms. Wilson.
“I thought Conan did a very good job as host; he was very funny,” Wilson said. “I really liked his ‘Substance’-esque entrance where he came out of Demi Moore, as it set a comedic tone for the rest of the night.”
The 97th Academy Awards showcased a diverse range of films, and highlighted the variety of storytelling in last year’s cinema. As the industry moves forward and more movies come out, anticipation builds for next year’s awards and the films that will define the upcoming year.
“I really liked this year’s Oscars even though there were some unexpected outcomes like ‘Wicked’ not winning more awards,” Jones said. “I’m already looking out for new movies that will be in next year’s ceremony.”
