Where to watch the 2025 Oscar nominees ahead of the ceremony

NEW YORK — As the Academy Awards race rounds its final lap, the question is not just which films will win, but where to watch those vying for gold statuettes.

Leading-yet-controversial nominee “Emilia Pérez,” tapped for 13 awards, is distributed by Netflix and therefore easy to watch from the comfort of your couch. But fellow best picture nominee “The Brutalist” could be a bit tougher to fit into one’s schedule. The three-and-a-half-hour, postwar epic is currently only playing in theaters.

For those looking to catch up ahead of Hollywood’s biggest night, here’s where you can watch the most talked-about contenders — all those fighting for best picture, as well as a few other notable films — before the 97th Academy Awards air March 2 at 7 p.m. ET on ABC and live on Hulu.

Best picture nominees

"Anora"

Director: Sean Baker

Synopsis: Brooklyn-based sex worker Ani (Mikey Madison) seems to find herself in a Cinderella story when she meets Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), the son of a Russian oligarch. After striking a “Pretty Woman”-like deal, the pair elope in Las Vegas. But the fairy tale turns into a nightmare when Ivan’s handler (Karren Karagulian) and henchman (Yura Borisov) enter the picture.

Nominations: Best picture, director, actress (Madison), supporting actor (Borisov), original screenplay, film editing

Where to watch: In theaters or for $9.99 on Prime Video

"The Brutalist"

Director: Brady Corbet

Synopsis: After surviving the Holocaust, Hungarian architect László Tóth (Adrien Brody) settles in Pennsylvania, where he meets a wealthy benefactor (Guy Pearce) and his smarmy son (Joe Alwyn). But the long-awaited arrival of László’s wife, Erzsébet (Felicity Jones), and niece Zsófia (Raffey Cassidy) show him that perhaps the American dream is nothing but a house of cards.

Nominations: Best picture, director, actor (Brody), supporting actor (Pearce), supporting actress (Jones), original screenplay, original score, cinematography, production design, film editing

Where to watch: In theaters

"A Complete Unknown"

Director: James Mangold

Synopsis: A young Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) arrives in 1960s New York and, with the likes of Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy) and Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) singing his praises, enters the folk scene with a bang. Add in overlapping affairs with Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro) and radical activist Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning’s take on the real-life Suze Rotolo), the singular artist finds himself at multiple crossroads off and on the stage, culminating in his genre-defining decision to go electric.

Nominations: Best picture, director, actor (Chalamet), supporting actor (Norton), supporting actress (Barbaro), adapted screenplay, costume design, sound

Where to watch: In theaters

"Conclave"

Director: Edward Berger

Synopsis: Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) finds himself at the center of scandal and conspiracy that could shake the very foundation of the Catholic Church as he leads the world’s cardinals (including Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow) in one the most secretive and ancient events — selecting the new pope.

Nominations: Best picture, actor (Fiennes), supporting actress (Isabella Rossellini), adapted screenplay, original score, costume design, production design, film editing

Where to watch: In theaters, streaming on Peacock or for $5.99 on Prime Video

"Dune: Part Two"

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Synopsis: Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) is ushered into messianic territory as he juggles love with Chani (Zendaya), vengeance against the conspirators who destroyed his family and the fate of the universe. Oh, and colossal sandworms.

Nominations: Best picture, cinematography, production design, visual effects, sound

Where to watch: Streaming on Netflix and Max or for $3.99 on Prime Video

"Emilia Pérez"

Director: Jacques Audiard

Synopsis: A Mexican cartel leader (Karla Sofía Gascón) is secretly transitioning and recruits lawyer Rita (Zoe Saldaña) to help finish the job. That includes surgeries and setting her unwitting family, including her wife (Selena Gomez), up for success abroad for when she fakes her death and starts anew as the titular Emilia.

Nominations: Best picture, director, actress (Gascón), supporting actress (Saldaña), adapted screenplay, international feature film, original score, original song (“El Mal” and “Mi Camino”), cinematography, film editing, sound, makeup and hairstyling

Notable for: Gascón is the first openly transgender performer ever nominated for an acting Oscar, while the movie itself is the most nominated foreign-language film in Academy Award history.

Where to watch: Streaming on Netflix

"I’m Still Here"

Director: Walter Salles

Synopsis: Set in 1971 Brazil against the backdrop of a burgeoning military dictatorship, this true story sees mother of five Eunice Paiva (Fernanda Torres) trying to maintain a handle on her family while investigating the disappearance of her husband, a former deputy in the Brazilian Labour Party.

Nominations: Best picture, actress (Torres), international feature film

Notable for: Torres is only the second Brazilian to ever be nominated in the Academy Awards’ best actress category. She was preceded by none other than her mother, Fernanda Montenegro, for 1998’s “Central Station,” also directed by Salles.

Where to watch: Currently in theaters in limited release; opens nationwide Feb. 14

"Nickel Boys"

Director: RaMell Ross

Synopsis: Based on Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, “Nickel Boys” follows Elwood Curtis (Ethan Herisse), a Black teen whose promising future is upended when he’s falsely accused of a crime in Jim Crow-era Florida. He soon strikes up a life-altering friendship with another boy named Turner (Brandon Wilson) as they help each other navigate the harrowing experience of an abusive reform school.

Nominations: Best picture, adapted screenplay

Where to watch: In theaters

"The Substance"

Director: Coralie Fargeat

Synopsis: After once-celebrated but now-fading film star Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) is fired by a producer due to her age, she turns to a serum known as “The Substance” to help her stay competitive. While the black-market drug generates a “younger, more beautiful” version of herself, Elisabeth quickly learns it comes with unexpected side effects that turn her life upside down.

Nominations: Best picture, director, actress (Moore), original screenplay, makeup and hairstyling

Where to watch: Streaming on Mubi or for $5.99 on Prime Video

"Wicked"

Director: Jon M. Chu

Synopsis: The ever-“popular” Galinda (Ariana Grande) tells the munchkins the story of her former friendship with the Wicked Witch of the West, then known as Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), back when the two were at Shiz University and hoping to meet the Wizard of Oz.

Nominations: Best picture, actress (Erivo), supporting actress (Grande), original score, costume design, makeup and hairstyling, production design, film editing, visual effects, sound

Where to watch: For $19.99 on Prime Video

Other notable nominees

"The Apprentice"

Director: Ali Abbasi

Synopsis: Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan) gets the origin story treatment via a Frankenstein-Monster tale, depicting how notorious attorney Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong) helped mold his protege from an ambitious nepo-baby into a cutthroat real estate tycoon — essentially paving the way for the polarizing president we know today.

Nominations: Best actor (Stan), supporting actor (Strong)

Where to watch: For $5.99 on Prime Video

"Nosferatu"

Director: Robert Eggers

Synopsis: A naive newlywed (Nicholas Hoult) travels to a remote location to sell an abandoned manor to the mysterious Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård), only to be tricked by the latter into signing over his wife (Lily-Rose Depp). The deadly deal with the devil — or in this case, vampire — unleashes a plague on the couple’s village in this remake of the 1922 German Expressionist classic.

Nominations: Best cinematography, production design, costume design, makeup and hairstyling

Where to watch: In theaters or for $19.99 on Prime Video

"A Real Pain"

Director: Jesse Eisenberg

Synopsis: Two Jewish American cousins, the flighty yet charming Benji (Kieran Culkin) and the reserved David (Eisenberg, who also wrote the film), tour Poland in memory of their late grandmother as festering family dynamics reach a boiling point.

Nominations: Best supporting actor (Culkin), original screenplay

Where to watch: In theaters, streaming on Hulu or for $19.99 on Prime Video

"September 5"

Director: Tim Fehlbaum

Synopsis: The ABC Sports crew (including Peter Sarsgaard and John Magaro) finds itself making and witnessing history during the 1972 Munich Olympics when Black September terrorists attack the Israeli team 100 yards from where they’re reporting.

Nominations: Best original screenplay

Where to watch: In theaters

"Sing Sing"

Director: Greg Kwedar

Synopsis: Wrongfully convicted Divine G (Colman Domingo) is behind bars at Sing Sing, where he gets a new lease on life and his humanity, thanks to a theater group with his fellow prisoners — many of whom are played by real-life formerly incarcerated men.

Nominations: Best actor (Domingo), adapted screenplay, original song (“Like a Bird”)

Where to watch: In theaters or streaming on Apple TV