Odds on Who Will Win Big at the Oscars After Shortlists Revealed

_{Spotlight on the 2025 Oscars! Who are contenders vying for the Academy Awards? (Image: Casinos.com)}

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently revealed shortlists in 10 categories ahead of the 2025 Oscars. This included nominations for the likes of Makeup and Hairstyling, Original Score, Original Song, and Visual Effects.

Like with the recent Golden Globes nods, which saw Emilia Pérez lead the way with 10 nominations, the Spanish-language musical movie had six mentions in the recent Oscars shortlists, while Wicked had four.

The full Academy Awards nominations will be revealed on January 17th, after voting for the 23 categories takes place between January 8th and 12th. 

But we've had a look at who stands a strong chance of success in some of the categories that aren't as talked about as the likes of Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Actress.

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Emilia's Double Chance

Netflix looks set to head into next year's Academy Awards with three of the four top contenders to land the Original Song gong. If it is to be a good night for Emilia Pérez, then it's likely the movie will score a victory in this category.

Following the release of the shortlist, Zoe Saldana's El Mal is the Evens favourite to take home the accolade, while the movie's Mi Camino—which is performed by Selena Gomez—is 2/1 fourth favourite.

Standing in the motion picture's way of Oscars Original Song victory is the tune The Journey, from fellow Netflix hit The Six Triple Eight.

The track is a formidable contender at 5/4, the second favourite. It is written by 15-time Original Song nominee Diane Warren and performed by H.E.R.

However, Warren knows all about being nominated, but she is yet to scoop an Academy Award in the category and the prices suggest she could find one better once again in 2025.

Another tune that will put up strong competition for the prize is Maren Morris' Kiss The Sky, from the movie The Wild Robot.

The motion picture has gone down extremely well with critics—achieving a 97 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating at the time of writing—and is the favourite to land the Animated Feature accolade.

What's more, at 6/4 The Journey could be there or thereabouts in the Original Song category, too. Among the outsiders is Lin-Manuel Miranda's Tell Me It’s You, from Mufasa: The Lion King.

_{Ariana and Cyntia's Wicked earned four Oscar shortlist nods. (Image: FlixPix / Alamy)}

The song is a 6/1 chance, but Miranda will be hoping it can overcome those odds because it would complete his EGOT, meaning he will have wins at the Emmys, Grammys, Oscars, and Tony Awards.

However, Wicked's tunes are ineligible to be nominated in the category due to them being pre-existing songs. 

Wicked Could Land Visual Effects Victory

While Wicked definitely won't win Best Original Song, it has a strong chance of scooping a Visual Effects Oscar.

There has been plenty of hype about the musical movie, which features Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, but this looks set to be a hotly contested category.

The top of the market isn't separated by much, with Dune: Part Two 11/10 favourite to take the prize, followed by epic movie Gladiator II at 5/4.

However, it would not be a huge upset if 13/8 chance Wicked were to scoop the award. There also seems to be a prime theme among some of the strong contenders.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, which is 7/4 for Visual Effects victory, is blessed with plenty of primates, but there are also flying monkeys in Wicked and baboons in Gladiator II.

_{A Different Man, in which Stan stars as a struggling actor with neurofibromatosis, is the 11/8 favorite for Makeup and Hairstyling. (Image: FlixPix / Alamy)}

What's more, the fifth favourite, Better Man (5/2), is a semi-biographical musical film about pop megastar Robbie Williams, who is portrayed as a chimpanzee, thanks to CGI, throughout the motion picture.

While Better Man is in contention for a Visual Effects win, A Different Man is the frontrunner to scoop the Makeup and Hairstyling accolade.

Like the Original Song category, when Emilia Pérez featured on the shortlist twice, Sebastian Stan has a double chance to win this prize.

The actor portrays struggling actor Edward Lemuel, who has the genetic condition neurofibromatosis, which manifests as a disfiguring facial condition. A Different Man is the 11/8 favourite to land the Makeup and Hairstyling award, followed by 7/4 second favourite Wicked.

But Stan has another chance for victory, with his appearance as US President Donald Trump in The Apprentice, a 4/1 shot. Others in contention include The Substance (2/1) and 5/2 chance Emilia Pérez.

Perez to Score Victory? 

Emilia Pérez is also one of the strong contenders to land the Academy Award for Original Score.

Clément Ducol and Camille's effort is 2/1 second favourite to secure the prize, behind Volker Bertelmann's Conclave.

The frontrunner is an early 7/4 chance to score victory in the category, which had an incredible 145 eligible contenders this year, but both movies face stiff competition from Challengers.

Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross composed the score for the Luca Guadagnino movie, and it has tasted some success this year, winning Best Music at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and Best Original Score at the Atlanta Film Critics Circle.

_{Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross alrady won at 83rd Annual Academy Awards. Could they do it again? (Image: WENN Rights Ltd / Alamy)}

Two-time Original Score Oscar winners Reznor and Ross—who previously won for The Social Network and animated film Soul—are hoping for a hat trick in 2025.

Their effort is 3/1 third favourite to triumph, followed by composing legend Hans Zimmer, who also has two Original Score Oscars.

He triumphed in 2021 with Dune and 1994 with The Lion King, and Zimmer is hoping to make it third time lucky with the war movie Blitz.

The Brutalist has attracted plenty of Oscars buzz in the acting categories, but it's 4/1 to win Best Original Score, ahead of 5/1 chance Wicked and 11/2 shot Gladiator II.