Film Music Reporter

Starting today, we are publishing our predictions for the nominees in the Best Original Score category of next year’s 97th Academy Awards on the left side column of this page. The selection and ranking is based on our own experience of the scores in context of the movies, historical data, reactions of Academy music branch members and others in the film music community, the level of awards campaigning and awareness of the competing titles, and the response to the movies in other categories. The order of the titles in the ranking is likely to shift as some movies have yet to be released or are early in their release cycle, more reactions are coming in and the eligibility of all contenders is confirmed (a few titles currently listed in our predictions could face issues in that regard).

Update following publication of shortlist of 20 titles (December 17, 2024):

The Frontrunners:

1. 1. The Brutalist – Daniel Blumberg
   2. The Wild Robot – Kris Bowers
   3. Emilia Pérez – Clément Ducol & Camille
   4. Challengers – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
   5. Conclave – Volker Bertelmann

Runner-ups:

1. The Room Next Door – Alberto Iglesias
2. Wicked – John Powell & Stephen Schwartz
3. Gladiator II – Harry Gregson-Williams
4. Horizon: An American Saga- Chapter 1 – John Debney
5. Babygirl – Cristobal Tapia de Veer
6. Young Woman and the Sea – Amelia Warner

Other Possibilities:

1. Blitz – Hans Zimmer
2. Sing Sing – Bryce Dessner
3. Nosferatu – Robin Carolan
4. Inside Out 2 – Andrea Datzman
5. Blink Twice – Chanda Dancy
6. Alien: Romulus – Benjamin Wallfisch
7. The Six Triple Eight – Aaron Zigman
8. The Fire Inside – Tamar-kali
9. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice – Danny Elfman

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Update following publication of eligible titles (December 6, 2024):

Notable omissions: Dune: Part Two (Hans Zimmer) & Joker: Folie à Deux (Hildur Guðnadóttir)

Notable inclusion (given its use of material from the music of the stage musical): Wicked (John Powell & Stephen Schwartz)

The Frontrunners:

1. The Brutalist – Daniel Blumberg
2. The Wild Robot – Kris Bowers
3. Emilia Pérez – Clément Ducol & Camille
4. Challengers – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
5. Saturday Night – Jon Batiste
6. Conclave – Volker Bertelmann

Runner-ups:

1. Wicked – John Powell & Stephen Schwartz
2. The Room Next Door – Alberto Iglesias
3. Gladiator II – Harry Gregson-Williams
4. Horizon: An American Saga- Chapter 1 – John Debney
5. Babygirl – Cristobal Tapia de Veer
6. Young Woman and the Sea – Amelia Warner

Other Possibilities:

1. Blitz – Hans Zimmer
2. Here – Alan Silvestri
3. Sing Sing – Bryce Dessner
4. The Piano Lesson – Alexandre Desplat
5. Spellbound – Alan Menken
6. Nosferatu – Robin Carolan
7. Inside Out 2 – Andrea Datzman
8. Nickel Boys – Alex Somers & Scott Alario

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Original Predictions

The Frontrunners:

1. The Brutalist – Daniel Blumberg
2. Dune: Part Two – Hans Zimmer
3. The Wild Robot – Kris Bowers
4. Emilia Pérez – Clément Ducol & Camille
5. Challengers – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
6. Saturday Night – Jon Batiste
7. Conclave – Volker Bertelmann

Runner-ups:

1. The Room Next Door – Alberto Iglesias
2. Gladiator II – Harry Gregson-Williams
3. Horizon: An American Saga- Chapter 1 – John Debney
4. Babygirl – Cristobal Tapia de Veer
5. Young Woman and the Sea – Amelia Warner

Other Possibilities:

1. Blitz – Hans Zimmer
2. Here – Alan Silvestri
3. Sing Sing – Bryce Dessner
4. The Piano Lesson – Alexandre Desplat
5. Spellbound – Alan Menken
6. Nosferatu – Robin Carolan
7. Inside Out 2 – Andrea Datzman
8. Nickel Boys – Alex Somers & Scott Alario

Short list voting will begin on Monday, December 9 and the shortlists of twenty titles will be announced on December 17. The nominations for the 97th Academy Awards will be announced on January 17, 2025 and the awards ceremony will take place on March 2.