The Critics Choice Awards, hosted by Chelsea Handler, will broadcast LIVE on E! on Friday, February 7, 2025 (7:00 – 10:00pm ET/PT) from the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica. The show will also be available to stream the next day on Peacock.
Preview:
- The winners of the 30th Annual Critics Choice Film Awards include ‘Anora’ and ‘Wicked’
- ‘Emilia Perez’ and ‘The Substance’ also did well.
- The ceremony was hosted by Chelsea Handler.
If you had to use a metaphor to describe the 2025 edition of the Critics Choice Awards, it would be Oprah Winfrey during her big giveaway days on her talk show, but with kudos instead of cars: you get a trophy! You get a trophy! You all get a trophy!
Yes, while ‘Anora’ missed out on all of its other categories, Sean Baker’s film about an exotic dancer who falls for –– and marries –– the spoiled spawn of a Russian oligarch took home Best Picture.
This year’s awards, hosted for the third time by Chelsea Handler (whose monologue proved to be both funny and pointed in places, even touching on the Blake Lively/Justin Baldoni legal PR chaos) at the Barker Hanger in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, was a typically jolly affair.
Yet it was tempered by plenty of references to the wildfires that have devastated chunks of the city’s hilly surroundings, and first responders were invited and saluted during the opening and in more than one speech.
Despite being snubbed by the Oscar nominations, it was ‘Wicked’ filmmaker Jon M. Chu who won Best Director, comically shouting out his shut-out by the Academy, quipping, “I’m gonna win that Oscar!”
His film took three awards in total, including Best Production Design and Best Costume Design.
Also scoring a trio of trophies? ‘The Substance,’ for which Demi Moore won yet another Best Actress trophy along with Best Original Screenplay and the Hair and Make-Up award. And the controversy-hit ‘Emilia Pérez,’ which nabbed a Best Supporting Actress gong for Zoe Saldaña Best Song for “El Mal,” collected by the movie’s co-composer Camille and Best Foreign Language Film.
A few of the winners were entirely unsurprising; Kieran Culkin, who has been collecting hardware left, right and center, notched up another Best Supporting Actor award (though he wasn’t present at the show) for ‘A Real Pain’ and Adrien Brody won Best Actor for ‘The Brutalist.’
Actually a surprise? The seemingly forgotten ‘Challengers’ nabbing two, Best Editing and Best Score.
Here’s the full list of winners…
Critics Choice 2025: Film Nominees
BEST PICTURE
Mikey Madison as Ani in ‘Anora’. Photo: Courtesy of NEON.
BEST ACTOR
Adrien Brody in ‘The Brutalist’. Photo: A24.
Demi Moore in ‘The Substance’. Photo: Mubi.
(L to R) Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg in ‘A Real Pain’. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures, © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Zoe Saldaña as Emilia Pérez in ‘Emilia Pérez’. Photo: Netflix.
BEST YOUNG ACTOR / ACTRESS
Maisy Stella in ‘My Old Ass’. Photo: Amazon MGM Studios.
(L to R) Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Lawrence and Stanley Tucci as Cardinal Bellini in director Edward Berger’s ‘Conclave’, a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features. © 2024 All Rights Reserved.
- ‘Anora’
- ‘Conclave’ – WINNER
- ‘Emilia Pérez’
- ‘Saturday Night’
- ‘Sing Sing’
- ‘Wicked’
BEST DIRECTOR
‘Wicked’ director Jon M. Chu.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Margaret Qualley in ‘The Substance’. Photo: Mubi.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Ralph Fiennes stars as Cardinal Lawrence in director Edward Berger’s ‘Conclave’, a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features. © 2024 All Rights Reserved.
- Jacques Audiard – ‘Emilia Pérez’
- Winnie Holzman, Dana Fox – ‘Wicked’
- Greg Kwedar, Clint Bentley – ‘Sing Sing’
- RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes – ‘Nickel Boys’
- Peter Straughan – ‘Conclave’ – WINNER
- Denis Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts – ‘Dune: Part Two’
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
(L to R) Producer Chris Columbus, director Robert Eggers and director of photography Jarin Blaschke on the set of their film ‘Nosferatu’, a Focus Features release.
Credit: Aidan Monaghan / © 2024 Focus Features LLC.
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Emerald City in ‘Wicked’, directed by Jon M. Chu. Photo: Universal Pictures.
(L to R) Mike Faist stars as Art and Zendaya as Tashi in director Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Challengers,’ an Amazon MGM Studios film. Photo credit: Niko Tavernise. © 2024 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved.
- Sean Baker – ‘Anora’
- Marco Costa – ‘Challengers’ – WINNER
- Nick Emerson – ‘Conclave’
- David Jancso – ‘The Brutalist’
- Joe Walker – ‘Dune: Part Two’
- Hansjörg Weißbrich – ‘September 5’
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Ariana Grande is Glinda in ‘Wicked’, directed by Jon M. Chu. Photo: Universal Pictures.
Margaret Qualley in ‘The Substance’. Photo: Mubi.
- Christine Blundell, Lesa Warrener, Neal Scanlan – ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’
- Hair and Makeup Team – ‘Dune: Part Two’
- Hair and Makeup Team – ‘The Substance’ – WINNER
- Frances Hannon, Sarah Nuth, Laura Blount – ‘Wicked’
- Traci Loader, Suzanne Stokes-Munton, David White – ‘Nosferatu’
- Mike Marino, Sarah Graalman, Aaron Saucier – ‘A Different Man’
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
A scene from Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure ‘Dune: Part Two,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures. Copyright: © 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
- Mark Bakowski, Pietro Ponti, Nikki Penny, Neil Corbould – ‘Gladiator II’
- Pablo Helman, Jonathan Fawkner, Paul Corbould, David Shirk – ‘Wicked’
- Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe, Gerd Nefzer – ‘Dune: Part Two’ – WINNER
- Luke Millar, David Clayton, Keith Herft, Peter Stubbs – ‘Better Man’
- Visual Effects Team – ‘The Substance’
- Erik Winquist, Stephen Unterfranz, Paul Story, Rodney Burke – ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Roz (Lupita N’yongo) in DreamWorks Animation’s ‘The Wild Robot’, directed by Chris Sanders. © 2024 DreamWorks Animation. All Rights Reserved.
(L to R) Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool/Wade Wilson and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine/Logan in 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios’ ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’. Photo by Jay Maidment. © 2024 20th Century Studios / © and ™ 2024 MARVEL.
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Selena Gomez as Emilia Pérez in ‘Emilia Pérez’. Photo: Netflix.
Zoe Saldaña as Emilia Pérez in ‘Emilia Pérez’. Photo: Netflix.
BEST SCORE
Zendaya stars as Tashi in director Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Challengers,’ an Amazon MGM Studios film. Photo credit: Niko Tavernise. © 2024 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Related Article: ‘Wicked’ and ‘Conclave’ Lead The Critics Choice Film Awards Nominations With 11 Each
The 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards will air on E! Friday, February 7th, 2025.
Discussion about this post