Dune: Part Two, Woman of the Hour, and Better Man have run foul of Academy rules which means they have been disqualified from specific categories at the Oscars.
With the Golden Globes now in the rear-view mirror, the BAFTAS about to be handed out, and Dexerto revealing our best movies of 2024, 2025’s Oscar race is hotting up.
The Academy Award nominees will be announced on Friday, January 17, with the likes of Emilia Pérez, Anora, The Substance, and The Brutalist all expected to score in multiple categories.
But some films have already been ruled out of certain Oscar sections, with the following five of the big ones.
Woman of the Hour
Excluded From: Best Picture
The directorial debut of Anna Kendrick, Woman of the Hour is a tense thriller that concerns serial killer Rodney Alcala, who famously appeared on The Dating Game in 1978.
The film received positive notices across the board, and we called it “the true crime movie of the year,” in our Woman of the Hour review.
But in order to be eligible for consideration, Academy rules state, “feature films must open in a commercial motion picture theater in at least one of six U.S. metropolitan areas… and complete a minimum qualifying run of seven consecutive days in the same venue.”
Woman of the Hour debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival, then dropped on Netflix, meaning it presumably didn’t fulfill those criteria.
Dune: Part Two
Excluded From: Best Score
The first Dune movie earned a Best Score Academy Award for Hans Zimmer, making the music in Dune 2 a hot favorite in the same category.
However, the score has been disqualified for featuring too much material from the first movie. Which has enraged Dune director Denis Villeneuve.
“I am absolutely against the decision of the Academy to exclude Hans, frankly, because I feel like his score is one of the best scores of the year,” Villeneuve said at a Director’s Guild screening (as reported by SlashFilm). “I don’t use the word genius often, but Hans is one.”
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Bird
Excluded From: Best Picture
Andrea Arnold is one of the most exciting and acclaimed directors at work today, and her coming-of-age drama Bird received widespread acclaim.
It was also nominated for seven British Independent Film Awards and was named one of the 10 best independent movies by the National Board of Review.
Bird was released theatrically in the States by Mubi, so that isn’t the issue. However, the Academy has also introduced additional benchmarks for diversity and inclusion, which may have scuppered the film’s chance at a Best Picture nomination.
Better Man
Excluded From: Best Song
Robbie Williams on being a #GoldenGlobes nominee for ‘Better Man,’ plus his thoughts on the Oscar disqualification for song “Forbidden Road” pic.twitter.com/skwiIF8wdu
— Deadline (@DEADLINE) January 6, 2025
Better Man is the Robbie Williams biopic in which the former Take That singer is played by a monkey. We loved it, awarding the movie 4-stars, and writing in our Better Man review: “Even if you aren’t a fan of the man – or his music – thanks to the magic of the monkey at the heart of the movie, you can’t take your eyes off Better Man.”
The film is filled with songs from Robbie’s back catalogue, and also features a new tune in the shape of ‘Forbidden Road.’ But according to Rolling Stone, the song was ‘disqualified over its similarities to “I Got a Name,’ a 1973 Jim Croce song.”
Speaking about the ruling at the Golden Globes, Williams told Deadline (in the above video): “Listen, the rules are the rules, and you have to go by them. And, it would have been nice – but also, as an introvert, it’s another party I don’t have to go to.”
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Excluded From: Best Picture
This one hurts. We love the new Sonic movie, calling it “a euphoric, grin-stretching spectacle that proudly honors the iconography of a video game icon,” in our Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review.
But perhaps because of those aforementioned diversity and inclusion benchmarks, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, and co aren’t eligible for Oscar’s big one. Meaning there will be a huge hedgehog-shaped hole at this year’s ceremony.
For more award action, here’s why Emilia Pérez looks set for Oscar success, but for all the wrong reasons.