It’s that time of the year again!
And… if you can believe it, The Wallys are now in their 21st year. Oh, how they grow up so fast! Here’s a recap of the first 20 years of Best Picture winners, dating back to when I shared the first roster of award winners on the night of the Oscar telecast from my freshman college dorm room.
20 YEARS OF WALLY BEST PICTURE WINNERS
2005: Memories of Murder (South Korea, Bong Joon-ho)
2006: Children of Men (U.K., Alfonso Cuarón)
2007: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (U.S., Andrew Dominik)
2008: Wall·E (U.S., Andrew Stanton)
2009: A Serious Man (U.S., Joel & Ethan Coen)
2010: The Social Network (U.S., David Fincher)
2011: Biutiful (Spain, Alejandro González Iñárritu)
2012: A Separation (Iran, Asghar Farhadi)
2013: 12 Years a Slave (U.S., Steve McQueen)
2014: Selma (U.S., Ava Duvernay)
2015: Tangerine (U.S. Sean Baker)
2016: Moonlight (U.S., Barry Jenkins)
2017: Lady Bird (U.S., Greta Gerwig)
2018: Burning (South Korea, Lee Chang-dong)
2019: Parasite (South Korea, Bong Joon-ho)
2020: Lovers Rock (U.K., Steve McQueen)
2021: This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection (Lesotho, Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese)
2022: Everything Everywhere All at Once (U.S., Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert)
2023: Poor Things (U.S., Yorgos Lanthimos)
2024: Perfect Days (Japan, Wim Wenders)
Without further ado, here’s my rundown of the best in film in 2025. As always, release dates are fungible. You’ll find several movies that qualified for Oscars last year and a few (I’m looking at you, No Other Choice, The Secret Agent, and Sirāt) that stumbled into theaters in 2026. Perhaps they'll make next year’s roster?
1. One Battle After Another (U.S., Paul Thomas Anderson)
2. Nickel Boys (U.S., RaMell Ross)
3. Sinners (U.S., Ryan Coogler)
4. The Mastermind (U.S., Kelly Reichardt)
5. It Was Just an Accident (Iran, Jafar Panahi)
6. Marty Supreme (U.S., Josh Safdie)
7. Sorry, Baby (U.S., Eva Victor)
8. Weapons (U.S., Zach Cregger)
9. Bugonia (U.S., Yorgos Lanthimos)
10. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (Zambia, Rungano Nyoni)
11. Sentimental Value (Sweden, Joachim Trier)
12. Die My Love (U.S., Lynne Ramsay)
13. All We Imagine as Light (India, Payal Kapadia)
14. The Perfect Neighbor (U.S., Geeta Gandbhir)
15. 28 Years Later (U.K., Danny Boyle)
16. Dust Bunny (U.S., Bryan Fuller)
17. Wake Up Dead Man (U.S., Rian Johnson)
18. Cloud (Japan, Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
19. Materialists (U.S., Celine Song)
20. Lurker (U.S., Alex Russell)
BEST PICTURE
It Was Just an Accident
The Mastermind
Nickel Boys
One Battle After Another
Sinners
BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another)
Ryan Coogler (Sinners)
Jafar Panahi (It Was Just an Accident)
Kelly Reichardt (The Mastermind)
RaMell Ross (Nickel Boys)
HM: Zach Cregger (Weapons), Yorgos Lanthimos (Bugonia), Rungano Nyoni (On Becoming a Guinea Fowl), Lynne Ramsay (Die My Love), Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme)
BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE
Jessie Buckley (Hamnet)
Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme)
Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon)
Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths)
Michael B. Jordan (Sinners)
Jennifer Lawrence (Die My Love)
Jesse Plemons (Bugonia)
Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value)
Emma Stone (Bugonia)
Tessa Thompson (Hedda)
HM: Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl), Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I’d Kick You), Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another), Colman Domingo (Sing Sing), Julia Garner (Weapons), Josh O’Connor (The Mastermind), Eva Victor (Sorry, Baby)
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE
Glenn Close (Wake Up Dead Man)
Jamie Lee Curtis (The Last Showgirl)
Benicio Del Toro (One Battle After Another)
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (Nickel Boys)
Nina Hoss (Hedda)
Amy Madigan (Weapons)
Wunmi Mosaku (Sinners)
Sean Penn (One Battle After Another)
Stellan Skarsgård (Sentimental Value)
Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another)
HM: Michele Austin (Hard Truths), Gaby Hoffman (The Mastermind), Paul Mescal (Hamnet), Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (Sentimental Value), Fernanda Montenegro (I’m Still Here), Andrew Scott (Blue Moon)
BEST ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
It Was Just an Accident
The Mastermind
Misericordia
The Sea
Sorry, Baby
BEST CASTING
Eephus
Marty Supreme
Nouvelle Vague
One Battle After Another
Sing Sing
BEST BODY OF WORK
Carrie Coon (actor, “The Gilded Age,” Lake George, and “The White Lotus”)
Kiyoshi Kurosawa (writer/director, Chime and Cloud)
Richard Linklater (writer/director, Blue Moon and Nouvelle Vague)
Josh O’Connor (actor, The History of Sound, The Mastermind, and Wake Up Dead Man)
Pedro Pascale (actor, Eddington, “The Last of Us,” and Materialists)
BEST BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
A$AP Rocky (Highest 2 Lowest)
Susan Chardy (On Becoming a Guinea Fowl)
Chase Infiniti (One Battle After Another)
Masaki Suda (Cloud)
SZA (One of Them Days)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Zach Cregger (Weapons)
Jafar Panahi (It Was Just an Accident)
Rungano Nyoni (On Becoming a Guinea Fowl)
Kelly Reichardt (The Mastermind)
Eva Victor (Sorry, Baby)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another)
Rian Johnson (Wake Up Dead Man)
RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes (Nickel Boys)
Will Tracy (Bugonia)
Enda Walsh, Lynne Ramsay, and Alice Birch (Die My Love)
BEST ANIMATED FILM
KPop Demon Hunters
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story
Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus
No Other Land
The Perfect Neighbor
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
All We Imagine as Light
Cloud
It Was Just an Accident
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl
Sentimental Value
BEST OLD FILM I SAW FOR THE FIRST TIME
After Life (1998, Hirokazu Kore-eda)
The Crowd (1928, King Vidor)
Love Letters (1983, Amy Holden Jones)
The Plot Against Harry (1971, Michael Roemer)
Sherlock Jr. (1924, Buster Keaton)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Autumn Durald Arkapaw (Sinners)
Michael Bauman (One Battle After Another)
Ranabir Das (All We Imagine as Light)
Jomo Fray (Nickel Boys)
Anthony Dod Mantle (28 Years Later)
HM: Christopher Blauvelt (The Mastermind), James Friend (Ballad of a Small Player), Darius Khondji (Marty Supreme), Claire Mathon (Misericordia), Pat Scola (Lurker), Larkin Seiple (Weapons)
BEST EDITING
Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme)
Rik Chaubet (Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat)
Andy Jurgensen (One Battle After Another)
Viridiana Lieberman (The Perfect Neighbor)
Kelly Reichardt (The Mastermind)
HM: Kirk Baxter (A House of Dynamite), Nicholas Monsour (Nickel Boys), Joe Murphy (Weapons)
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
28 Years Later
The Brutalist
Dust Bunny
Marty Supreme
Sinners
HM: Bugonia, Mickey 17, One Battle After Another
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Ruth E. Carter (Sinners)
Kate Forbes (The Brutalist)
Brittany Loar (Nickel Boys)
Lindsay Pugh (Hedda)
Amy Roth (The Mastermind)
BEST HAIR & MAKEUP DESIGN
28 Years Later
Dust Bunny
Frankenstein
The Ugly Stepsister
Weapons
BEST STUNTS & CHOREOGRAPHY
28 Years Later
Eddington
The Life of Chuck
One Battle After Another
Sinners
BEST MUSIC SCORE
Daniel Blumberg (The Brutalist)
Jerskin Fendrix (Bugonia)
Jonny Greenwood (One Battle After Another)
Rob Mazurek (The Mastermind)
Lia Ouyang Rusli (Sorry, Baby)
HM: Volker Bertelmann (A House of Dynamite), Ludwig Göransson (Sinners), Bobby Krlic and Daniel Pemberton (Eddington)
BEST SONG SCORE
Kenneth Blume and Andy Ross (Lurker)
Martin Caraux and Dhritiman Das (All We Imagine as Light)
Ian Eisendrath (KPop Demon Hunters)
Martin Hossbach (Sentimental Value)
Q Lazzarus (Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus)
BEST SONG
“Beautiful That Way” (The Last Showgirl)
“Golden” (KPop Demon Hunters)
“Travelin’” (Sinners)
BEST SOUND DESIGN
Caught by the Tides
Chime
A House of Dynamite
One Battle After Another
Sinners
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Die My Love
Dust Bunny
Mickey 17
Shin Godzilla
Sinners
