The 98th Academy Awards was the year that Warner Brothers just killed it at the Academy Awards. Not only did they land themselves a combined total of 30 nominations, but they managed to get both Paul Thomas Anderson and Ryan Coogler their very own Oscars. It was a terrific night for the studio coming off the heels of an impressive box-office year. Even if the studio had a flop or two on their hands, they managed to get the majority of their films commercial hits as well as become the first studio of 2025 to cross $4 billion at the global box office.
One of the more impressive surprises that came of this was seeing Zach Cregger’s Weapons as a popular film with audiences and critics, but even got Amy Madigan her own Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. How did she win the Oscar? Was there any legit competition from the lineup? Today, I’m going to explain how and why the Oscar went to a horror film, as opposed to any of the other contenders.
Before we progress through the nominees themselves, let’s go through some of the potential candidates that could’ve gotten in but missed the field. The biggest miss for me was Odessa A’zion from Marty Supreme, who scored a SAG & BAFTA nomination for her performance. Even though I personally didn’t get sucked in that film like everyone else, I did think she was the big standout as there was this fire she brought to a role that could’ve felt one note. Had she caught on earlier in the race, I wonder if she could’ve had a shot at getting the film ten nominations. Then again, it could’ve joined the list of double-digit nominated films getting nothing, along with American Hustle, True Grit, Gangs of New York, The Irishman, and Killers of the Flower Moon.
Some pundits had felt Ariana Grande could’ve gotten in for Wicked: For Good. While she did score a Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice, and SAG nomination, she missed the BAFTA lineup and her film’s performance was incredibly underwhelming throughout the season. Whether it was the film missing the Best Picture lineup at Globes, not getting in at Producers Guild of America, or even not getting in for SAG Ensemble, it was clear that her chances of getting in were slimming. After all, we have seen double-digit nominated films decrease with their sequels or in this case get shut out; think of Dune: Part One going from ten nods to Dune: Part Two getting five nods, or Star Wars: A New Hope going from ten nods to Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back getting 3 nods.
Other possible contenders could’ve been Emily Watson for Hamnet or Emily Blunt for The Smashing Machine. Emily Watson could’ve been a possible contender if they loved Hamnet more, and she did land a BAFTA nomination. Had The Smashing Machine became a bigger contender or even made money at the box office, I could’ve seen Emily Blunt get nominated for the Oscar.
Let’s talk about the Sentimental Value girls: Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleas. They both received GG and CCA nominations for their performances. However, Inga received a BAFTA nomination, but the film as a whole was shut out at SAG. I personally think while Inga got in as being the critics’ favorite, Elle managed to get in as she had a terrific year with Predator: Badlands and even coming off the heels of A Complete Unknown.
Elle also had been growing into this dramatic actress that the industry respected and admired. They especially appreciate her choices for picking a variety of genres, while also challenging herself in these interesting roles. And as we’ve seen from time to time, if you’re in a film strong enough for voters to notice, you might get nominated for the Oscar. As for Inga, she always stood out to me as the more impactful contender of the two, where she gave this quiet but powerful performance as the younger sister to Renate Reinsve’s character, Nora. I’m really happy that both managed to make it in the Oscar field.
As for why the film as a whole got shut out from SAG, it’s because the guild isn’t on board for giving non-English language films nominations. Unless you have something that stands out to them like Parasite or Emilia Pérez, then it’s hard for something reserved and quiet as this film to get in the pack. On a side note, I find it odd that Neon has only gotten in at SAG for their Best Picture winners so far. I, Tonya might be the only non-BP contender they’ve had that got in, but besides that, none of their top dog contenders have gotten in like Anatomy of a Fall or Triangle of Sadness.
Sinners, as a whole, honestly shocked me, with its box-office success story and becoming a major threat to win Best Picture by the end of the season. While the film managed to score 16 Oscar nominations, it came up a bit short, only winning 4 categories: Best Actor, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, and Original Score. I’ll definitely talk about the film more in a future article.
But the one nominee I do want to discuss is Wunmi Mosaku, who not only got in at all of the televised precursors but managed to win BAFTA when her film didn’t win Best Picture there. Not only was she slowly being considered a potential frontrunner to win, it was predicted by some pundits that she could be the film’s acting win it would end up getting. But as we saw, Wunmi didn’t win the Oscar that night.
One could argue she won the BAFTA because she might’ve been a “hometurf” choice of the field. But I do think it was also because she didn’t compete against the eventual Oscar-winning performance. And again; it helped that she was a previous winner at BAFTA on the television side with Damilola, Our Loved Boy.
Teyana Taylor plays one of many complex characters in the film, One Battle After Another, with Perfidia Beverly Hills. Not only was her role one that stood out for audiences for her incredible performance, but it’s the type of role that got the film’s story moving. If she hadn’t caused these issues and created this chaos that followed everyone that got involved, there wouldn’t be a movie.
And it looked like early on Teyana would become our Best Supporting Actress winner, as she managed to win the Golden Globe. However, that became the only televised prize she won, as Wunmi beat her at BAFTA, and someone else won CCA and SAG. While history has shown us that if you win a televised prize voted by the industry like SAG and BAFTA, your chances of winning increase. The reason I have Teyana over Wunmi is that not only is it common for winners in this category to get in at GG, Sinners couldn’t win more than the four categories it won.
I do think she had a bigger hill to climb, as, for some reason, voters have issues giving their prizes to women who play prickly, complex characters that they may not like. Look at the amount of winners we’ve had that won in the male acting categories vs. the female acting categories; it’s pretty slim in the latter. Still, I’d put her in 2nd place, as Teyana was starring in a strong Best Picture frontrunner.
As for Weapons, this was a HUGE surprise for me, as while I respected what Zach Cregger had done on Barbarian, I came out of it feeling pretty mediocre on it. With this one, I was not only surprised I saw a good horror film, but one on my birthday which is a common trend of having bad movies in theaters that day. Anyways, Weapons became a box-office hit and won over many critics to the point where the film landed in the Oscar conversation.
The one category the film popped up in at various places was Best Supporting Actress for actress veteran, Amy Madigan. Her last nomination was in this category for another lone acting nod in the film, Twice in a Lifetime. Not only did she actually win the Oscar, but she managed to beat our four Best Picture-nominated performances. How did she do this?
Despite the film being a psychological horror film, Amy got critical acclaim for her terrifying, villainous role as Aunt Gladys. The role became such an icon so quickly that by the time Halloween rolled in that year, everyone was dressing up as her. Usually when we’d get an iconic horror character capturing the zeitgeist, they’re usually from films that wouldn’t get touched by the Academy with a ten-foot pole, like Saw, Terrifier, or M3gan. With Weapons, it managed to break from the pack.
I also think that while Weapons was a horror film, it’s not an exploitation film like other grotesque horror films have been. If anything, Zach Cregger takes his time in the first half with the patient editing, tracking shots with scares that are paid off later in the film, and has a nice balance of tone with horror and comedy; something that he also accomplished in Barbarian. If anything, it felt as if the director was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock or David Fincher’s work when it came to telling its story.
Another aspect to bring up about Amy is that while she’s been a respected actress working in the industry for decades, she was in a transformative role. Sure, Weapons didn’t score any other nominations including Best Makeup and Hairstyling (which didn’t even make the shortlist). But we’ve seen from time to time, actors playing such a unique character, they are told they don’t resemble them at all.
Think of Mikey Madison in Anora, where she plays such a vibrant character with a personality that stands out. But in interviews, the actress is nothing like her as she came across as a shy and quiet person. With Madigan, she wasn’t this terrifying character she put on for the audience to witness. She was this hilarious and fun person we got the privilege to witness on the red carpets.
Another aspect to bring up is that while the film did score a lone acting nod, it did show up at other places. BAFTA may not have honored the film with some kind of nomination, but it showed up at the PGA and scored a WGA nomination for Zach Cregger. The film even got shortlisted at the Oscars for Best Casting; had that been nominated for the new category, we might’ve seen another sign that Amy was winning the prize.
But the biggest clue she was winning was managing to win a televised prize voted by the industry: SAG. CCA & GG wins can help push your film into the conversation, but it’s the industry prizes with SAG & BAFTA that can really help you out. With this season, SAG was the last major precursor that we had prior to Oscar voting being completed. In a year like this, it helped Amy pull through with her hilarious speech, as well as her win showcasing how much support her film had with the actors’ branch. Had we witnessed BAFTA last before Oscar voting closed, I almost wonder if Wunmi Mosaku could’ve beaten Amy Madigan. After all, we saw Adrien Brody and Mikey Madison the year prior do this and win their respective Oscars despite losing at SAG.
I also think another aspect that allowed Amy to win was that while Wunmi and Teyana had their supporters, they likely went out of their way to put their chips down on Michael B. Jordan and Sean Penn in the Lead Actor and Supporting Actor categories, respectively. Not only are they flashier roles, but in their own way are challenging and respected. One is a known movie star playing twins, while the other is playing an authoritarian villian that’s a classic, Oscar-winning role.
Add in a successful campaign push by Warner Brothers and Amy Madigan sharing her career stories over the years during Q&As, and you got yourself an Oscar-winning performance. In all my years I’ve witnessed predicting the Oscars, I’d never thought a film released on my birthday would become our next Best Supporting Actress winner. I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned is with the changing of the guard, the term “Oscar-bait” is turning into something different each year.
Sure; we’ll still get our old-guard crowdpleasing films nominated like Song Sung Blue, but the types of films that get the win will likely change over the years. This year alone saw the Academy embrace horror films with Weapons, Sinners, and Frankenstein winning Academy Awards. And after seeing Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil, I’m looking forward to seeing what the director does next.
