Denis Villeneuve, Angelina Jolie, and Challengers walked away with zero Oscar nominations – and fans are sounding off

Challengers
(Image credit: MGM)

The nominations for the 97th Academy Awards have arrived – and, as every year, there are some pretty surprising snubs.

Dune 2 was nominated for Best Picture, but director Denis Villeneuve did not receive a nomination (so I guess Josh Brolin is going to quit acting after all). Maria, the biopic about opera singer Maria Callas, was nominated for Best Cinematography – though Angelina Jolie wasn't recognized for her leading performance.

"Denis Villeneuve snubbed once again but nominated for Best Picture. Do they think that movie directed itself?" one fan tweeted.

"Denis Villeneuve the industry does NOT DESERVE YOU. Truly a joke," another person commented.

"What does the Academy have against Denis Villeneuve? I'm genuinely asking here," one user said.

The biggest snub of all (at least for me) was Luca Guadagnino's Challengers, which received zero nods despite Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross taking home the gong for Best Original Score at the Golden Globes. Fans have taken to Twitter to sound off about the snubs, and understandably so.

"CHALLENGERS nominated for NOTHING!? Not even soundtrack or song. But the cinematography snub is GROSS," wrote one fan.

"Sorry there's been a mistake, Challengers you guys won best score. This is not a joke they read the wrong thing. Challengers. Best score," someone said

Aside from its Golden Globes win, Challengers has largely been ignored during this awards season - despite being one of the most talked about films in the first half of 2024. Some fans have argued that the film was snubbed due to "recency bias" meaning it was released too early in the year for people to remember to acknowledge it.

Regarding the Jolie snub, it's worth noting that Maria marked Jolie's return to Hollywood after a three-year hiatus. She was approached to play Maria Callas by director Pablo Larrain, and learned to sing opera for the role. The film had a limited theatrical release before hitting Netflix as a Netflix Original.

"Everyone who didn't vote for Angelina Jolie will drop dead in three days TRUST!" wrote someone else.

"Angelina Jolie not getting nominated for Maria will be one of the worst Oscar snubs in history actually," said another fan.

The Oscars will take place on March 2 (March 3 in the UK). For more, check out our complete list of Oscars 2025 nominations.

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Lauren Milici
Senior Writer, Tv & Film

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ currently based in the Midwest. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.

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