2025 Oscars Best Production Design Predictions

Oscar Predictions: Best Production Design — Will ‘Wicked’ Finally Bring Home a Win for Six-Time Nominee Nathan Crowley?
Oscar Predictions: Best Production Design — Will ‘Wicked’ Finally Bring Home a Win for Six-Time Nominee Nathan Crowley?

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.

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2025 Oscars Predictions:
Best Production Design

FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA, (aka FURIOSA), from left: Tom Burke, Anya Taylor-Joy, 2024.  © Warner Bros. /Courtesy Everett Collection
FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA, (aka FURIOSA), from left: Tom Burke, Anya Taylor-Joy, 2024. © Warner Bros. /Courtesy Everett Collection

Weekly Commentary (Updated Oct 31, 2024): The legendary production designer Nathan Crowley has been nominated for six Oscars but has yet to win. His noms include “The Prestige” (2006), “The Dark Knight” (2008), “Interstellar” (2014), “Dunkirk” (2017), “First Man” (2018) and “Tenet” (2020). With the upcoming film adaptation of the stage musical “Wicked,” he may finally be able to bring home a statuette of his own.

More to come.

Read: You can see all Academy Award predictions in all 23 categories on one page on the Variety Awards Circuit: Oscars.

The 97th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 2. The full rankings are below. All movie listings, titles, and distributors are not final and are subject to change.


And the Predicted Nominees Are

Rank

Performer & Film

1

Gladiator II” (Paramount Pictures) — Arthur Max, Elli Griff

2

Wicked” (Universal Pictures) — Nathan Crowley, Lee Sandales

3

Dune: Part Two” (Warner Bros.) — Zsuzsanna Sipos, Shane Vieau, Patrice Vermette

4

Blitz” (Apple Original Films) — Adam Stockhausen, Anna Pinnock

5

The Brutalist” (A24) — Judy Becker


Next in Line

Rank

Performer & Film

6

Nosferatu” (Focus Features) — Beatrice Brentnerova, Paul Ghirardani, Craig Lathrop

7

Maria” (Netflix) — Tom Brown, Guy Hendrix Dyas, Sandro Piccarozzi

8

Emilia Pérez” (Netflix) — Emmanuelle Duplay, Sandra Castello

9

Saturday Night” (Sony Pictures) — Jess Gonchor, Claudia Bonfe

10

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” (Warner Bros.) — Colin Gibson, Sophie Nash, Katie Sharrock


Other Contenders

Rank

Performer & Film

11

A Complete Unknown” (Searchlight Pictures) — François Audouy, Regina Graves, Christopher J. Morris

12

September 5” (Paramount Pictures) — Julian R. Wagner

13

Conclave” (Focus Features) — Suzie Davies, Roberta Federico

14

Queer” (A24) — Stefano Baisi, Monica Sallustio, Lisa Scoppa

15

The Piano Lesson” (Netflix) — Chardae Adams, David J. Bomba, Patrick Cassidy

16

Joker: Folie á Deux” (Warner Bros.) — Mark Friedberg, Karen O’Hara

17

Civil War” (A24) — Mark Dillon, Caty Maxey

18

Young Woman and the Sea” (Walt Disney Pictures) — Nora Takaca Ekberg, Panni Lutter

19

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” (Warner Bros.) — Mark Scruton, David Morison

20

Megalopolis” (Lionsgate) — Beth Mickle, Bradley Rubin, Lisa K. Sessions

Eligible Titles (Best Production Design)

** This list is incomplete and not yet finalized. Not all films have distribution or release dates. All are subject to change.

  • Alien: Romulus” (20th Century Studios)

  • “All We Imagine as Light” (Janus Films/Sideshow)

  • “Anora” (Neon)

  • “The Apprentice” (Briarcliff Entertainment)

  • “Babygirl” (A24)

  • “Back to Black” (Focus Features)

  • “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” (Warner Bros.)

  • “Better Man” (Paramount Pictures)

  • “Between the Temples” (Sony Pictures Classics)

  • “The Bikeriders” (Focus Features)

  • “Bird” (Mubi)

  • “Blink” (National Geographic)

  • “Blink Twice” (Amazon MGM)

  • “Blitz” (Apple Original Films)

  • “Bob Marley: One Love” (Paramount Pictures)

  • “The Book of Clarence” (Sony Pictures)

  • “The Brutalist” (A24)

  • “Carville: Winning is Everything, Stupid!” (CNN Films)

  • “Challengers” (Amazon MGM)

  • “Civil War” (A24)

  • “The Colors Within” (GKids)

  • “A Complete Unknown” (Searchlight Pictures)

  • “Conclave” (Focus Features)

  • “The Count of Monte Cristo” (Samuel Goldwyn Films)

  • “Daddio” (Sony Pictures Classics)

  • “Daughters” (Netflix)

  • “Day of the Fight” (Falling Forward Films)

  • “Deadpool & Wolverine” (Marvel Studios)

  • “The Deliverance” (Netflix)

  • “Despicable Me 4” (Illumination/Universal Pictures)

  • “A Different Man” (A24)

  • “Dìdi” (Focus Features)

  • “Drive-Away Dolls” (Focus Features)

  • “Dune: Part Two” (Warner Bros.)

  • “Elton John: Never Too Late” (Walt Disney Pictures)

  • “Emilia Pérez” (Netflix)

  • “The End” (Neon)

  • “Evil Does Not Exist” (Sideshow)

  • “Exhibiting Forgiveness” (Roadside Attractions)

  • “Ezra” (Roadside Attractions)

  • “Fancy Dance” (Apple Original Films)

  • “The Fire Inside” (Amazon MGM)

  • “Firebrand” (Roadside Attractions)

  • “Flow” (Janus Films/Sideshow)

  • “Frida” (Amazon MGM)

  • “The Front Room” (A24)

  • “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” (Warner Bros.)

  • “Gladiator II” (Paramount Pictures)

  • “The Greatest Hits” (Searchlight Pictures)

  • “Hard Truths” (Bleecker Street)

  • “Here” (Sony Pictures)

  • “Heretic” (A24)

  • “His Three Daughters” (Netflix)

  • “Hit Man” (Netflix)

  • “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1” (Warner Bros.)

  • “I Am Celine Dion” (Amazon MGM)

  • “I Saw the TV Glow” (A24)

  • “I’m Still Here” (Sony Pictures Classics)

  • “The Idea of You” (Amazon MGM)

  • “IF” (Paramount Pictures)

  • “The Imaginary” (Netflix)

  • “In the Summers” (Music Box Films)

  • “Inside Out 2” (Pixar)

  • “It Ends With Us” (Sony Pictures)

  • “Janet Planet” (A24)

  • “Joker: Folie à Deux” (Warner Bros.)

  • “Kinds of Kindness” (Searchlight Pictures)

  • “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” (20th Century Studios)

  • “Kneecap” (Sony Pictures Classics)

  • “The Last Showgirl” (Roadside Attractions)

  • “Lee” (Roadside Attractions)

  • “Longlegs” (Neon)

  • “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” (Warner Bros.)

  • “Los Frikis” (Wayward/Range Releasing)

  • “Love Lies Bleeding” (A24)

  • “Maria” (Netflix)

  • “Megalopolis” (Lionsgate)

  • “Memoir of a Snail” (IFC Films)

  • “Misericordia” (Janus Films)

  • “Moana 2” (Walt Disney Pictures)

  • “Monkey Man” (Universal Pictures)

  • “The Most Precious of Cargoes” (StudioCanal)

  • “Mothers’ Instinct” (Neon)

  • “Mufasa: The Lion King” (Walt Disney Pictures)

  • “My Old Ass” (Amazon MGM)

  • “Nickel Boys” (Amazon MGM/Orion)

  • “Nightbitch” (Searchlight Pictures)

  • “Nosferatu” (Focus Features)

  • “Oh, Canada” (Kino Lorber)

  • “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl” (A24)

  • “One Life” (Bleecker Street)

  • “The Order” (Vertical Entertainment)

  • “The Outrun” (Sony Pictures Classics)

  • “Parthenope” (A24)

  • “The Piano Lesson” (Netflix)

  • “Piece by Piece” (Focus Features)

  • “Queer” (A24)

  • “A Real Pain” (Searchlight Pictures)

  • “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” (Netflix)

  • “Rez Ball” (Netflix)

  • “The Room Next Door” (Sony Pictures Classics)

  • “Rumours” (Bleecker Street)

  • “Santosh” (Metrograph Pictures)

  • “Sasquatch Sunset” (Bleecker Street)

  • “Saturday Night” (Sony Pictures)

  • “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” (Neon)

  • “September 5” (Paramount Pictures)

  • “Shirley” (Netflix)

  • “Sing Sing” (A24)

  • “The Six Triple Eight” (Netflix)

  • “Small Things Like These” (Lionsgate)

  • “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” (Paramount Pictures)

  • “Spellbound” (Netflix)

  • “Stopmotion” (IFC/Shudder)

  • “The Substance” (Mubi)

  • “Suncoast” (Searchlight Pictures)

  • “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” (Warner Bros.)

  • “That Christmas” (Netflix)

  • “Thelma” (Magnolia Pictures)

  • “Transformers One” (Paramount Pictures)

  • “Tuesday” (A24)

  • “Twisters” (Universal Pictures)

  • “Ultraman: Rising” (Netflix)

  • “Unstoppable” (Amazon MGM)

  • “Venom: The Last Dance” (Sony Pictures)

  • “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” (Netflix)

  • “We Grown Now” (Sony Pictures Classics)

  • “We Live in Time” (A24)

  • “Wicked” (Universal Pictures)

  • “The Wild Robot” (DreamWorks Animation)

  • “Wildcat” (Oscilloscope Laboratories)

  • “Will & Harper” (Netflix)

  • “Woman of the Hour” (Netflix)

  • “Yintah” (Netflix)

  • “Young Woman and the Sea” (Walt Disney Pictures)

More Information (Best Production Design)

More Information (Best Production Design)
More Information (Best Production Design)


2024 category winner: “Poor Things” (Searchlight Pictures) — James Price, Shona Heath, Zsuzsa Mihalek

2024-2025 Oscars Calendar and TimelineFull awards season calendar here

  • Eligibility period: Jan. 1, 2024 – Dec. 31, 2024

  • General entry, best picture, RAISE submission deadline: Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024

  • Governors Awards: Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024

  • Preliminary voting begins Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, at 9 a.m. PT.

  • Preliminary voting ends Friday, Dec. 13, 2024, at 5 p.m. PT.

  • Oscar Shortlists Announcement: Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024

  • Eligibility period ends: Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024

  • Nominations voting begins Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, at 9 a.m. PT.

  • Nominations voting ends Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, at 5 p.m. PT.

  • Oscar Nominations Announcement: Friday, Jan. 17, 2025

  • Oscar Nominees Luncheon: Monday, Feb. 10, 2025

  • Final voting begins Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, at 9 a.m. PT

  • Final voting ends: Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025, at 5 p.m. PT

  • Scientific and Technical Awards: Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025

  • 97th Oscars: Sunday, March 2, 2025

Oscars Prediction Categories

Best Picture

Director

Actor in a Leading Role

Actress in a Leading Role

Actor in a Supporting Role

Actress in a Supporting Role

Original Screenplay

Adapted Screenplay

Animated Feature

Production Design

Cinematography

Costume Design

Film Editing

Makeup and Hairstyling

Sound

Visual Effects

Original Score

Original Song

Documentary Feature

International Feature

Animated Short

Documentary Short

Live Action Short

Casting (coming in 2026)

About the Academy Awards

The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, is Hollywood’s most prestigious artistic award in the film industry. Since 1927, nominees and winners have been selected by members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Seventeen branches are represented within the nearly 10,000-person membership. The branches are actors, associates, casting directors, cinematographers, costume designers, directors, documentary, executives, film editors, makeup and hairstylists, marketing and public relations, members-at-large, members-at-large (artists’ representatives), music, producers, production design, short films and feature animation, sound, visual effects and writers.

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