The Oscar race for visual effects has been reduced to 20 categories.
Sources confirmed to Variety that the shortlist is a mix of anticipated blockbusters and franchises, with major studios Disney, Warner Bros., Universal, Paramount and Netflix dominating the field. Finalists were notified before Thanksgiving.
Disney’s parent company had the most titles, with 7 out of 20. Among the most prominent titles are two 20th Century Studios films: Dan Trachtenberg’s “Predator: Badlands,” the seventh film in the sci-fi horror series, and James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” the much-anticipated third film in the groundbreaking series, which will be shown to Guild members and critics starting Sunday. November 30: In addition, Marvel Studios has acquired two superhero blockbusters, “Fantastic Four: First Steps” and “Captain America: Brave New World,” while Walt Disney Pictures has “Lilo & Stitch” and “Tron: Ares” as its flagships.
Warner Bros. Discovery took second place among the studios with the most entries. These include Bong Joon-ho’s black comedy “Mickey 17,” Jared Hess’ video game adaptation “Minecraft Movie,” Ryan Coogler’s gothic vampire drama “Sinners,” and James Gunn’s superhero reboot “Superman,” which is part of DC Studios. The studio co-distributed Joseph Kosinski’s racing car drama “F1,” starring Brad Pitt, with Apple Original Films, which produced the film. Apple also managed to slip “The Lost Bus,” a survival thriller directed by Paul Greengrass and starring Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera, into the top 20.
Universal Pictures has scored an impressive hat-trick of 2025’s three biggest revenue earners: Jon M. Chu’s musical sequel “Wicked: For Good,” Dean DeBlois’ live-action remake “How to Train Your Dragon,” and Gareth Edwards’ dinosaur movie “Jurassic World: Rebirth.”
Netflix has brought one of its top contenders for best film to the spotlight with first-quarter release “Electric State,” directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, starring Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt, as well as “Frankenstein,” directed by Guillermo del Toro.
The remake of The Running Man, directed by Edgar Wright and starring Glen Powell, has debuted on Paramount Pictures’ list alongside Mission: Impossible: The Last Judgment, the final film in Tom Cruise’s popular action series.
The Academy does not make the top 20 publicly available and declined to comment or confirm whether these films made it to the next round.
The preliminary voting period for the Oscar nominations list begins on Monday, December 8th at 9am PT and ends on Friday, December 12th at 5pm PT. The shortlist for the 12 categories will be announced on Tuesday, December 16th. A VFX Bake-Off will then take place on January 10th and 11th, where the final 10 films will be presented to chapter members for final nomination consideration. Voting for all branches will take place from January 12th to 16th, and candidates will be announced on Thursday, January 22nd.
The 98th Academy Awards are scheduled for March 15, 2026.
The top 20 finalists are:
“Avatar: Fire and Ash” (20th Century Studios)
“Captain America: Brave New World” (Marvel Studios)
“The Electric State” (Netflix)
“F1” (Apple Original Films/Warner Bros.)
“Fantastic Four: First Steps” (Marvel Studios)
“Frankenstein” (Netflix)
“How to Train Your Dragon” (Universal Pictures)
“Jurassic World: Rebirth” (Universal Pictures)
“Lilo and Stitch” (Walt Disney Pictures)
“The Lost Bus” (Apple Original Films)
“Mickey 17” (Warner Bros.)
“Minecraft Movie” (Warner Bros.)
“Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning” (Paramount Pictures)
“Predator: Badlands” (20th Century Studios)
“Running Man” (Paramount Pictures)
“Sinners” (Warner Bros.)
“Superman” (DC Studios)
“Thunderbolts*” (Marvel Studios)
“Tron: Ares” (Walt Disney Pictures)
“Wicked: For Good” (Universal Pictures)
