2025 Oscars Best Film Editing Predictions

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 Film Editing

Weekly Commentary (Updated Oct. 3, 2024): With “A Real Pain” clocking in at 88 minutes and “September 5” at 91 minutes, the brevity of these films stands in stark contrast to last year’s record-breaking nominations, where two three-hour movies were nominated for best picture (“Killers of the Flower Moon” and eventual winner “Oppenheimer”). This raises the question: could AMPAS’ attention spans be shifting toward shorter, longer movies, or will they find themselves loving quick and effective breezy movie-watching?

Historically, longer films have had a notable presence in the Film Editing category, with their extensive runtime offering editors more opportunities to showcase their skills in maintaining narrative flow, pacing, and tension. Films like “The Irishman” (209 minutes) and “Dances with Wolves” (181 minutes) were praised for their editing, despite their length. However, shorter films, by their very nature, often require more concise, efficient storytelling, which can be just as challenging to edit. Could the branch seek to reward some of those movies this year?

While long epics (i.e., “Ben Hur” and “Titanic”) are admired for their ambitious scope, the Academy’s attention may lean toward more focused, concise storytelling. This year, “The Brutalist,” “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” and the still unseen “Wicked” are the major contenders, clocking in at more than two and a half hours. Maybe it all doesn’t matter in the end.

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

** denotes the film is not yet dated or can open in 2025.

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