Hollywood's biggest night didn't deliver too much when it came to nerdy victories. Although some genre/nerdy movies were nominated for the Oscars in 2025, it didn't feel quite as genre-celebratory as other years, like, for example, when Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water won Best Picture in 2018. Still, nerdy fare wasn't completely shut out. Among the winners of the night were Dune: Part Two, Wicked, The Substance, and, unexpectedly, Scream (2022)'s Ghostface killer, Mikey Madison. Here's what went down from a nerdy lens.
First up, let's look at the 2025 Oscar winners who won for being straight-up genre delights. Dune: Part Two deserves all the applause, in our opinion, as it's definitely the nerdiest of the films to win a prize at the 2025 Oscars. At the 97th Academy Awards, Dune: Part Two took home two Oscars. Dune: Part Two won in the categories of Best Sound (Gareth John, Richard King, Ron Bartlett and Doug Hemphill) and Best Visual Effects (Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe and Gerd Nefzer). And taking a look at the sandworms of Arrakis and the immersive and gorgeous soundscape of the film, we are so glad that it did. We love that such an unapologetically sci-fi film, driven by complex lore and a true love of the genre, received the highest honors in movie-making.
Another nerdy movie, Wicked, also won a couple of prizes at the 2025 Oscars. Wicked is differently nerdy than Dune: Part Two, but it absolutely still qualifies as a fantasy/genre film. It was one of our favorite movies of the year, to boot. Cynthia Ervio and Ariana Grande totally floored us with their vocal prowess, and the spectacle of the movie went unmatched. At the 97th Academy Awards, Wicked also won two awards. Wicked won Oscars for Best Costume Design (Paul Tazewell) and Best Production Design (Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales). The wonderful world of Oz was both very well-dressed and incredibly intricate, so we also applaud these choices. Paul Tazewell also became the first Black man to win an Oscar for Best Costume Design, a historical and important honor. Many kudos to Tazewell. (And his impeccable Oscars look.)
We want to see more horror representation at the Oscars! We were rooting for The Substance, Nosferatu, and Alien: Romulus to take home some big awards, but, alas, Nosferatu and Alien: Romulus were shut out at the Oscars. Only The Substance won a prize. Still, we're cheering it on. The Substance won the Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling (Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon and Marilyne Scarselli). A very well-deserved win.
There were a couple other secretly nerdy wins at the Oscars as well. For one, Mikey Madison became the first-ever Oscar-winning Ghostface actor. Madison played Ghostface (one of two) in 2022's Scream reboot. And now, Ghostface is officially also an Academy Award winner. Mikey Madison won the honor of 2025's Best Actress at the Oscars for her turn in Anora. Additionally, long-time genre actress Zoe Saldaña won the award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Emilia Pérez. In the geeky world, Saldaña is known for playing Gamora in the MCU's Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, Uhura in the cinematic Star Trek universe, and Neytiri in James Cameron's Avatar movie series. Saldaña also became the first American of Dominican origin to win an Oscar.
That's about the size of the genre celebration at the Oscars. If you want to watch any of the nerdy Oscar winners or nominees, take a look at our piece here. You can also check out the complete list of winners below.
A Complete Unknown (Tod A. Maitland, Donald Sylvester, Ted Caplan, Paul Massey and David Giammarco)
WINNER: Dune: Part Two (Gareth John, Richard King, Ron Bartlett and Doug Hemphill)
Emilia Pérez (Erwan Kerzanet, Aymeric Devoldère, Maxence Dussère, Cyril Holtz and Niels Barletta)
Wicked (Simon Hayes, Nancy Nugent Title, Jack Dolman, Andy Nelson and John Marquis)
The Wild Robot (Randy Thom, Brian Chumney, Gary A. Rizzo and Leff Lefferts)