The Streamers to Watch at the Oscars: Netflix Leads, But Mubi Has Substance [Updated]

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on Jan. 23, 2025; it has been updated to reflect recent events.

It’s Emilia Pérez’s world… or at least it was.

After years of chasing Oscar’s biggest prize—that elusive Best Picture statue—Netflix found itself back in a dominant position courtesy of its Spanish-language musical from French auteur Jacques Audiard.

Emilia Pérez led the field with 13 nods when nominations for the 97th Academy Awards were unveiled on Jan. 23. That propelled Netflix into first place among the major streamers and studios competing for prizes at the March 2 ceremony with 18 nominations overall.

It was the second consecutive year that the company claimed that honor. In 2024, the streaming giant received 19 total nominations—the most of any studio—but only took home one award. Netflix’s biggest year remains 2021, when it scored 36 nominations and won seven, leading all its rivals.

But Emilia Pérez’s victory lap was cut short amidst controversy surrounding its star, Karla Sofia Gascón, the first openly transgender actor to be nominated for an Oscar. The Best Actress nominee was found to have previously posted derogatory comments on X, formerly Twitter. Netflix and Audiard have since distanced themselves from Gascon, and she has stepped back from public appearances. It has been reported that the streamer will pay for her to attend the Oscars.

AppleTV+ was the only major streamer left out in the cold. One year after Killers of the Flower Moon picked up 10 nominations—and four years after it became the first streamer to win the Best Picture Oscar with the much-loved Coda—the home of Ted Lasso and Severance failed to pick up a single nomination for its rough 2024 film slate.

Here’s how the different streamers—and the movie studios with streamers—stack up as the 2025 Oscar race enters its final days.  

The Streamers

Netflix

Total Nominations: 18

Star Attraction: Despite the controversy, Emilia Pérez (13 nominations) seems likely to win at least one award, with Zoe Saldaña set to take home the Supporting Actress statue. The film also may eke out a victory in the International Feature Film category and Original Song.

Don’t Overlook: The cracking duo of Wallace and Gromit won the Animated Feature Oscar 20 years ago for their maiden feature film, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. A repeat for the Netflix-released sequel, Vengeance Most Fowl, seems like the ideal platinum anniversary present.

Mubi

Total Nominations: 6

Star Attraction: Universal’s loss is Mubi’s Substan-tial gain. The boutique streamer booked its ticket to the Oscars by acquiring The Substance (5 nominations) after its original home got scared off of releasing Demi Moore’s comeback horror vehicle. Knockout Golden Globes and SAG Awards speeches have solidified Moore’s Best Actress bonafides. Meanwhile, writer/director Coralie Fargeat picked up two nods for writing and directing one of the best and bloodiest Hollywood satires in recent memory.

Don’t Overlook: Mubi’s other 2024 horror release, The Girl with the Needle, is in contention for the International Feature Film prize. With its moody black-and-white cinematography and timely subject matter, it could be a dark horse winner.

Amazon

Total Nominations: 2

Star Attraction: If film critics picked the Oscars, Nickel Boys (2 nominations) would have already won its Best Picture statue. The RaMell Ross-directed drama earned rave reviews out of the New York Film Festival for its inventive and immersive first-person approach to exploring the lingering traumas of the Civil Rights era. In addition to Best Picture, Nickel Boys also received an Adapted Screenplay nod. Not for nothing, but last year’s winner—Cord Jefferson’s riotous satire American Fiction—was also an Amazon production.

Kino Lorber

Total Nominations: 1

Star Attraction: Besides a robust theatrical and DVD business, the New York-based distributor also operates the Kino Film Collection streaming service. That’s where you can stream its Best Documentary Feature nominee Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, which explores a fascinating slice of jazz and Cold War history. You can bet that Ryan Gosling’s jazz-loving La La Land character has the movie on repeat.

The Studios with Streamers

Universal/Focus Features

Total Nominations: 13 (Universal)/12 (Focus Features)

Star Attraction(s): Wicked (10 nominations) defied the downward gravitational pull of most recent movie musicals, soaring to the top of the box office—and premium VOD—charts. While it’s rare for a pre-designated Part 1 to triumph at the Oscars, the lure of showering awards on a genuine crowd-pleaser can be hard to resist. And not for nothing, but stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande will be performing some of their most… uh, popular songs during the show.

Don’t Overlook: Wicked scored big with the youngs, but Universal also got the olds back into theaters to experience the papal politics of Conclave (8 nominations, currently streaming on Peacock), released through its Focus Features label. Although Adrien Brody is expected to repeat as Best Actor for his star turn in The Brutalist, there’s a chance that Ralph Fiennes may score a long-overdue career achievement Oscar. Keep the faith, Fiennes fans.

Disney/Searchlight

Total Nominations: 1 (Disney)/10 (Searchlight)

Star Attraction(s): Joy reigns in the halls of Pixar as Inside Out 2 (currently streaming on Disney+) becomes the odds-on favorite to win the Animated Feature statue. It’ll be the third Pixar-made sequel to win that prize after Toy Story 3 in 2010 and Toy Story 4 in 2019. The only possible source of anxiety is a little Romanian cat movie called Flow that’s been cleaning up in all the pre-Oscars awards ceremonies.

Meanwhile, the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown (8 nominations) and Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain (2 nominations, currently streaming on Hulu) elevated the Disney-owned Searchlight label. Succession star Kieran Culkin is all but certain to win the Supporting Actor statue for the latter film, while Timothée Chalamet’s spot-on Dylan impression may be loud enough to drown out Brody and Fiennes in the Actor race, particularly after his SAG Awards win.

Don’t Overlook: Disney is also competing for Documentary Feature via the National Geographic release Sugarcane (currently streaming on Disney+ and Hulu). The emotional non-fiction feature tackles the heavy subject of the abuses committed against Canada’s First Nation population by the country’s residential school system through the eyes of survivors and their descendants.

Warner Bros.

Total Nominations: 5

Star Attraction: In an alternate universe—or a DC Elseworlds comic—Joker: Folie à Deux might have been 2024’s singular musical sensation at the Oscars. Instead, Dune: Part Two (5 nominations) is the studio’s sole awards hopeful, competing in Best Picture as well as below the line categories like Production Design and Visual Effects.

Paramount

Total Nominations: 3

Star Attraction: Even without Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix, moviegoers were mostly entertained by Gladiator II (currently streaming on Paramount+), which picked up a single nomination for Costume Design. Sadly, Supporting Actor contender Denzel Washington chewed all that scenery for nothing.

Don’t Overlook: September 5 had a sleepy theatrical roll-out, but its ticking clock recreation of the Israeli hostage crisis at the 1972 Munich Olympics from the perspective of the ABC News control room may play better at home when it arrives on the studio’s streamer. An upset win in the Original Screenplay category wouldn’t be out of left field.