Oscar 2025: Robbie Williams, Elton John and others on the shortlist

They were unveiled by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences the shortlists in ten categories of the candidates for the 97th edition of the Oscar Awards ahead of the final nominations. Members of the organization will then begin voting on the 23 categories and they will be revealed on January 17th film titles and the artists officially in the running for a prestigious statuette.

The sections for which the shortlists have been revealed, preliminary lists of nominations representing the projects that the Academy considers among the best in a specific category and drawn up before the official nominations, are those dedicated to best documentary, international film, hair and makeup, sound, visual effects, soundtrack, original song, animated short, live action short and documentary short.

As for the strictly musical nominationsin the preliminary lists with currently fifteen nominees and from which the five who will then compete for the final victory of the award will be selected, we find – among others – Robbie Williams and Elton John in the “best original song“. The former Take That is in the running with “Forbidden Rd“, the new single taken from the soundtrack of the film of the same name about the artist’s life, “Better Man”.

The Pinner musician appears in the shortlist of one of the main music categories with the song “Never too late”, taken from docu-film on the life and early years of the artist’s fifty-year career, “Elton John: never too late”. The always active couple formed by is also present Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross with “Compress/Repress” for the film “Challengers”, thanks to which the two are also present in the list for “best soundtrack”. There is also Pharrell Williams with “Piece by Piece” from the Lego movie of the same name.

The shortlist dedicated to “best soundtrack” instead includes, among others, Danny Elfman thanks to the music of “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” and Hans Zimmer for “Blitz”, in addition to the ones already mentioned Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for “Challengers”.

Here are the shortlists of the two main music categories:

Original song

• “Forbidden Road” from “Better Man” (Paramount Pictures)
• “Winter Coat” from “Blitz” (Apple Original Films)
• “Compress/Repress” from “Challengers” (Amazon MGM Studios)
• “Never Too Late” from “Elton John: Never Too Late” (Walt Disney Pictures)
• “El Mal” from “Emilia Pérez” (Netflix)
• “Mi Camino” from “Emilia Pérez” (Netflix)
• “Sick In The Head” from “Kneecap” (Sony Pictures Classics)
• “Beyond” from “Moana 2” (Walt Disney Pictures)
• “Tell Me It’s You” from “Mufasa: The Lion King” (Walt Disney Pictures)
• “Piece By Piece” from “Piece by Piece” (Focus Features)
• “Like A Bird” from “Sing Sing” (A24)
• “The Journey” from “The Six Triple Eight” (Netflix)
• “Out Of Oklahoma” from “Twisters” (Universal Pictures)
• “Kiss The Sky” from “The Wild Robot” (DreamWorks Animation)
• “Harper And Will Go West” from “Will & Harper” (Netflix)

Original soundtrack

• “Alien: Romulus” (20th Century Studios) — Benjamin Wallfisch
• “Babygirl” (A24) — Cristobal Tapia de Vee
• “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” (Warner Bros.) — Danny Elfman
• “Blink Twice” (Amazon MGM Studios) — Chanda Dancy
• “Blitz” (Apple Original Films) — Hans Zimmer
• “The Brutalist” (A24) — Daniel Blumberg
• “Challengers” (Amazon MGM) — Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
• “Conclave” (Focus Features) — Volker Bertelmann
• “Emilia Pérez” (Netflix) — Clément Ducol, Camille
• “The Fire Inside” (Amazon MGM Studios) — Tamar-kali
• “Gladiator II” (Paramount Pictures) — Harry Gregson-Williams
• “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1” (Warner Bros.) — John Debney
• “Inside Out 2” (Pixar) — Andrea Datzman
• “Nosferatu” (Focus Features) — Robin Carolan
• “The Room Next Door” (Sony Pictures Classics) — Alberto Iglesias
• “Sing Sing” (A24) — Bryce Dessner
• “The Six Triple Eight” (Netflix) — Aaron Zigman
• “Wicked” (Universal Pictures) — John Powell, Stephen Schwartz
• “The Wild Robot” (DreamWorks Animation) — Kris Bowers
• “Young Woman and the Sea” (Walt Disney Pictures) — Amelia Warner