With the gory body horror The Substance and musicals Emilia Perez and Wicked competing for top Oscars, this marks the biggest year for both genres in over 50 years.
Sky News analysislast yearfound that top Oscar nominees were often lesser-known, artistic films rather than major box office hits. But the success of Barbie and Oppenheimer signalled a shift, which horror and musicals have continued this year, with The Substance and Wicked earning both critical and commercial success.
Horror films have received more Oscar nominations in 2025 than in any year since 1974, when The Exorcist became the first horror movie to be nominated for Best Picture. It remains the most successful horror film in Oscar history, winning awards for Sound and Screenplay.
Both years, saw horror films earn 10 nominations overall. In 1974, all 10 went to The Exorcist, with five in top categories.
This year, Nosferatu has received four nominations, though none in major categories, while The Substance has secured five, including three in major fields: Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Directing. This makes The Substance the most successful horror film at the Oscars since The Exorcist.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), whose members vote for Oscar nominations and winners, has made a concerted effort in recent years to expand its membership in response to concerns over a lack of diversity in nominations.
Image: The Exorcist was the first horror films to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. Pic: Warner Bros/Hoya Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock
A younger, more globally diverse voting body may be driving horror’s increased recognition at the Oscars.
“With horror, traditionally there’s been an inherent barrier just based on the fact that some people can’t stomach the content or the simple intensity of horror films, no matter the level of quality. That has probably contributed historically to horror not being as widely recognised,” said Jordan Farley, film critic and author of the film-focused newsletter The Movie Wingman.
“I think that attitude is eroding, simply because the voting body is expanding to include a greater number of younger voters, more global voters and people raised on more extreme horror films,” he added.
The Substance, one of this year’s most celebrated horror films, has already dominated the awards season.
Lead actress Demi Moore has won multiple Best Actress awards, including at the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, and the Critics Choice Awards, solidifying its momentum ahead of the Oscars.
Image: The Substance is one of the most successful horror films at the Oscars since The Exorcist. Pic: Mubi
“It’s in times of uncertainty that horror films begin to reflect our anxieties,” said Dr. Steven Gerrard, a reader in film at Leeds Beckett University with a special interest in horror.
Coralie Fargeat, director of The Substance, told Sky News: “For me, this story expresses what it means to be a woman in our society in a very genuine way – the violence that exists at every level and stage of our lives. From childhood to old age, we face countless pressures, injunctions, judgments, and representations that make us feel that if we don’t fit the perfect fantasy or ideal that society has decided for us, then we don’t deserve to exist”.
The last time a horror film won an Oscar was in 2018 when Get Out won for Best Screenplay.
“Get Out is really about race relations. It’s a blend of Frankenstein, The Island of Dr. Moreau and concerns around immigration policies,” said Dr Gerrard.
Return of the musical?
Musicals have also reached a milestone this year, receiving more Oscar nominations than in any year since 1969, when films like Oliver! and Funny Girl dominated the awards.
Musicals reached their peak at the Oscars in 1945, when synchronised sound was still relatively new in cinema, having only become widespread in the early 1930s.
Hollywood studios quickly recognised musicals as the perfect way to capitalise on this breakthrough, showcasing the full potential of sound in film. The genre thrived during the Second World War, as audiences sought uplifting escapism.
This year, Emilia Perez and Wicked have led the musical resurgence. Wicked has secured 10 nominations, including three in top categories (Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress).
Image: Cynthia Erivo and co-star Ariana Grande are up for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress in Wicked. Pic: Universal Pictures
Emilia Perez has gone even further, earning 13 nominations, including four in major categories (Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Directing). This ties it with Chicago and Mary Poppins as the second most-nominated musical, trailing only La La Land.
However, Emilia Perez has faced criticism for its handling of key themes since its release. In recent weeks, its star, Karla Sofia Gascon, the first trans person to be nominated in an acting category, has come under scrutiny for past social media posts, raising questions about whether the backlash could affect the film’s standing in the awards race.
In 2017, La La Land became the most-nominated musical in Oscar history, earning 14 nominations, including four in major categories. In the years that followed, A Star Is Born (2019) received eight nominations, four in top categories, and won for Best Original Song.
The first adaptation of West Side Story (1961) remains the most successful musical in Oscar history, winning 10 awards, including three in major categories. Its second adaptation, released in 2021, earned seven nominations, including three in top categories, with Ariana DeBose winning Best Supporting Actress.
Chicago remains the most-nominated musical for top awards in recent history, receiving six in 2002 alongside 13 overall and winning six Oscars.
Unlike horror, which rarely gains Oscar recognition outside of a few standout films, musicals tend to fall in and out of fashion.
Image: Rita Moreno (L) and Ariana DeBose (R) as Anita in the 1961 and 2021 versions of West Side Story. Pics: United Artists/Kobal/Shutterstock and 20th Century Studios
“There’s less of a barrier to entry than with horror. Some people just don’t have the stomach for horror films, whereas with musicals, you might not love them, but most people are willing to give them a chance,” said Mr Farley.
“There is a preconception that you have to have a very high skill ceiling to be in a musical. It’s a multi-discipline production. You have to be able to sing, you have to be able to dance as well as act. That’s not easy,” he added.
While musicals have seen waves of success over the decades, and horror has occasionally broken through, this year marks a big moment for both genres at the Oscars. Whether this signals a lasting revival for genre films or just a momentary resurgence remains to be seen.
Methodology
To analyse the representation of horror and musical films at the Oscars, we compiled two datasets: one for films in these genres and another for Oscar nominees and winners.
Using The Movie Database (TMDb) API, we retrieved a list of horror and musical films by filtering for movies tagged under these genres. This dataset covered films released between 1928 and 2024.
Separately, we built a database of Oscar nominees and winners from the first Academy Awards to the present (1928-2025). While we examined overall nominations, references to “top” or “prestigious” awards in this analysis specifically refer to Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director, and Best Picture.
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open-source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
Horse-drawn carriages, picturesque gardens and endless cups of tea are just some of the stereotypical tropes that have shaped America’s romanticised image of England before even stepping foot on the island.
Thanks to classical literature and a steady stream of period dramas, Lena Dunham was no exception.
“I had so many fantasies,” she tells Sky News about growing up slightly obsessed with British culture.
“I loved Jane Austen, I loved Charlotte Bronte, I love British film, I was one of those little Anglophile kids.”
The writer and director believed it would be that area of classically depicted England that would fill her time when she first moved to “jolly old London” as a teenager with her mother for a brief time.
Instead, her attention was taken by another, and possibly equally influential group of artists.
“There was a pop show about S Club 7 and all I did was just sit in the hotel and obsessively watch things relating to [the group],” she said.
“So, I didn’t go home with all this cultural British knowledge. I went home with a deep abiding love of S Club 7 and came back to school when everyone was obsessed with the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC.
“For me, I was literally like, ‘Guys, you got to hear this hot track right off the presses, it’s called Reach For The Stars’.”
Image: Pic: Netflix
It wasn’t until her 30s, when the actress moved again to the city, that reality took hold and she quickly learned the difference between the imagined London and the real city.
Some stereotypes hold true, like the universal love for Paddington. Still, TV tropes like renting a flat on a single income in the city does not necessarily mean you’ll be treated to lavish rooms and a picturesque garden.
She says it was social cues she found most challenging to adjust to, as well as the different dictionaries used when speaking, technically, the same language.
“You come to a new country and even though you speak the same language, you’re totally absent from those tools,” she says.
“And I found that really striking as an adult in my 30s, trying to make friends, trying to date. I found it confusing enough to be a person in my own city of origin, so this was extra confounding.”
Too Much, her new Netflixseries, is loosely inspired by her own London chapter and follows a workaholic New Yorker in her 30s who is sent across the Atlantic to work on a new project.
The 10-episode show is produced by Working Title – the company behind Bridget Jones, Notting Hill, About A Boy and Love Actually – and stars Hacks breakout actress Megan Stalter and The White Lotus actor Will Sharpe.
Image: Pic: Netflix
Dunham says she always wanted to write about her time in the UK, but it was a conversation with Irish actor Andrew Scott that got the ball rolling.
“Actually, he’s the reason that I came to know Meg as an actor because he loved her on Hacks and he loved her videos, and he said: ‘Have you watched this woman’s work? I feel like there’s a real connection between you two’, and I started watching because of him and built a show around her.”
In a full circle moment, Scott appears in the series briefly as an arrogantly odd man who crosses paths with Megan Stalter’s character Jessica.
Image: Pic: Netflix
The Ridley actor isn’t the only famous face joining the cast in a cameo role. Dunham put a call out to most of Hollywood, and luckily lots were on board.
To name just a few, guest stars include Jessica Alba, Stephen Fry, Adwoa Aboah, Kit Harington, Rita Wilson, Rita Ora, Richard E Grant, Emily Ratajkowski, Andrew Scott, Prasanna Puwanarajah and Jennifer Saunders.
“It was one of those situations where you just reach for the stars, literally, and then you can’t believe when they appear,” says Dunham.
“It was just a non-stop parade of people that I was fascinated by, wanted to be around, completely enamoured of.”
Image: A whole host of high-profile cameos feature in Lena Dunham’s Too Much
She adds: “I remember asking Naomi Watson, thinking, there’s absolutely no way that you’re going to want to come play this slightly demented woman. And she’s so playful and she’s so joyful and she just wanted to come and engage.
“Also, Jennifer Saunders has meant so much to me for so long, I had the AbFab box set as a kid, and I just think Patsy and Edina are the ultimate kind of messy women.
“She really showed me what comedy could be and… the space that women could occupy in comedy, and so having her come and join the show was really incredible.
“That was an episode that someone else was directing, Alicia McDonald, an amazing director, so I just got to sit and watch at the monitor like I was watching a movie, and it was very surreal for me.”
Former MasterChef host Gregg Wallace has vowed he will “not go quietly”, amid reports that he has been sacked by the BBC.
It comes after the TV hostfaced an investigation, commissioned by MasterChef’s production company Banijay UK, into alleged inappropriate behaviour while working for the BBC.
In November, the 60-year-old stepped back from presenting the cooking show after accusations that he made sexual comments towards staff and celebrity guests on a range of programmes over 17 years.
Image: Gregg Wallace received an MBE for services to food and charity in 2023. Pic: PA
Broadcaster Kirsty Wark, author and actor Emma Kennedy, and presenter Kirstie Allsopp, were among the high-profile figures who made claims of inappropriate behaviour against Wallace.
In a statement, released ahead of the publication of the summary of a report into the claims, the 60-year-old said he had been “cleared of the most serious and sensational accusations” made against him.
However, he said the report, carried out by independent law firm Lewis Silkin, had found him “primarily guilty of inappropriate language between 2005 and 2018”.
Wallace’s statement, published on Instagram, came hours before the BBC News reported that 50 more people had made claims to the corporation against the presenter, including allegations he groped one MasterChef worker and pulled his trousers down in front of another.
In his statement, Wallace labelled BBC News’s claims as “uncorroborated tittle-tattle”.
Wallace wrote: “I have taken the decision to speak out ahead of the publication of the Silkin’s report – a decision I do not take lightly.
“But after 21 years of loyal service to the BBC, I cannot sit in silence while my reputation is further damaged to protect others.
“I have now been cleared by the Silkin’s report of the most serious and sensational accusations made against me.
“The most damaging claims (including from public figures which have not been upheld) were found to be baseless after a full and forensic six-month investigation.
“To be clear, the Silkin’s report exonerates me of all the serious allegations which made headlines last year and finds me primarily guilty of inappropriate language between 2005 and 2018.”
Image: Gregg Wallace on MasterChef. Pic: BBC/ Shine TV 2024
‘I was hired as the cheeky greengrocer – now that’s a problem’
Wallace said he recognised that “some of my humour and language” was at times “inappropriate” and, for that, he apologised “without reservation”.
“But I was never the caricature now being sold for clicks,” Wallace, who also referred to his recent diagnosis of autism, added.
“I was hired by the BBC and MasterChef as the cheeky greengrocer. A real person with warmth, character, rough edges, and all.
“For over two decades, that authenticity was part of the brand. Now, in a sanitised world, that same personality is seen as a problem.”
Image: Wallace and his partner Anna Wallace, pictured in 2014
Wallace: Complaints from ‘middle-class women of a certain age’
Shortly after the allegations first emerged, Wallace recorded a video where he dismissed his accusers as “middle-class women of a certain age”.
His remarks were met with huge criticism – including from Downing Street, where a spokesperson for the prime minister described them as “completely inappropriate and misogynistic”.
Wallace responded by posting a follow-up clip where he apologised and said he “wasn’t in a good space” when he posted the comments.
In April, Wallace spoke to the Daily Mail, denying all accusations against him and saying he had contemplated suicide following the allegations.
Wallace’s lawyers have previously called allegations that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature “entirely false”.
A spokesperson for the BBC said: “Banijay UK instructed the law firm Lewis Silkin to run an investigation into allegations against Gregg Wallace. We are not going to comment until the investigation is complete and the findings are published.”
A Banijay spokesperson told Sky News: “We won’t be commenting until our report is published.” They have signalled the report will be published later this week or next.
Banijay previously said Wallace is “committed to fully co-operating” with the external review.
Alongside MasterChef, Wallace presented Inside The Factory for BBC Two from 2015 to 2023.
He also featured on various BBC shows over the years, including Saturday Kitchen, Eat Well For Less, Supermarket Secrets, Celebrity MasterChef and MasterChef: The Professionals, as well as being a Strictly Come Dancing contestant in 2014.
More recently, Wallace has been promoting his health and lifestyle website, offering one-to-one coaching from both himself and a team of experts, which includes nutritionists and doctors, and his wife Anna in the role of recipe curator.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
Ozzy Osbourne has reunited with Black Sabbath and performed his final gig – telling fans “you’ve no idea how I feel – thank you from the bottom of my heart”, in an emotional but truly metal goodbye.
Announced earlier this year, Back To The Beginning at Villa Park stadium was billed as the “final bow” for the man revered as a founder of heavy metal after several years of health problems, including Parkinson’s disease.
Rising up on a black throne featuring jewelled skulls, the 76-year-old performed a solo set before being joined by his original bandmates – Terence “Geezer” Butler, Tony Iommi and Bill Ward – for Black Sabbath’s first performance in 20 years.
“Let the madness begin,” Osbourne cried as he appeared for the first time, telling about 40,000 fans: “It’s so good to be on this stage.”
Image: Ozzy smiles and waves his arms. Pic: Ross Halfin
Image: Ozzy Osbourne sings while sitting on a black throne
With the crowd chanting his name, he performed both sets sitting down, but the voice and the crazed glint in his eyes were there almost throughout.
Singing fan favourites including Mr Crowley and Crazy Train, and Iron Man and Paranoid with Black Sabbath, Osbourne conducted the crowd to sing “louder, louder”, and “go f****** crazy”.
This was an orchestrated exit by heavy metal’s biggest character, with a supporting line-up of hard rock luminaries – from Slayer and Halestorm to Metallica and Guns ‘n’ Roses, plus stars including Steven Tyler, Ronnie Wood, Yungblud, Travis Barker and Chad Smith, who showed up for “supergroup” performances.
More on Ozzy Osbourne
Related Topics:
Many said they would not be the musicians they are without Osbourne and Black Sabbath.
Image: Ronnie Wood was among the hard rock luminaries in the line-up. Pic: Ross Halfin
Image: Stars at the concert included Steven Tyler. Pic: Ross Halfin
“You know, there’s not another guy as respected in metal as Ozzy Osbourne,” former Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar told Sky News just ahead of his performance. “And for him to be sick and to be saying, I’m out, I’m done. Man. There’s no one else that can replace that.”
“Without Sabbath, there would be no Metallica,” said frontman James Hetfield during their performance.
“We’re not here to say goodbye,” said Anthrax’s Scott Ian. “We’re just here to say thank you.”
Throughout the day, giant Ozzy and Black Sabbath beach balls, in the Aston Villa claret and blue, were bounced around a jubilant crowd.
Tributes from other celebrity friends and fans, from Billy Idol and Ricky Gervais to Dolly Parton and Sir Elton John, were played on screen.
Image: Metallica frontman James Hetfield during the show. Pic: Ross Halfin
Image: Yungblud also performed. Pic: Kazuyo Horie
Hollywood actor Jason Momoa, who hosted the event, told the crowd heavy metal had been a “safehaven” for many growing up, and Black Sabbath’s music had “influenced and inspired musicians” of all eras and genres.
The farewell show was the idea of Osbourne’s wife, Sharon – one final gig to finish his performing career on a high – after he was forced to cancel shows he had planned in 2023, telling fans he “never imagined” his touring days would end that way.
Sharon Osbourne told Sky News earlier this year that his one regret was not being able to say a thank you to his fans, and so the idea for the reunion gig was born.
Profits from the show will be shared between Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and Acorn’s Children’s Hospice.
Image: Confetti rained down on fans during the show
The gig came after the Black Sabbath band members were awarded the freedom of Birmingham earlier in June, recognised for their significance to the cultural and musical identity of the city they grew up in.
The group formed in 1968 and went on to become one of the most successful metal bands of all time, selling more than 75 million albums worldwide over the years.
They were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2006 – Osbourne again later as a solo artist last year – and awarded a lifetime Ivor Novello songwriting award in 2015. In 2019, they were presented with a Grammy lifetime achievement prize.
Image: Back To The Beginning’s all star line-up. Pic: Ross Halfin
Now, their first performance in 20 years will also be their last – one for the metal history books.
The show ended with fireworks and a roar from the crowd, who had chanted Ozzy’s name throughout.
For fans, Back To The Beginning capped it all – the ultimate rock and metal line-up, and one last opportunity to show their love for the Prince of Darkness.
“I feel lucky to be able to attend this,” said Calum Kennedy, 19, from Dunfermline. “It’s the biggest metal show known to man, [the biggest line-up] ever. I’ve never seen anything better.”
Image: Ozzy wore a shiny black jacket and a gold armband bearing his name. Pic: Ross Halfin
Ben Sutton, 24, from Chester, added: “I feel like it’s important – we’re of the younger generation – for us to see some of the heritage and history of the genre we love, metal in general. It’s such an honour to say goodbye to him.”
Steve Townson, from Lincolnshire, said: “I saw him the first time round and the fact that he’s still going is incredible, isn’t it? I was there at the start, I’m happy to be here at the end.”