A pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard Of Oz have sold at auction for $28m (£21m).
The shoes are one of four surviving pairs made for the 1939 classic film, and became the most valuable movie memorabilia ever sold at auction, according to auction house Heritage Auctions.
The buyer will reportedly pay an additional $4.5m (£3.4m) to the Dallas-based auction house, bringing the final price to $32.5m (£25.4m), according to the Associated Press.
Heritage Auctions had estimated that the shoes would fetch $3m or more, but the fast-paced bidding outpaced that amount within seconds and tripled within minutes.
Interest in the item coincides with the popularity of the film adaptation of Wicked, a prequel of The Wizard Of Oz that reimagines the character of the Wicked Witch of the West.
The same pair of sparkly red heels made headlines in 2005 when they were stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in the actress’s hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, by Terry Jon Martin.
Their whereabouts remained a mystery until the FBI recovered them in 2018. Martin, now 77, wasn’t publicly exposed as the thief until he was charged in May 2023.
It is believed he stole the shoes after being told they were made with real jewels, only to be told later the rubies were made of glass.
Martin pleaded guilty and was sentenced to time served because of his poor health.
After the slippers sold, the auctioneer told bidders and spectators that the previous record for a piece of entertainment memorabilia was $5.52m (£4.3m), for the white dress Marilyn Monroe wore in The Seven Year Itch that blew up when she stood over a subway grate.
Another pair of ruby slippers sold in 2000 for $666,000 (£521,000), Heritage Auctions said. In 2012, Steven Spielberg and Leonardo DiCaprio paid $2m (£1.5m) for another pair and donated them to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in LA.
Other pieces of memorabilia from The Wizard Of Oz, including a hat worn by Margaret Hamilton, who played the original Wicked Witch of the West, were also sold on Saturday.
The hat fetched $2.4m (£1.8m), with the buyer paying a total of $2.93m.
Tommy Fury has opened up about having an alcohol problem – citing his drinking as the reason for his split from Molly-Mae Hague.
Hague, 25, shocked fans in August when she announced the end of her relationship with her then-fiancé, with whom she shares daughter Bambi, who turns two later this month.
Both stars had, until now, refused to publicly reveal the cause of the split. Fury, also 25, has now said the break-up came after he began “drinking quite a lot” while unable to train after hand surgery.
“I’d go out and just drink and drink and drink,” he told Men’s Health. “It went on that way for a long time.
“Most nights I would to drink to get black-out drunk. I think that’s what really took its toll on me.”
Shooting down claims he was unfaithful to Hague, Fury added: “Cheating was never a thing. You can ask Molly this yourself. It was the drink, and the drink is not a good thing. You need to get a grip of it.
“We broke up because I had a problem with alcohol and I couldn’t be the partner that I wanted to be anymore. It kills me to say it, but I couldn’t. I loved a pint of beer, loved to drink.”
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Fury, who was seen spending New Year’s Eve with his ex, added he has “got himself out of that [drinking] now”.
Hague’s break-up announcement came just weeks after she had referred to Fury as the “love of my life” to mark their engagement anniversary on Instagram.
She later told Vogue UK: “No one will ever really know what went down apart from Tommy and I.
“I do think that he will talk about things eventually. I do think that when he’s ready, like, maybe more will be said. But I think that’s for him to do on his terms.”
This year’s BAFTA nominations have been revealed, with papal thriller Conclave leading the race.
Starring Ralph Fiennes as a clergyman responsible for the selection of the next Pope, the film is up for 12 awards – including best film, best director, best actor, and best supporting actress for Isabella Rossellini.
Spanish-language musical Emilia Perez, which tells the story of a Mexican cartel boss who undergoes gender affirmation surgery, is another best film nominee and has 11 BAFTAnods in total – with star Karla Sofía Gascón up for best actress and co-stars Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez both in the running in the supporting actress category.
The Brutalist, an epic drama starring Adrien Brody as a Hungarian architect attempting to build a life in the US after the Second World War, has nine nominations – including best film and best actor, and supporting nods for co-stars Guy Pearce and Felicity Jones.
Elsewhere there are seven nominations each for Wicked, Anora, and Dune: Part Two, six for A Complete Unknown and Kneecap, and five for Nosferatu and The Substance.
In the performance categories, Gascon is up against Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths), Mikey Madison (Anora), Saoirse Ronan (The Outrun) and Demi Moore, whose performance in body horror The Substance won her a Golden Globe earlier this month.
Fiennes and Brody’s best actor competitors are Timothee Chalamet, for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, along with Colman Domingo (Sing Sing), Hugh Grant (Heretic) and Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice).
Kieran Culkin, another recent Golden Globe winner, makes the best supporting actor shortlist once again for his performance in A Real Pain, alongside Pearce and Yura Borisov (Anora), Clarence Maclin (Sing Sing), Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown) and Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice).
Ariana Grande, who stars as Glinda opposite Erivo’s Elphaba in Wicked, and Jamie Lee Curtis, for her performance in The Last Showgirl, make up the best supporting actress shortlist.
For 14 of the 24 acting nominees – including Culkin, Grande, Gascon, Gomez and Moore – it is their first BAFTA film nomination.
Erivo and Chalamet are both previous recipients of the rising star award, which is voted for by the public.
In the best director category, Conclave’s Edward Berger is in the running alongside Brady Corbet, for The Brutalist, Denis Villeneuve, for Dune: Part Two, Jacques Audiard for Emilia Perez, Coralie Fargeat for The Substance, and Sean Baker for Anora.
Baker also has nominations for best original screenplay, casting and editing, making him the most nominated individual this year.
The BAFTAs also includes a category for outstanding British film, with Conclave also shortlisted here alongside films including Steve McQueen’s Blitz, Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II, and Irish-language film Kneecap – which stars the rap trio of the same name in a semi-autobiographical account of their rise to fame.
In total, there are 42 films up for awards, spanning a range of genres.
“The film industry has delivered in spades once again,” said BAFTA chief executive Jane Millichip.
“The skills on display from creative and technical practitioners across the board are phenomenal,” added BAFTA chair Sara Putt.
Could this be the most competitive BAFTAs for years?
What do you get if you bring several priests, a Mexican cartel leader and an architect together under one roof?
Not the world’s most niche fancy dress party, but 2025’s BAFTA film awards shortlist.
Jazz hands and jump scares are the order of the day. Horror is unusually well represented this year, with The Substance, Heretic and Nosferatu all receiving nods, while musicals are also dominating thanks to Emilia Perez, Wicked and, arguably, the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.
Speaking of music, it’s very good news for Irish language rappers Kneecap, whose self-titled semi-true biopic is up for best British film and five other awards. It’s somewhat ironic given that while they rap about wanting Irish independence, the film qualifies as being British as they’re from Northern Ireland.
In the leading actress category, it’s all to play for as none of the nominees has ever won a BAFTA. Fans of ’90s nostalgia will be hoping the Demi-ssaince continues after Demi Moore’s Golden Globe win last month for her performance in body horror The Substance.
Hugh Grant, up for lead actor, last won that BAFTA back in 1995 for his breakthrough performance in Four Weddings And A Funeral. This time around, he’s in the running for a very different role, as a creepy killer in Heretic. He’s nominated alongside another ’90s winner – Ralph Fiennes, who last picked up a BAFTA for supporting actor in 1994.
The nominations this year really showcase a diverse range of genres – and with no clear frontrunners in some categories, could this be the most competitive BAFTAs we’ve seen in a while?
The nominees for this year’s rising star award, which is the only BAFTA prize voted for by the public, have already been announced, with Marisa Abela, Jharrel Jerome, David Jonsson, Mikey Madison and Nabhaan Rizwan in the running.
And Harry Potter star Warwick Davis has also been revealed as the recipient of this year’s BAFTA fellowship, the organisation’s highest honour, for his “trailblazing work” as an actor and for his charity supporting people with dwarfism.
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Marisa Abela is among the rising star nominees
The BAFTA nominations come at a difficult time for the industry, with the organisers of several US awards ceremonies, including the Oscars, pushing their own announcements back and holding more low-key events due to the wildfires in Los Angeles.
However, the Oscars ceremony is still currently scheduled to go ahead as planned on Sunday 2 March.
The BAFTA ceremony will be held at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London on Sunday 16 February.
There are 42 films up for awards at this year’s BAFTA ceremony, from blockbusters to indie breakthroughs.
Organisers have now revealed the shortlists, with papal thriller Conclave leading the nominations, followed closely by Spanish-language musical Emilia Perez, and post-war epic The Brutalist.
The star-studded BAFTAceremony will take place in London on Sunday 16 February.
Here’s the full list of the stars and films up for each prize.
BEST FILM Anora The Brutalist A Complete Unknown Conclave Emilia Perez
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM Bird Blitz Conclave Gladiator II Hard Truths Kneecap Lee Love Lies Bleeding The Outrun Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER Hoard – Luna Carmoon (director/ writer) Kneecap – Rich Peppiatt (director, writer) Monkey Man – Dev Patel (director) Santosh – Sandhya Suri (director, writer), James Bowsher (producer), Balthazar de Ganay (producer) Sister Midnight – Karan Kandhari (director, writer)
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FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE All We Imagine As Light Emilia Perez I’m Still Here Kneecap The Seed Of The Sacred Fig
DOCUMENTARY Black Box Diaries Daughters No Other Land Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story Will & Harper
ANIMATED FILM Flow Inside Out 2 Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl The Wild Robot
CHILDREN’S & FAMILY FILM Flow Kensuke’s Kingdom Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl The Wild Robot
DIRECTOR Anora – Sean Baker The Brutalist – Brady Corbet Conclave – Edward Berger Dune: Part Two – Denis Villeneuve Emilia Perez – Jacques Audiard The Substance – Coralie Fargeat
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Anora – Sean Baker The Brutalist – Brady Corbet & Mona Fastvold Kneecap – Rich Peppiatt, Naoise O Caireallain, Liam Og O Hannaidh, JJ O Dochartaigh A Real Pain – Jesse Eisenberg The Substance – Coralie Fargeat
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY A Complete Unknown – James Mangold and Jay Cocks Conclave – Peter Straughan Emilia Perez – Jacques Audiard Nickel Boys – RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes Sing Sing – Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence ‘Divine Eye’ Maclin, John ‘Divine G’ Whitfield
LEADING ACTRESS Cynthia Erivo – Wicked Karla Sofia Gascon – Emilia Perez Marianne Jean-Baptiste – Hard Truths Mikey Madison – Anora Demi Moore – The Substance Saoirse Ronan – The Outrun
LEADING ACTOR Adrien Brody – The Brutalist Timothee Chalamet – A Complete Unknown Colman Domingo – Sing Sing Ralph Fiennes – Conclave Hugh Grant – Heretic Sebastian Stan – The Apprentice
SUPPORTING ACTRESS Selena Gomez – Emilia Perez Ariana Grande – Wicked Felicity Jones – The Brutalist Jamie Lee Curtis – The Last Showgirl Isabella Rossellini – Conclave Zoe Saldana – Emilia Perez
SUPPORTING ACTOR Yura Borisov – Anora Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain Clarence Maclin – Sing Sing Edward Norton – A Complete Unknown Guy Pearce – The Brutalist Jeremy Strong – The Apprentice
CASTING Anora – Sean Baker, Samantha Quan The Apprentice – Stephanie Gorin, Carmen Cuba A Complete Unknown – Yesi Ramirez Conclave – Nina Gold, Martin Ware Kneecap – Carla Stronge
CINEMATOGRAPHY The Brutalist – Lol Crawley Conclave – Stephanie Fontaine Dune: Part Two – Greig Fraser Emilia Perez – Paul Guilhaume Nosferatu – Jarin Blaschke
EDITING Anora Conclave Dune: Part Two Emilia Perez Kneecap
COSTUME DESIGN Blitz A Complete Unknown Conclave Nosferatu Wicked
MAKE-UP & HAIR Dune: Part Two Emilia Perez Nosferatu The Substance Wicked
ORIGINAL SCORE The Brutalist Conclave Emilia Perez Nosferatu The Wild Robot
PRODUCTION DESIGN The Brutalist Conclave Dune: Part Two Nosferatu Wicked
SOUND Blitz Dune: Part Two Gladiator II The Substance Wicked
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS Better Man Dune: Part Two Gladiator II Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes Wicked
BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION Adios Mog’s Christmas Wander To Wonder
BRITISH SHORT FILM The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing Marion Milk Rock, Paper, Scissors Stomach Bug
EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public) Marisa Abela Jharrel Jerome David Jonsson Mikey Madison Nabhaan Rizwan