Popcorn Shocker: Most people haven’t seen ANY of the Oscar-nominated films

Click the text below to copy the story to clipboard

In 2024, more than 500 movies were released — but the average American has only seen three, according to new research.

Gen Z and millennials each average four different movies, but that number drops as respondents get older. According to the results, baby boomers have only seen two new movies last year and 43% admit they’ve seen none.

With the Oscars quickly approaching and many feature films eyeing the Academy Award for Best Picture, the survey of 2,000 U.S. adults conducted by Talker Research explored how familiar Americans are with the nominated films.

Out of the 569 new films last year, only 10 were nominated for the coveted award: “Wicked” (31%) and “Dune: Part two” (21%) were the most popular. Still, 48% of those polled haven’t seen any of them.

Of those who have, “Wicked” (41%) was the clear favorite to win, followed by “Dune: Part Two” (21%), though 12% even indicated that none of the nominated films were worthy of scoring the award for Best Picture.

“Wicked” reigned victorious with millennials (43% vs 29%) and baby boomers (36% vs 15%) but with Gen X specifically the nostalgia factor is heavy and it comes down to less than a less than 10% difference (“Wicked,” 33% vs “Dune: Part Two,” 24%).

Popularity overall wanes when it comes to “The Substance” (6%), “I’m Still Here” (5%) and “Emilia Pérez” (3%).

But that doesn’t mean Americans have completely written off giving these films a chance. More than half (54%) are more likely to watch a movie after it’s nominated for or wins an Oscar.

This year, a little more than one in five (22%) will tune in to the awards show as they always do, whereas another 12% will turn on the ceremony for the first time in recent years. Ten percent will watch for the first time ever.

Gen Z and millennials are the most loyal, as a quarter of each will stick with tradition and plan to watch as usual. Millennials are especially obsessed as only 18% admit they won’t be watching and never have before.

Another one in five (19%) of all Americans polled are taking a break and won’t watch this year despite usually doing so, and 23% won’t watch as they always have.

WHICH FILM SHOULD WIN BEST PICTURE IN 2025?

“Wicked” – 41%
“Dune: Part Two” – 21%
None of the nominated films – 12%
“The Substance” – 6%
“A Complete Unknown” – 6%
“Conclave” – 6%
“I’m Still Here” – 5%
“Nickel Boys” – 4%
“Emilia Pérez” – 3%
“The Brutalist” – 3%
“Anora” – 3%

Survey methodology

Talker Research surveyed 2,000 general population Americans; the survey was administered and conducted online by Talker Research between Feb. 22 and Feb. 26, 2025.

Copy is free to use

Please credit Talker Research &
the entity that commissioned the research

Republishing guidelines and AI policy

All Talker Research content is made freely available to journalists, editors, publishers and media groups with the goal of helping to drive engagement through interesting data-led text, infographics and videos. If you use our content in any capacity, do let us know via media@talkerresearch.com. We love to see how it’s used.

Guidelines:

You may republish our articles as-written, or use portions of the text, including whole paragraphs, specific sentences, or individual data points, or you may reference or re-write any of the above to fit your publication’s editorial style.

We ask only that you credit Talker Research, in addition to whatever entity may have underwritten the research (e.g. “…conducted by Talker Research on behalf of [ENTITY]” — or any similar version of the preceding example.)

Talker Research content is made available unrestricted with regard to being published on pages surrounded or interrupted by run-of-site or banner ads or video pre-roll ads (or similar).

Likewise, Talker Research content is made available unrestricted with regard to pixel trackers.

All Talker Research content is available for use in perpetuity on all platforms.

Read more about our republishing guidelines.

AI policy:

All of Talker’s stories are created by people, not AI. AI tools support background tasks such as analysis, or production efficiencies, but the core creative work, writing, editing, and shaping the narrative is done by a human.

Media contact

If you have questions about this survey story or would like the data set and visual assets sent to you, please submit the request form or email media@talkerresearch.com.