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It is once again time for the ButteredPopcorn Movie Awards! Celebrating the best releases of 2024! This is a strictly fun exercise to give attention to the incredible talent that battled through one of the most challenging years in recent memory and still produced some incredible work! Without further ado, here are the official 2025 ButteredPopcorn Movie Award Winners!

​Best Sound Design:

• The Bikeriders
• Challengers
• I Saw the TV Glow
• In a Violent Nature (WINNER)
• Nosferatu

​Best Animation Design:

• Chicken for Linda! (WINNER)
• Diplodocus
• The Glassworker
• Memoir of a Snail
• The Wild Robot

​​Best Visual Design:

• I Saw the TV Glow
• Longlegs
• Nosferatu
• Riddle of Fire
• ​Queer (WINNER)

​Best Costume Design:

• Gladiator II (David Crossman & Janty Yates) 
• The Last Showgirl (Jacqueline Getty & Rainy Jacobs)
• Maria (Massimo Cantini Parrini)
• Megalopolis (Milena Canonero) (WINNER)
• Wicked (Paul Tazewell)

​Best Production Design:

• Conclave (Suzie Davies) (WINNER)
• Gladiator II (Arthur Max, Jille Azis, & Elli Griff)
• Maria (Guy Hendrix Dyas & Sandro Piccarozzi)
• Nosferatu (Craig Lathrop)
• Queer (Stefano Baisi &  Lisa Crivelli Scoppa)

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​Best Makeup & Hairstyling:

• The Apprentice
• Lisa Frankenstein
• Megalopolis
• Nosferatu
• The Substance (WINNER)

​Best Visual Effects:

• Better Man
• Dune: Part Two
• Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (WINNER)
• Spaceman
• Wicked

​Best Film Editing:

• The Brutalist (David Jancso)
• Challengers (Marco Costa)
• I Saw the TV Glow (Sofi Marshall)
• Soundtrack to a Coup d’État (Rik Chaubet) (WINNER)
• Queer (Marco Costa)

​Best Cinematography:

• All We Imagine as Light (Ranabir Das)
• Challengers (Sayombhu Mukdeeprom)
• Grand Tour (Sayombhu Mukdeeprom)
• Nickel Boys (Jomo Fray)
• Sing Sing (Pat Scola) (WINNER)

​​Best Use of Music:

• Better Man
• Challengers
• I Saw the TV Glow
• Soundtrack to a Coup d’État (WINNER)
• Queer

​Best Original Song:

• Beautiful That Way (The Last Showgirl) (WINNER)
• Better Way to Live (Kneecap)
• Claw Machine (I Saw the TV Glow)
• Forbidden Road (Better Man)
• Like a Bird (Sing Sing)
• Release (Trap)

​Best Score:

• Adrianne & The Castle (Richard Reed Parry)
• Babygirl (Cristobal Tapia de Veer)
• The Brutalist (Daniel Blumberg)
• Challengers (Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross) (WINNER)
• Evil Does Not Exist (Eiko Ishibashi)

Best Solo Directorial Debut:

• Luke Gilford (National Anthem)
• Malcolm Washington (The Piano Lesson)
• Rachel Morrison (The Fire Inside)
• Sean Wang (Dìdi) (WINNER)
• Vera Drew (The People's Joker)
• Zoe Eisenberg (Chaperone)

​Best Foreign Language Feature:

• Daaaaaalí!
• Evil Does Not Exist
• My Favourite Cake
• No Other Land
• The Seed of the Sacred Fig (WINNER)
• Việt and Nam​

​Best Documentary Feature:

• Adrianne & The Castle
• Daughters
• Girls State
• No Other Land
• Soundtrack to a Coup d’État (WINNER)
• Will & Harper

​Best Animated Feature:

• Chicken for Linda! (WINNER)
• Diplodocus
• The Imaginary
• Memoir of a Snail
• Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
• The Wild Robot

​Best Youth Performance:

• Alyla Browne (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga)
• Ariel Donoghue (Trap)
• Charlie Stover (Riddle of Fire)
• Ian Foreman (I Saw the TV Glow)
• Izaac Wang (Dìdi) (WINNER)
• Phoebe Ferro (Riddle of Fire)

​Best Voiceover Performance:

• Brian Tyree Henry (Transformers One)
• Lupita Nyong'o (The Wild Robot)
• Paul Dano (Spaceman) (WINNER)
• Pedro Pascal (The Wild Robot)
• Sarah Snook (Memoir of a Snail)
• Yuumi Kawai (Look Back)

​Best Ensemble:

• Ghostlight
• Gladiator II
• His Three Daughters
• The Last Showgirl
• The Piano Lesson (WINNER)
• The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Best Adapted Screenplay:

• Conclave (Peter Straughan)
• Gladiator II (David Scarpa)
• Oh, Canada (Paul Schrader)
• The Piano Lesson (Malcolm Washington & Virgil Williams)
• The Room Next Door (Pedro Almodóvar)
• Queer (Justin Kuritzkes) (WINNER)

Best Original Screenplay:

• Challengers (Justin Kuritzkes) (WINNER)
• Daaaaaalí! (Quentin Dupieux)
• Didì (Sean Wang)
• Evil Does Not Exist (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
• Ghostlight (Kelly O'Sullivan)
• ​Hard Truths (Mike Leigh)
• I Saw the TV Glow (Jane Schoenbrun)

Best Supporting Actress:

• Carrie Coon (His Three Daughters)
• Danielle Deadwyler (The Piano Lesson)
• Elizabeth Olsen (His Three Daughters)
• Joan Chen (Dìdi)
• Natasha Lyonne (His Three Daughters)
• Tilda Swinton (The Room Next Door) (WINNER)​

Best Supporting Actor:

• Brigette Lundy-Paine (I Saw the TV Glow)
• Denzel Washington (Gladiator II)
• Harris Dickinson (Babygirl)
• Josh O'Connor (Challengers) (WINNER)
• Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)
• Mike Faist (Challengers)

Best Actress:

• Angelina Jolie (Maria)
• Lily-Rose Depp (Nosferatu)
• Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths)
• Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl) (WINNER)
• Ryan Destiny (The Fire Inside)
• Zendaya (Challengers)

Best Actor:

• Andrew Garfield (We Live In Time)
• Colman Domingo (Sing Sing)
• Daniel Craig (Queer)
• Hugh Grant (Heretic)
• Keith Kupferer (Ghostlight) (WINNER)
• Ralph Fiennes (Conclave)

Best Director:

• Alex Thompson & Kelly O'Sullivan (Ghostlight)
• Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow)
• Luca Guadagnino (Challengers) (WINNER)
• Luca Guadagnino (Queer)
• Ridley Scott (Gladiator II)
• Trương Minh Quý (Việt and Nam)

​The Golden Popcorn Legacy Award:

Oscar Micheaux

Often overlooked, Oscar Micheaux was a groundbreaking pioneer of independent filmmaking, creating more than 44 films as a director and producer. Micheaux was a champion of creating a space for black filmmakers and stories and worked closely with the Lincoln Motion Picture Company which was the first ever movie studio to be owned and ran by black filmmakers, offering a backbone of support and freedom for these voices which were often excluded from more mainstream studios. In 2024, a collection of 15 films by Micheaux was screened as part of a retrospective which debuted at Film Forum offering the rare chance to see his films on the big screen once again.

​​The Golden Popcorn in Filmmaking Award:

Luca Guadagnino

2024 was undoubtedly the year of Luca Guadagnino. While the director has built one of the strongest filmographies of any working creative voice over the last decade with masterpiece releases including Call Me By Your Name, We Are Who We Are, and Bones & All, 2024 saw a double release for Guadagnino of both Challengers and Queer which immediately go down as two of his best. The devilish love triangle of Challengers and the deeply poetic portrait of queer desire in Queer mark two great examples of the complex ability of the filmmaker who has bounced between genres and perspectives to build compelling and meaningful stories that often engage LGBTQ+ perspectives and poignant social commentary unlike any other. To watch a Guadagnino feature is to go on a journey of emotional vulnerability and texture unlike any other with 2024 going down as a defining year in his career which continues to grow with his next feature, After the Hunt, being dated for 2025 and a new adaptation of American Psycho also being in the pipeline.

The Golden Popcorn in Acting Award:

Denzel Washington

Since his debut in 1991's Carbon Copy, Denzel Washington has been a powerhouse voice within the film industry both on-screen and behind the camera with 2024 showing both sides of his creative voice with his standout performance as Macrinus in Gladiator II and his work as a producer for The Piano Lesson. Washington made history as the first African American actor to win two competitive Academy Awards, one for Best Supporting Actor for Glory and one for Best Actor for Training Day. Washington has undeniably left his footprint as a defining voice in the modern cinematic landscape and continues to deliver some of the most meaningful work being produced.

​Best Picture:

• Challengers (WINNER)
• Dìdi
• Ghostlight
• I Saw the TV Glow
• The Last Showgirl
• Queer