Oscars Screening Room Lacks Major Contenders, Favors Sequels and Indie Gems

In the lead-up to the 2025 Oscars, the Academy Screening Room, a platform that allows Oscar voters to preview films, is notably lacking in high-profile awards contenders. As of October 13, 2025, the screening room contains only 37 films, including nine documentaries, two animated features, and 26 live-action narrative films.

The most prominent titles available are sequels like "Mission: Impossible - the Final Reckoning" and "The Accountant 2," along with lesser-known films such as "The Friend," "Jane Austen Wrecked My Life," and the Netflix animated feature "KPop Demon Hunters." Notably, none of the films in the screening room are among the 70 top Best Picture contenders listed on the Gold Derby website.

Meanwhile, the Academy's separate screening rooms for the Documentary and International Feature Film categories are better stocked, with 95 feature documentaries, 74 short documentaries, and 20 international films submitted by their home countries. However, the main screening room that all Oscar voters can access remains severely limited in its offerings.

This situation has led studios and filmmakers to prefer that voters see major contenders at in-person screenings or on private links, rather than making them available on the Academy Screening Room platform, which charges a $20,000 fee for films with budgets over $10 million.