Why Can’t You Stream Best Picture Nominees ‘The Brutalist,’ ‘I’m Still Here,’ ‘A Complete Unknown’ Or ‘Nickel Boys’?

While I make it my goal every year to watch all the Best Picture Oscar nominees, and past that, maybe some in the Best Actor, Actress and Director’s categories if they’re not included in that pile, it’s a little bit frustrating that a full four of the ten nominees for 2025 seem to be offline entirely, unable to be streamed.

The Oscars air on March 2, 2025, and because of various theatrical and rights deals, it’s unclear if all these films will make it out in time. But hopefully. Here’s what we know about the four main ones missing.

The Brutalist – It does not even have a streaming release date. An estimate by our own Tim Lammers smartly uses past A24 films as reference, and as such, he predicts that it may come to streaming February 25-28, landing right before the show for a last-minute viewing. Though it will be a pricey rental or purchase, no doubt.

I’m Still Here – Again, there is no streaming date for what is the best-scoring film in the entire list, which is unfortunate. The film had a limited release less than two weeks ago in the US, starting on January 17, so while Oscar voters may have screeners, the general public will have a hard time watching it any time soon. While many films now have about a month-long window from theater to VOD, we don’t have a guarantee for that here. Still, it would make sense for it to release before the Oscars air.

A Complete Unknown – There is no date for the Bob Dylan biopic yet, same as these others. It will indeed come to Hulu at some point, maybe February or March, but PVOD should come sooner than that, maybe mid February. But still, no date.

Nickel Boys – Finally, a film with an actual streaming release date. This one may be a bit hard to access as it requires a subscription to the somewhat obscure MGM+ streaming service, but it will arrive there on February 28, right before the show. So you may have to jam in all of these movies in a few days here.

As for the rest? Thankfully you can already watch them in some place or another, at least as of 1/28 when I’m writing this:

• Dune Part 2 – Netflix, Max
• Anora – Paid VOD, Apple/Google/Amazon Prime Video
• Conclave – Peacock
• Emilia Pérez – Netflix
• The Substance – Paid VOD, Apple/Google/Amazon Prime Video, MUBI subscription
• Wicked – Paid VOD, Apple/Google/Amazon Prime Video

Again, it’s irritating that 40% of the Best Picture nominees are not streaming, and many may not be available to watch, even for $20 or so, until right before the Oscars air, if that. You would think distributors would perhaps alter plans so more viewers could watch these films, which is why the public usually ends up rooting for blockbuster or wide-releases they’ve actually seen. But this is always how it goes, and it does not seem to be changing any time soon.

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