‘Snub of the year’: Why the ‘Challengers’ music failed to win over Oscar voters

Daniel Montgomery

Fri, January 24, 2025 at 10:01 PM UTC

4 min read

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“No Challengers in original score… I feared days like this would come,” New York Times culture writer Kyle Buchanan lamented on social media after the Oscar nominations were announced. “I think the lack of an original score nomination for Challengers renders the entire Oscar nominations list invalid,” opined Hollywood Reporter commentator Daniel Feinberg. When it comes to the Academy Awards, Best Original Score isn’t usually a category rife with controversy, but this year’s lineup stoked outrage when Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross weren’t nominated for their pulse-pounding compositions from the provocative tennis drama.

So what happened?

Just weeks earlier, Reznor and Ross won the Golden Globe for their score, defeating four of the films that did get Oscar nominations: The Brutalist, Conclave, Emilia Pérez, and The Wild Robot. The fifth Oscar nominee, Wicked, missed the cut at the Globes.

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The composing team is also Oscar-pedigreed. Reznor and Ross, bandmates in the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, are two-time Oscar winners for Best Score. They prevailed for The Social Network (2010) and Soul (2020), the latter prize shared with Jon Batiste.

And when the 2025 Oscar shortlists were unveiled in December, their music for Challengers was one of 20 scores that made the cut for Best Score, while the track “Compress/Repress” was one of 14 advancing in the Best Song race. But when it came to nomination day, neither managed to secure an Oscar bid, much to the dismay of pundits, critics, and fans.

The backlash

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The “it’s too loud” theory

The prevailing wisdom is that the Oscar voters are still a bit old-fashioned in their tastes, typically opting for traditional orchestral compositions. Challengers, on the other hand, has plenty of the techno-infused DNA from the duo’s Nine Inch Nails canon. Slash Film‘s Nina Starner described the music as “pounding” and “aggressive.” Vulture‘s Fran Hoepfner noted what “an epic film score can sound like it should be played at the club.” The Challengers omission recalls the notorious snub of the score for Tron: Legacy (2010) by EDM legends Daft Punk. So while the Academy has gotten younger and more diverse in recent years, it might still have work to do.

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The “out of sight, out of mind” theory

Considering Reznor and Ross’ high regard as film composers, their reputation might have overcome any musical genre bias. Another explanation for the music’s big miss is simply the calendar. Similar to other under-performing films like Dune: Part Two and Sing Sing, Challengers was released early in the year (April 26 to be exact) and simply was out of sight, out of mind by the time Oscar voters got to it. Challengers was completely blanked at the nominations. And while Dune‘s March release didn’t stop it from getting a Best Picture nomination, the sequel’s total haul (five) was half of what Dune: Part One got (10), despite the second film getting better reviews and making more money. One major difference: Part One was released in the fall.

SEE 2025 Oscar nominations: Snubs and surprises include ‘A Real Pain,’ Edward Berger, Selena Gomez

Movies released early in the year can do quite well at the Oscars, like 2022 Best Picture champ Everything Everywhere All at Once, but it’s usually a heavier lift than opening later when a studio can promote a film for theatrical release and awards at the same time. That way you benefit from both the excited buzz of a new arrival and the potential for imminent awards recognition. All of this year’s nominees for Best Score were fall releases, so there’s a good chance recency bias was part of the equation that kept Challengers on the bench despite it making the shortlist for Oscars consideration.

The consolation

It’s not quite game, set, match.

The Challengers soundtrack has performed well sales-wise, topping out at No. 8 on Billboard‘s album chart. Challengers is up for the Grammy for Best Score/Soundtrack for Visual Media, and both Best Song and Best Score at the Critics Choice Awards. And Reznor and Ross still have that Globe win in their pocket. In the long run, we’ll think they’ll be fine.

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