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This year’s Oscar race for production design highlights how much thoughtful world building shapes a story long before a single line is spoken. The field is crowded with projects that rely on strong visual identity, each using space, texture, and detail to deepen character and theme. What makes the lineup especially interesting is how
different these films are from one another. They range from storm beaten ships to a charged 1930s city to a future that looks like it remembers the past.
Netflix’s Frankenstein is one of the clearest standouts. Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau build a world that feels both grounded and otherworldly. The ship interiors lean into dark metal and tightly packed rooms, which gives the story a physical weight. The industrial settings echo early gothic horror while feeling modern and lived in. Nothing in these sets feels decorative. Every pipe and walkway seems to carry the history of the characters who move through them.
Ryan Coogler’s Singers takes a different path. Hannah Beachler and Monique Champagne step into the 1930s and craft a city that feels real enough to walk through. There is a sharp contrast between elegance and strain that mirrors the moral pressure at the center of the story. The textures of the period are here, from street level grit to carefully chosen interiors, but they are arranged in a way that highlights the story’s tension rather than merely recreating the era.
Marvel’s The Fantastic Four First Steps offers something more playful. Kasra Farahani and Jille Azis shape a retro futuristic world that blends clean surfaces with nostalgic touches. It looks like a future imagined by someone from another time. The result is a style that feels fresh without losing its ties to the past. The sets match the film’s tone, giving the characters a backdrop that supports both spectacle and character work.
The conversation does not stop with the front runners. Universal’s Wicked For Good, last year’s champion, continues to show the strength of Nathan Crowley and Lee Sandales. Their take on Oz feels full and bright but never overwhelms the story. A24’s Marty Supreme goes in the opposite direction. Jack Fisk and Adam Willis keep their 1950s New York world small and precise. The restraint pays off. The city becomes a quiet reflection of the characters rather than a loud display of design.
There are also the sweeping visual worlds of Avatar Fire and Ash from Dylan Cole, Ben Procter, and Vanessa Cole, and the intimate Tudor settings of Hamnet crafted by Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton. Both remind voters how wide the range of production design can be.
Taken together, the category shows how rich and varied this craft is. Each film uses space to tell its story, and each one makes a case for why production design remains one of the most essential parts of filmmaking.
