Spirits had been excessive, attire had been poofy, and Hollywood’s largest stars had been able to pose on Saturday night time as they arrived on the fifth Academy Museum Gala.
George Clooney, Jeremy Allen White and Sydney Sweeney had been among the many many actors who walked the powder-blue carpet, a nod to the museum’s present exhibition on Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-winning 1975 movie “Jaws.” Kim Kardashian appeared along with her face coated, sporting a nude, corseted costume from Maison Margiela, and Hailey Bieber wore a sculptural, strapless, brown and nude Schiaparelli robe.
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The museum, conceived to have fun cinema as an artwork kind, is a enterprise of the Academy of Movement Image Arts and Sciences, which hosts the Oscars. This yr’s gala honored actors Penélope Cruz and Bowen Yang, filmmaker Walter Salles and rocker Bruce Springsteen, who closed out the night with a efficiency of his songs “Streets of Philadelphia,” “Atlantic Metropolis” and “Land of Hope and Desires.”
Kendall Jenner, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Hailey Bieber, and Laura Harrier on the Academy Museum Gala in Los Angeles, Oct. 18, 2025. The fund-raiser in Los Angeles drew stars who had been masked, shoeless and gushing about this season’s Oscar hopefuls. (Jennelle Fong/The New York Occasions)
“It’s our largest fundraiser of the yr,” mentioned Amy Homma, the director and president of the Academy Museum of Movement Photos. “The entire work that goes into the previous yr, we get to have fun tonight.”
The night raised greater than $12 million, Homma mentioned, a document for the museum, which opened in 2021 and, like many Hollywood productions, has endured its share of snags and critiques. However the stars who’re used to the award present circuit and galas nonetheless arrived with enthusiasm — and the occasional film advice.
“I like this place,” actor Jeff Goldblum mentioned. “I like all the things they’re doing. I’m loopy about motion pictures, and we all know how this place helps and champions motion pictures.”
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Macaulay Culkin and Brenda Track on the Academy Museum Gala in Los Angeles, Oct. 18, 2025. The fund-raiser in Los Angeles drew stars who had been masked, shoeless and gushing about this season’s Oscar hopefuls. (Jennelle Fong/The New York Occasions)
Goldblum mentioned he had lately loved Ari Aster’s “Eddington,” Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu” and Benny Safdie’s “The Smashing Machine.”
After blue-carpet photographs, attendees, who included members of the Academy, spent a number of hours at a pop-up cocktail bar outdoors the museum’s entrance, sipping on a signature drink known as the Amity Island, a citrusy tequila cocktail with a hibiscus-cranberry float named after the fictional setting of “Jaws.”
Over the previous a number of years, the museum has featured exhibitions on the work of well-liked administrators together with Spike Lee, Pedro Almodóvar and Bong Joon Ho, whose present exhibition on the museum highlights his inventive course of for movies like “Parasite” (2019), which gained the Oscar for finest image in 2020, and Okja (2017).
Kim Kardashian, in a robe from Maison Margiela, on the Academy Museum Gala in Los Angeles, Oct. 18, 2025. The fund-raiser in Los Angeles drew stars who had been masked, shoeless and gushing about this seasonÕs Oscar hopefuls. (Jennelle Fong/The New York Occasions)
“It’s a fantastic honor that my exhibition is right here,” Bong mentioned, praising the curators, “I like their work.”
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Naturally, a little bit of Oscar buzz loomed over the occasion, with chatter concerning the season’s potential front-runners. Latest hits like Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners,” Zach Cregger’s “Weapons” and Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After One other” popped up in lots of conversations.
“Simply two days in the past, I went and noticed ‘One Battle After One other’ for the second time in theaters,” actress Anna Kendrick mentioned as she sipped on a glass of wine subsequent to actress Michelle Monaghan. “And I’m not mendacity after I say, seeing it for a second time made me wish to see it for a 3rd time.”
Molly Kawachi, Olivia Gerke, Bowen Yang and Brianna Smith on the Academy Museum Gala in Los Angeles, Oct. 18, 2025. The fund-raiser in Los Angeles drew stars who had been masked, shoeless and gushing about this seasonÕs Oscar hopefuls. (Jennelle Fong/The New York Occasions)
Attendees snacked on bite-size taro-root tacos, tiny beef kofta sliders and slices of pizza topped with honeynut squash and prosciutto.
Some hadn’t had an opportunity to observe the entire yr’s huge releases. Actress Brenda Track and her companion, actor Macaulay Culkin, mentioned that with two younger kids at residence, it was fairly difficult to dam off two uninterrupted hours.
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Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa on the Academy Museum Gala in Los Angeles, Oct. 18, 2025. The fund-raiser in Los Angeles drew stars who had been masked, shoeless and gushing about this seasonÕs Oscar hopefuls. (Jennelle Fong/The New York Occasions)
“What we’re watching is, like, ‘The Lego Film,’” Track mentioned.
“Sure, on repeat,” Culkin added, laughing.
Pop stars Charli XCX, Olivia Rodrigo and Addison Rae floated across the room alongside actors George Clooney and Kerry Washington, and Netflix govt Ted Sarandos. Even with the starry crowd, many attendees had been fast to shed inhibitions.
“I acquired my footwear off as a result of my toes had been hurting,” actor LaKeith Stanfield mentioned, strolling by way of the occasion in his socks. “I put them within the coat test.”
Bong Joon Ho, Woo-hyung Kim and Lee Byung-hun on the Academy Museum Gala in Los Angeles, Oct. 18, 2025. The fund-raiser in Los Angeles drew stars who had been masked, shoeless and gushing about this season’s Oscar hopefuls. (Jennelle Fong/The New York Occasions)
As employees members clinked knives in opposition to glasses of Champagne to usher attendees towards their seats for a gala dinner held on the museum’s terrace, actress Rachel Zegler shared two new motion pictures that she adored. Although most of the movies’ stars weren’t current, she dutifully pitched their significance for subsequent yr’s Oscars.
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“Oh my gosh, ‘One Battle After One other’ and ‘Kiss of the Spider Girl’ are so improbable,” Zegler mentioned, referring to the movies starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lopez.
“J. Lo’s Oscar marketing campaign begins now.”
