If you have seen only one sport movie in the past year, it is likely to have been the Brad Pitt vehicle that is F1. It was both critically acclaimed and a box office winner in the summer of 2025 and is the holder of four Oscar nominations going into this weekend’s 98th Academy Awards.

In most years, those four nominations — including best picture, film editing, sound and visual effects — would easily make it top dog in the genre of sport movies in that given year. For most of you, it would also rank as your favourite sport film of the past year. Yet in this unusual year for sport movies, it will get largely overshadowed Sunday in Hollywood.

The headline maker is likely to be a much less conventional sport movie by the name of Marty Supreme, the original screenplay featuring millennial superstar Timothee Chalamet in the role of aspiring table tennis champion Marty Mauser. Marty Supreme is up for nine Oscars at the Academy Awards, including best picture and a best actor nomination for Chalamet, who doubles as one of the film’s producers. It marks the first time in the nearly 100-year history of the Academy Awards that the sport movie genre has been recognized with a total of 14 nominations (nine for Marty Supreme, four for F1 and one for The Smashing Machine, the story of mixed martial arts icon Mark Kerr, with Dwayne Johnson in the role of the UFC Hall of Famer).

Those 14 nominations also figure prominently in the 19th annual edition of The Sport Market Movie Awards recognizing excellence in the sport genre. In what is surely the most eclectic roster of sport movie releases in recent memory, Marty Supreme wins 11 categories, including best picture, best drama, and best actor in Chalamet for his depiction of Mauser, one that is loosely based on the flashy New York City table tennis champion Reisman who was known much for his hustling as his ping pong in the 1950s.

Kevin O’Leary of Dragon’s Den and Shark Tank fame is a surprisingly effective addition as the primary antagonist Milton Rockwell, a hard-core business tycoon building a global empire in the manufacture of pens. O’Leary – married in a loveless relationship with Gwyneth Paltrow who plays Kay Stone in the film — wins The Sport Market Movie Awards in the category of best supporting actor.

Besides the high-arcing table tennis rallies that are largely captured at wide angles, Marty Supreme is defined by — of all things — its musical score and soundtrack. With 80s synth pop stars and new wave artists such as Tears for Fears and Peter Gabriel featured against the 1950s era of the movie, it somehow works and is one of the most talked about soundtracks in recent years.

For fans of auto racing in general and Formula 1 in particular, F1 is a sure payoff in 2025. It wins six categories in The Sport Market Movie Awards, including ensemble cast. With a world wide box office of US$633 million in ticket sales, it is the box office champion for last year. With Pitt in the pit, so to speak, F1 helped trigger a welcome bounce back for English language sport movies in 2025, after the industry had to settle for the tennis flick Challengers as the box office leader two years ago (with only $96.1 million worldwide, well behind the Chinese language boxing movie Yolo $484.5 million in 2024).

With F1 and Marty Supreme ($274.5 million) combining for more than $1 billion in ticket sales worldwide, investors were relieved to see one of the best sport movie box offices of all time. Christy — the real life story of 1990s female boxing pioneer Christy Martin of the U.S. — featured Sweeney in the title role. Sweeney was transformative in the lead role but the movie simply couldn’t find its audience with a box office of less than $3 million.

Another 2025 release that couldn’t make its mark at the box office was The Smashing Machine, with Johnson driving a mediocre $21 million in ticket sales. Having said that, the make up that transformed the Rock into UFC icon Kerr is worth an on-demand selection for more than just hard core fans of mixed martial arts.

Yet it’s Marty Supreme and F1 that will get most of the added viewership generated by Oscars buzz this weekend.

The Sport Market Movie Awards 2025: 19th annual Winners in the 19th annual edition of The Sport Market Movie Awards recognizing excellence in the genre of sport movies:

Best picture – Marty Supreme (table tennis)

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Box office champion – F1 (auto racing), $633.4 million worldwide

Best drama – Marty Supreme (table tennis)

Best comedy – Happy Gilmore 2 (golf)

Best biopic – The Smashing Machine (the story of Mark Kerr/Mixed Martial Arts)

Best documentary – Taurasi (the Diana Taurasi docuseries/basketball)

Best actor – Timothee Chalamet (Marty Supreme/table tennis)

Best actress – Sydney Sweeney (Christy/boxing) and Emily Blunt (The SmashingMachine/Mixed Martial Arts)

Best supporting actor – Kevin O’Leary (Marty Supreme/table tennis)

Best supporting actress – Kerry Condon (F1/auto racing)

Best cast – Brad Pitt, Kerry Condon, Damson Idris, Javier Bardem, Callie Cooke, Tobias Menzies, Simone Ashley, Liz Kingsman, Sarah Niles, Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc, Simon Kunz, Oscar Piastri, and Kim Bodnia (F1/auto racing)

Best director – Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme/table tennis)

Best original screenplay – Josh Safdie and Ronald Brownstein (Marty Supreme/table tennis)

Best cinematography – Darius Khondji (Marty Supreme/table tennis)

Best film editing – Stephen Mirrione (F1/auto racing)Best visual effects – Ryan Tudhope, Rob Harrington, and Nicolas Chevallier(F1/auto racing)

Best sound – Gareth John, Gwendalyn Yates, Al Nelson, Gary Rizzo and JuanPeralta (F1/auto racing)

Best makeup – Kazu Hiro, Glen Griffin, and Bjoern Rehbein (The SmashingMachine/Mixed Martial Arts)

Best costume design – Miyako Bellizzi (Marty Supreme/table tennis)

Best production design – Jack Fisk and Adam Willis (Marty Supreme/table tennis)

Best soundtrack – Daniel Lopatin (Marty Supreme/table tennis)

Best song – Tears for Fears: Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal (Marty Supreme/table tennis)

Sport business commentator and marketing executive Tom Mayenknecht is a principal in EMBLEMATICA and the host of The Sport Market on Sportsnet 650 and the Sportsnet Radio Network.