The 2026 awards season is officially heating up! Last night, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled the nominees across all 24 Oscar categories. With so much incredible talent and standout performances in the mix from last year, this year’s Oscar race promises to be one of the most closely watched in recent memory. And we’re set to see how this plays out!
Leading the wolf-pack is Ryan Coogler’s vampirical bonanza, “Sinners.” And holy moly, it really is a sucker for awards season. Indeed, the flick has become the first in Oscars history to rack up 16 nominations! That breaks a record previously held by “All About Eve,” “Titanic,” and “La La Land,” which each topped out at 14 in their respective years. However this race plays out, that is already an extraordinary milestone for Coogler and his team.
Close behind “Sinners” is Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” which picked up 13 nominations. While “Sinners” may be the headline-grabber, history shows that the sheer volume of nominations does not always lead to a clean sweep on Oscar night. “One Battle After Another” could still benefit from Oscars arithmetic, broad support across categories, and the Academy’s long-standing affection for Anderson.
Moving on, Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” and the Timothée Chalamet-led “Marty Supreme” both tag along with nine each.
One new category worth spotlighting this year is Best Casting. It’s an overdue addition that finally acknowledges the invisible architects behind some of cinema’s most memorable performances. And for this edition, the inaugural nominees are “Hamnet,” “Marty Supreme,” “One Battle After Another,” “The Secret Agent,” and “Sinners.”
On the animated front, “K-Pop Demon Hunters” has nowhere to go but up, up, up as it picks up two nominations: one for the Best Animated Feature category and also a Best Original Song nod for “Golden.” Disney’s “Zootopia 2” and “Elio” also picked up nominations in the Animated Feature category.
A record four non-English language performances have been nominated this year. Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Wagner Moura, Renate Reinsve, and Stellan Skarsgård all earned acting nods. The previous high-water mark of three nominations dates back nearly five decades to 1976, when Marie-Christine Barrault, Giancarlo Giannini, and Liv Ullmann were recognised for their efforts.
That momentum extends to the Best Picture race itself. “The Secret Agent” and “Sentimental Value” become the 12th and 13th non-English language films to be nominated for both Best Picture and International Feature Film in the same year, according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. To date, “Parasite” remains the only film to win both categories, a reminder that while the Academy’s tastes are widening. Yet, history still looms large over how far that recognition ultimately goes.
First-Time Acting Nominees
This year’s nominations also bring a strong wave of first-time nominees in the acting category, who played important parts in their respective films.
Michael B. Jordan earns his first Oscar nomination for “Sinners,” anchoring Coogler’s genre-defying vampire story with a dual performance that sits at the heart of the film’s emotional and cultural pull. He is joined by Delroy Lindo and Wunmi Mosaku, whose supporting turns further underscore just how deeply the Academy responded to “Sinners” across the board. Mosaku’s inclusion, in particular, stands out as a surprise in this supporting actress field, but one that is welcome nonetheless.
Wagner Moura (“The Secret Agent”) grabs his first-ever Academy Award nomination in this edition. However, he also creates history as the first Brazilian actor nominated for Best Actor.
“Sentimental Value” contributes a striking group of first-time nominees in Renate Reinsve, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, and Stellan Skarsgård. Elle Fanning also earns her first nomination for a performance that helped define one of the year’s most emotionally layered ensembles.
Elsewhere, Rose Byrne (“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”) lands a lone but potent Best Actress nomination. At the same time, Jacob Elordi (“Frankenstein”) and Teyana Taylor (“One Battle After Another”) round out this edition of the inaugural cohort.
Stinging Snubs
For all the breadth on display, a handful of omissions remain difficult to ignore. Chase Infiniti’s absence from the acting categories is particularly glaring given “One Battle After Another’s” otherwise dominant showing. Meanwhile, Odessa A’zion’s miss for Marty Supreme continues the Academy’s uneven track record with emerging performers.
Indeed, Tessa Thompson, too, who had been nominated for a Golden Globe for “Hedda”, was left out of the equation, as was “Hamnet’s” Paul Mescal.
Guillermo del Toro did not pick up a nod for Best Director, considering “Frankenstein” itself is one of the frontrunners in the race, so that was a big surprise.
Park-Chan Wook’s “No Other Choice” failed to register at all, not even within the International Film category, despite early-season visibility.
Perhaps most strikingly, “Wicked: For Good” emerged from nomination morning completely shut out. This was surprising given the buzz it had received in the run-up to this date. Even Ariana Grande was left out of the Best Supporting Actress discussion this time.
Oscar Nominees (Full List):
Best Picture
“Bugonia”
“F1”
“Frankenstein”
“Hamnet”
“Marty Supreme”
“One Battle After Another”
“The Secret Agent”
“Sentimental Value”
“Sinners”
“Train Dreams”
Best Director
Chloé Zhao, “Hamnet”
Josh Safdie, “Marty Supreme”
Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another”
Joachim Trier, “Sentimental Value”
Ryan Coogler, “Sinners”
Best Actor
Timothée Chalamet, “Marty Supreme”
Leonardo DiCaprio, “One Battle After Another”
Ethan Hawke, “Blue Moon”
Michael B. Jordan, “Sinners”
Wagner Moura, “The Secret Agent”
Best Actress
Jessie Buckley, “Hamnet”
Rose Byrne, “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”
Kate Hudson, “Song Sung Blue”
Renate Reinsve, “Sentimental Value”
Emma Stone, “Bugonia”
Best Supporting Actress
Elle Fanning, “Sentimental Value”
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, “Sentimental Value”
Amy Madigan, “Weapons”
Wunmi Mosaku, “Sinners”
Teyana Taylor, “One Battle After Another”
Best Supporting Actor
Benicio Del Toro, “One Battle After Another”
Jacob Elordi, “Frankenstein”
Delroy Lindo, “Sinners”
Sean Penn, “One Battle After Another”
Stellan Skarsgård, “Sentimental Value”
Best Original Score
“Bugonia,” Jerskin Fendrix
“Frankenstein,” Alexandre Desplat
“Hamnet,” Max Richter
“One Battle After Another,” Jonny Greenwood
“Sinners,” Ludwig Göransson
Best Live Action Short Film
“Butcher’s Stain”
“Jane Austen’s Period Drama”
“A Friend of Dorothy”
“The Singers”
“Two People Exchanging Saliva”
Best Adapted Screenplay
“Bugonia,” Will Tracy
“Frankenstein,” Guillermo Del Toro
“Hamnet,” Maggie O’Farrell and Chloé Zhao
“One Battle After Another,” Paul Thomas Anderson
“Train Dreams,” Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar
Best Original Screenplay
“Blue Moon,” Robert Kaplow
“It Was Just an Accident,” Jafar Panahi
“Marty Supreme,” Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie
“Sentimental Value,” Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt
“Sinners,” Ryan Coogler
Best Animated Short Film
“Butterfly”
“Forevergreen”
“The Girl Who Cried Pearls”
“Retirement Plan”
“The Three Sisters”
Best Animated Feature Film
“Arco”
“Elio”
“KPop Demon Hunters”
“Little Amélie or the Character of Rain”
“Zootopia 2”
Best Casting
“Hamnet,” Nina Gold
“Marty Supreme,” Jennifer Venditti
“One Battle After Another,” Cassandra Kulukundis
“The Secret Agent,” Gabriel Domingues
“Sinners,” Francine Maisler
Best Original Song
“Dear Me”, “Diane Warren: Relentless”
“Golden”, “KPop Demon Hunters”
“I Lied to You”, “Sinners”
“Sweet Dreams of Joy”, “Viva Verdi!”
“Train Dreams”, “Train Dreams”
Best Documentary Feature Film
“The Alabama Solution”
“Come See Me in the Good Light”
“Cutting Through Rocks”
“Mr. Nobody Against Putin”
“The Perfect Neighbor”
Best Documentary Short Film
“All Empty Rooms”
“Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud”
“Children No More: Were and Are Gone”
“The Devil is Busy”
“Perfectly a Strangeness”
Best International Feature Film
Brazil, “The Secret Agent”
France, “It Was Just an Accident”
Norway, “Sentimental Value”
Spain, “Sirât”
Tunisia, “The Voice of Hind Rajab”
Best Film Editing
“F1,” Stephen Mirrione
“Marty Supreme,” Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie
“One Battle After Another,” Andy Jurgensen
“Sentimental Value,” Olivier Bugge
“Sinners,” Michael P. Shawver
Best Sound
“F1”
“Frankenstein”
“One Battle After Another”
“Sinners”
“Sirāt”
Best Visual Effects
“Avatar: Fire and Ash”
“F1”
“Jurassic World Rebirth”
“The Lost Bus”
“Sinners”
Best Cinematography
“Frankenstein”
“Marty Supreme”
“One Battle After Another”
“Sinners”
“Train Dreams”
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
“Frankenstein”
“Kokuho”
“Sinners”
“The Smashing Machine”
“The Ugly Stepsister”
Best Costume Design
Deborah L. Scott, “Avatar: Fire and Ash”
Kate Hawley, “Frankenstein”
Malgosia Turzanska, “Hamnet”
Miyako Bellizzi, “Marty Supreme”
Ruth E. Carter, “Sinners”
Best Production Design
“Frankenstein”
“Hamnet”
“Marty Supreme”
“One Battle After Another”
“Sinners”
The 98th Academy Awards (Oscars) will air live at 8am MYT on Monday, March 16, 2026, exclusively on Disney+.
