The Oscars is the most important awards show in Hollywood history. Its purpose is to determine which films were the best of the best out of every year, and honor those involved. With several incredible films like Bugonia, Sinners, and Marty Supreme, the 98th Academy Awards season is more competitive than ever.
The following is a comprehensive list of every 2026 Oscar nomination, and who GameRant believes could take the title.
Best Actor In a Leading Role
- Timothy Chalamet — Marty Supreme
- Leonardo DiCaprio — One Battle after Another
- Ethan Hawke — Blue Moon
- Michael B. Jordan — Sinners
- Wagner Moura — The Secret Agent
The Oscar for lead actor is easily one of the most prized accolades among Hollywood’s elite. This year it is more difficult than ever to see who might walk away with the award. Despite industry veterans Leonardo DiCaprio and Ethan Hawke vying for the title, it will probably fall to a younger competitor. As of now, the two biggest contenders are Timothy Chalamet’s performance as Marty in Marty Supreme and Michael B. Jordan’s role as Stack and Smoke in Sinners. Ultimately, Michael B. Jordan will probably walk away with the award, since he gave two distinct but incredible performances in the same film.
Best Actor In a Supporting Role
- Benicio Del Toro — One Battle After Another
- Jacob Elordi — Frankenstein
- Delroy Lindo — Sinners
- Sean Penn — One Battle after Another
- Stellan Skarsgård — Sentimental Value
Supporting roles are often overlooked as unimportant or second-rate, but without the proper support, no film would be able to reach its true potential. There are several incredible nominations this year, but the award easily belongs to Sean Penn’s performance as Colonel Steven S. Lockjaw. His intense performance is the perfect tie-in to the film, and easily elevates it to the next level. If not Penn, the award belongs to Jacob Elordi’s performance as Frankenstein’s Monster. His monologues throughout the movie are nothing short of phenomenal.
Best Actress In a Leading Role
- Jessie Buckley — Hamnet
- Rosee Byrne — If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
- Kate Hudson — Song Sung Blue
- Renate Reinsve — Sentimental Value
- Emma Stone — Bugonia
The award for leading actress is highly sought and fought over. Even when someone wins the award, many often think it belongs to someone else. However, the victor for this year is relatively clear. Emma Stone’s performance as hyper-focused CEO Michelle Fuller was incredible, but nothing can top Jessie Buckley’s role as Agnes Shakespeare. Buckley plays the playwright’s wife, who goes through the terrible process of losing a child. Her performance is easily the crux of the film and worthy of praise for years to come.
Best Actress In a Supporting Role
- Elle Fanning — Sentimental Value
- Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas — Sentimental Value
- Amy Madigan — Weapons
- Wunmi Mosaku — Sinners
- Teyana Taylor — One Battle after Another
Supporting roles are typically the unsung heroes among actors and actresses. They make the film feel complete, but they lack the notoriety of other roles. This simply isn’t the case for Amy Madigan in Weapons. Amy Madigan’s performance as Aunt Gladys in Weapons captivated an entire nation and is easily one of the best parts of the film. Madigan’s character is so popular that she is even receiving her own spin-off film set to release sometime within the next several years.
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Best Animated Feature Film
- Arco — Ugo Bienvenu, Félix de Girvy, Sophie Mas, and Natalie Portman
- Elio — Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina, and Mary Alice Drumm
- KPop Demon Hunters — Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans, and Michelle L.M. Wong
- Little Amélie or the Character of Pain — Maïlys Vallade, Liane-Cho Han, Nidia Santiago, and Henri Magalon
- Zootopia 2 — Jared Bush, Byron Howard, and Yvett Merino
There were many incredible animated films that came out in 2025, but only one shook the entire world. KPop Demon Hunters is on track to become the most popular animated film of all time. Its music and characters have taken the world by storm and a sequel is already in the works. Given the film’s popularity, this could easily end up becoming one of the most popular franchises of all time. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but anyone can see the massive appeal behind the KPop Demon Hunters craze.
Best Animated Short Film
- Butterfly — Florence Miailhe and Ron Dyens
- Forevergreen — Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears
- The Girl Who Cried Pearls — Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski
- Retirement Plan — John Kelly and Andrew Freedman
- The Three Sisters — Konstantin Bronzit
Animated short films are an incredibly nuanced form of media. They are forced to condense so much emotion and story into a vastly shorter time span than most. However, their brevity doesn’t deteriorate their meaning in any way. By this logic, the movie most likely to win the award for best animated short film is Butterfly. Not only is the art style brilliantly unique, but it manages to convey extremely dark tones in a beautifully artistic way. Other films like Forevergreen and The Girl Who Cried Pearls are masterpieces in their own right, but there is just something special about Butterfly.
Best Casting
- Hamnet — Nina Gold
- Marty Supreme — Jennifer Venditti
- One Battle After Another — Cassandra Kulukundis
- The Secret Agent — Gabriel Domingues
- Sinners — Francine Maisler
Of all the film facets, casting might be the most important. Who stars in a movie can end up making or breaking the project. This is one of the many reasons that casting directors are awarded at the Oscars. This year, Sinners‘ casting director Francine Maisler completely took the cake. Nearly every film of 2025 was brilliantly executed, but every single cast member in Sinners felt like they belonged. Maisler truly knew who was best to bring onto the project and should be awarded for her incredible decision-making.
Best Cinematography
- Frankenstein — Dan Lausten
- Marty Supreme — Darius Khondji
- One Battle After Another — Michael Bauman
- Sinners — Autumn Durald Arkapaw
- Train Dreams — Adolpho Veloso
Cinematography is truly vital to a project, because it can completely alter how the audience views a scene. Out of all the nominations for 2026, no one has truly mastered cinematography like Adolpho Veloso. His work on Train Dreams is nothing short of incredible. He helps create a natural and immersive feeling that is relatively unmatched in modern filmmaking. His use of natural light is more than enough to win him recognition for the next several decades at least.
Best Costume Design
- Avatar: Fire and Ash — Deborah L. Scott
- Frankenstein — Kate Hawley
- Hamnet — Malgosia Turzanska
- Marty Supreme — Miyako Bellizzi
- Sinners — Ruth E. Carter
Costume Design is the final thread that truly wraps a film together. Without good costume design, a movie will feel out of place or unauthentic. This year, the award for Best Costume Design should go to Deborah L. Scott for their work on Avatar: Fire and Ash. To take such an unrealistic premise and somehow bring it to life in a convincing way is truly incredible. Hopefully, she will continue to bring her talents to the Avatar films and be awarded for her incredible achievements.
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Best Directing
- Hamnet — Chloé Zhao
- Marty Supreme — Josh Safdie
- One Battle After Another — Paul Thomas Anderson
- Sentimental Value — Joachim Trier
- Sinners — Ryan Coogler
Directors are crucial for keeping a film on track. If a director isn’t doing their job properly, the movie will feel loose, jumbled, and often unwatchable. Thankfully, all the directors nominated are incredible at their jobs. However, there is a clear victor. Marty Supreme is a truly wild ride, and it takes a great director like Josh Safdie to make it a reality. His vision is one of the many reasons the movie is still being discussed today.
Best Documentary Feature Film
- The Alabama Solution — Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman
- Come See Me in the Good Light — Ryan White, Jessica Hargrave, Tig Notaro, and Stef Willen
- Cutting Through Rocks — Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni
- Mr. Nobody Against Putin — Nominees to be determined
- The Perfect Neighbor — Geeta Gandbhir, Alisa Payne, Nikon Kwantu, and Sam Bisbee
Documentaries provide insights into the world unavailable through day-to-day inspection. These movies are crucial for giving the viewers a new look into the world they thought they knew. The documentary that matches that description the best is The Alabama Solution by Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufmann. The movie highlights a very real issue happening right under society’s noses that nothing is being done to fix. Hopefully, The Alabama Solution winning an award will be enough to draw attention to the Alabama prison system’s glaring problems.
Best Documentary Short Film
- All the Empty Rooms — Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones
- Armed Only With a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud — Craig Renaud and Juan Arredondo
- Children No More: “Were and Are Gone” — Hilla Medalia and Sheila Nevins
- The Devil is Busy — Christalyn Hampton and Geeta Gandbhir
- Perfectly a Strangeness — Alison McAlpine
Documentary Short Films provide a succinct but intense view of what the creator believes is an important topic. One of the most jarring and important short films nominated for an award is All the Empty Rooms. The documentary covers the rooms of children whose lives were taken during a school shooting. Given the importance and prevalence of this issue today, coupled with the ingenuity and poise of the film, there is no other documentary more deserving of the Oscar.
Best Film Editing
- F1 — Stephen Mirrione
- Marty Supreme — Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie
- One Battle After Another — Andy Jurgensen
- Sentimental Value — Olivier Bugge Coutté
- Sinners — Michael P. Shawver
Editing often provides that last coat of paint that a project needs to find success. The right editor can expertly meld every aspect of the movie into the final product fans know and love. Of the 2026 nominees, the Best Editing award should go to Stephen Mirrione for his work on F1. As far as sports action films go, there is rarely a dull moment, thanks mostly in part to Mirrione’s incredible editing.
Best International Feature Film
- Brazil — The Secret Agent
- Norway — Sentimental Value
- Spain — Sirât
- Tunisia — The Voice of Hind Rajab
International Feature Films provide the opportunity for a global collaboration that brings the world closer together. Many of these films are incredible in their own right, but only one kept audiences at the edge of their seat throughout. Brazil’s The Secret Agent is incredibly engaging and almost has a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Positive reviews aren’t always an indication a film will win an award, but it’s certainly a good sign.
Best Live Action Short Film
- Butcher’s Stain — Meyer Levinson-Blount and Oron Caspi
- A Friend of Dorothy — Lee Knight and James Dean
- Jame Austen’s Period Drama — Julia Aks and Steve Pinder
- The Singers — Sam A. Davis and Jack Piatt
- Two People Exchanging Saliva — Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata
Live-Action short films provide extremely short views of an intensely beautiful story. 2026’s nominations have some amazing tales of romance and overcoming adversity. Yet, one slightly odd film stands out the most. A Friend of Dorothy might not be Miriam Margolyes’ magnum opus, but it is without a doubt an incredible performance by her and Alistair Nwachukwu.
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Best Makeup and Hairstyling
- Frankenstein — Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel, and Cliona Furey
- Kokuho — Kyoko Tokyokawa, Naomi Hibino, and Tadashi Nishimitsu
- Sinners — Ken Diaz, Mike Fontaine , and Shunika Terry
- The Smashing Machine — Kazu Hiro, Glen Griffin, and Bjoern Rehbein
- The Ugly Stepsister — Thomas Foldberg and Anne Catherine Sauerberg
Makeup and Hairstyling gives each project a final sense of realism that can truly elevate them beyond belief. For this reason, the team that should win the award are the people behind Frankenstein. Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel, and Cliona Furey each did an impeccable job of bringing Frankenstein’s monster to life, and they deserve to be awarded for their efforts.
Best Music (Original Score)
- Bugonia — Jerskin Fendrix
- Frankenstein — Alexandre Desplat
- Hamnet — Max Richter
- One Battle After Another — Jonny Greenwood
- Sinners — Ludwig Goransson
Music ties a film into another sensory input that can heavily alter a scene’s tone or feeling. Ludwig Goransson did an impeccable job guiding the audience through Sinners with sound. Goransson’s score is nothing short of incredible and one of the reasons the movie works so well as a thriller.
Best Music (Original Song)
- Dear Me — Diane Warren: Relentless; Music and Lyrics by Dianne Warren
- Golden — KPop Demon Hunters; Music and Lyrics by EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong hoon Seon, and Teddy Park
- I Lied to You — Sinners; Music and Lyrics by Raphael Saadiq and Ludwig Goransson
- Sweet Dreams of Joy — Viva Verdi!; Music and Lyrics by Nicholas Pike
- Train Dreams — Train Dreams; Music by Nick Cave and Bryce Dressner, Lyrics by Nick Cave
Based on cultural impact alone, Golden is set to win the 2026 Oscar for Original Song. The KPop Demon Hunters album has already gone platinum, and it is one of the most successful film themes of all time. People everywhere are singing along to Golden, so it would be a huge miss for them not to win the award. The team behind the music worked so hard, and fans everywhere have absolutely fallen in love with the incredible K-pop jam.
Best Picture
- Bugonia — Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone, Lars Knudson, and Producers
- F1 — Chad Oman, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Klieiner, Joseph Kosinski, Jerry Brukheimer, and Producers
- Frankenstein — Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale, Scott Sruber, and Producers
- Hamnet — Liza Marshall, Pippa Harris, Nicolas Gonda, Steven Spielberg, Sam Mendes, and Producers
- Marty Supreme — Eli Bush, Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie, Anthony Katagas, Timothy Chalamet, and Producers
- One Battle After Another — Adam Somner, Sara Murphy, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Producers
- The Secret Agent — Emilie Lesclaux and Producers
- Sentimental Value — Maria Ekerhovd, Andrea Berensten Ottamar, and Producers
- Sinners — Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian, Ryan Coogler, and Producers
- Train Dreams — Marissa McMahon, Teddy Schwarzman, Will Janowitz, Ashley Schlaifer, Michael Heimler, and Producers
2025 was truly an incredible year for movies. An argument can be made for each of the nominations to walk away with the award, but the clear winner is Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. The film took the world by storm, and many are still talking about it today. Sinners completely reinvented the vampire genre and could be responsible for starting a new sub-genre of horror.
Best Production Design
- Frankenstein — Production Design: Tamara Deverall; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau
- Hamnet — Production Design: Fiona Crombie; Set Decoration: Alice Felton
- Marty Surpreme — Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Adam Willis
- One Battle After Another — Production Design: Florencia Martin; Set Decoration: Anthony Carlino
- Sinners — Production Design: Hannah Beachler; Set Decoration: Monique Champagne
The Best Production Design award of the 2025 film season most definitely belongs to Frankenstein. The varied landscapes and backdrops are impressive enough, but Victor’s lab feels strangely realistic. The way the team managed to create a set that was equally futuristic and scientific is a feat in of itself. Hopefully, Tamara Deverall and Shane Vieau will continue to lend themselves to science fiction movies because they clearly have a talent for it.
Best Sound
- F1 — Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A. Rizzo, and Juan Peralta
- Frankenstein — Greg Chapman, Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira, Christian Cooke, and Brad Zoern
- One Battle After Another — José Antonio García, Christopher Scarabosio, and Tony Villaflor
- Sinners — Chris Welcker, Benjamin A. Burtt, Felipe Pacheco, Brandon Proctor, and Steve Boeddekeer
- Sirât — Amanda Villavieja, Laia Casanovas, and Yasmina Praderas
The award for Best Sound should fall to Sinners. While the film has been chosen to win a lot of awards, that is not due to lack of merit. Sinners might even become considered the best film of the decade. Only time will tell, but as of now, Sinners is a large contender for the title and a large part of that is the sound design. The sound team perfectly transitions scenes from a jovial get-together to a brutal vampire attack.
Best Visual Effects
- Avatar Fire and Ash — Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, and Daniel Barret
- F1 — Ryan Tudhope, Nicholas Chevallier, Robert Harrington, and Keith Dawson
- Jurassic World Rebirth — David Vickery, Stephen Aplin, Charmaine Chan, and Neil Corbould
- The Lost Bus — Charlie Noble, David Zeretti, Russell Bowen, and Brandon K. McLaughlin
- Sinners — Michael Ralla, Espen Nordahl, Guido Wolter, and Donnie Dean
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Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
- Bugonia — Will Tracy
- Frankenstein — Guillermo del Toro
- Hamnet — Chloé Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell
- One Battle After Another — Paul Thomas Anderson
- Train Dreams — Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar
Adapting an already written work can be an extremely difficult job. Many writers attempt to adapt a work and irreparably damage intellectual property forever. Thankfully, Will Tracy expertly adapted the 2003 Korean film Save the Green Planet! into Bugonia. Fans of the original might have seen the twist ending coming, but it’s unlikely many modern moviegoers had seen the first film.
Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
- Blue Moon — Robert Kaplow
- It Was Just An Accident — Jafar Panahi with Nader Saïvar, Shadmehr Rastin, Mehdi Mahmoudian
- Sentimental Value — Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier
- Sinners — Ryan Coogler
Writing a screenplay is one of the most difficult yet rewarding parts of the film-making process. Typically, a movie’s popularity is tied to how well the writing is received. For this reason, there is no film more deserving of the award than Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. Sinners is the greatest contender to win Best Film of 2025, and will likely be considered a classic several years down the line.
The Oscars
- Release Date
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March 19, 1953
- Network
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ABC, NBC
- Directors
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Glenn Weiss, Alan Handley, George Seaton, Hamish Hamilton, Roger Goodman, Max Miller, Trevor Newman
- Writers
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Buz Kohan, Dave Boone, David Steinberg, Ed Driscoll, Hal Kanter, Jeff Cesario, Marc Shaiman, Jon Macks, Carol Leifer, Bruce Vilanch, Robert Wuhl, Dan Harmon, Phil Alden Robinson, Billy Crystal, Amberia Allen, John Hoffman, Mason Steinberg, Colleen Werthmann, Joelle Boucai, Greg Martin, Agathe Panaretos, Blaire Erskine, Louis Virtel, Jordan Rubin
