The biggest night in film is fast approaching as the 2026 Academy Award nominations popularly known as the Oscars were unveiled on January 22, 2026, by Danielle Brooks and Lewis Pullman at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre. The ceremony will take place on March 15, 2026, and will be broadcast live on ABC, with streaming rights awarded to Hulu.
Leading the pack is Ryan Coogler’s vampire thriller Sinners, which pulled in a record-breaking 16 nominations across the Academy’s 24 categories. The feat makes it the most-nominated film at this year’s ceremony and firmly positions it as the frontrunner heading into Oscar night. The film landed nominations in major categories including Best Picture, Best Director for Coogler, and Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan. Wunmi Mosaku and Delroy Lindo received Supporting Actress and Supporting Actor nominations respectively a particularly notable achievement after both actors were overlooked at the 2026 Golden Globe Awards.
Beyond its dominance this year, Sinners also makes Academy Award history as the first film to ever receive sixteen nominations, surpassing the long-standing record of 14 nominations previously held by All About Eve (1950), Titanic (1997), and La La Land (2016).
Coogler’s nomination also places him among the seven Black directors to have ever been nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards. Should he win, he would make history once again as the first Black filmmaker to take home the award in that category.
Close behind is Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, which enjoyed a strong showing at the Golden Globes and carried that momentum into the Oscars with 13 nominations. The film scored nods in major categories including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Leonardo DiCaprio, and Best Supporting Actress for Teyana Taylor. This marks Taylor’s first-ever Oscar nomination, following her win in the same category at the Golden Globes. Notably absent, however, was Chase Infiniti, who failed to secure a Lead Actress nomination despite strong showings at the Golden Globes, Critics’ Choice Awards, and Actor’s Awards.
Marty Supreme, Sentimental Value, and Frankenstein each earned nine nominations, placing them firmly in the Best Picture race alongside Sinners and One Battle After Another. Other Best Picture contenders include Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, which received eight nominations, as well as F1, Bugonia, The Secret Agent, and Train Dreams, each with four nods apiece.
As expected, Timothée Chalamet is once again in the Best Actor race for his role in Marty Supreme. Having already won the Critics’ Choice Award and the Golden Globe in the category, Chalamet is widely seen as a strong contender. If he wins the Oscar, he would become the first actor born in the 1990s to take home the Best Actor award. At just 30 years old, he has now amassed four Academy Award nominations, three of them in the Best Actor category.
Netflix’s global phenomenon KPop Demon Hunters secured two Oscar nominations: Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Song for the international hit “Golden.” The film won both categories at the Golden Globes, and it remains to be seen whether it can replicate that success at the Oscars.
This year also marks the introduction of the Academy’s newest category since 2002’s Best Animated Feature: Best Casting. Of the ten films shortlisted, only five made the final nominations list—Sinners, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, and The Secret Agent—most of which were widely expected.
On the studio front, Warner Bros. (recently acquired by Netflix) emerged as the most successful studio with 30 nominations, driven largely by Sinners and One Battle After Another. Neon followed with 18 nominations thanks to The Secret Agent and Sentimental Value, while Netflix secured 16 nominations through Train Dreams, Frankenstein, and KPop Demon Hunters.
Among the most surprising snubs were Wicked: For Good and No Other Choice, both of which failed to receive nominations despite strong performances throughout the awards season. Major acting contenders including Paul Mescal, Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Tessa Thompson, Adam Sandler, George Clooney, Regina Hall, Amanda Seyfried, and Jennifer Lawrence were also shut out this year. Miley Cyrus’ “Dream as One” from the Avatar: Fire and Ash soundtrack similarly missed out on a Best Original Song nomination despite a high-profile campaign.
Still, surprises cut both ways. F1’s nominations and Kate Hudson’s nod for Best Actress in Song Sung Blue were among the unexpected highlights of this year’s list, serving as a reminder that unpredictability remains one of the Academy Awards’ defining traits.
The 2026 Academy Awards will be hosted by Conan O’Brien for the second consecutive year.
View the nominations here.