Everything to know about the 2026 Oscar nominations: ‘Sinners’ makes history, snubs and the complete list

Was it the “Wicked: For Good” limited edition Swiffer? Or the laundry detergent, dish soap, body spray, Dutch ovens, bath bombs, high tops, $49 popcorn buckets, insulated water bottles and the rest of the licensed (and unlicensed) merchandise/special menus/cocktails that relentlessly turned the world pink and green for months on end?

It could have been the endless memes, pop-ups, interviews and media blitz, all promising that the second film in the “Wicked” franchise would be even better than the first.

Ethan Hawke has been nominated for an Oscar for lead actor for his role in “Blue Moon,” directed by Richard Linklater from a screenplay by Robert Kaplow. In the film, Hawke plays lyricist Lorenz Hart, who wrote the sharp, witty words to such standards as “My Funny Valentine” and “Blue Moon.”

The drama captures one night with Hart near the end of his life as he waits at Sardi’s for his former songwriting partner Richard Rogers (played by Andrew Scott) to arrive for a party celebrating the premiere of “Oklahoma!” By turns funny and self-pitying, full of regrets, disappointments and thwarted ambitions, Hart is portrayed by Hawke as a man who has often been his own biggest obstacle and is coming to realize his time has passed him by.

With her nomination for the cinematography of “Sinners,” Autumn Durald Arkapaw becomes the first woman of color — and only the fourth woman ever — to be recognized in the category. The recipient of a record-setting 16 nominations, Ryan Coogler’s vampire film set in the 1930s was advanced in every category for which it was eligible. Arkapaw previously collaborated with Coogler on 2022’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

Arkapaw got on the phone on Thursday morning from her home in Altadena — thankfully spared from last year’s fires — that she shares with her husband, Adam Arkapaw, also a cinematographer.

Animation is the backbone of the film industry, boosting the global box office year after year. But such consistent success comes at the expense of artistic risk-taking — at least as it relates to the animated features produced by Hollywood studios.

To judge from this morning’s Oscar nominations — and the last few years of winners, including the humbly made “Flow” — the formulas that U.S. animation have come to rely on might be losing their stronghold to more innovative, outside-the-box creators.

This was a year of big swings and I’m not just talking about Timothée Chalamet’s ping-pong serve. The Academy Awards feel like they’re in motion, too — a body less affixed to an idea of what a best picture contender is and more willing to race after talent from around the globe. But they can’t all be winners. Here’s my ranking of the 10 nominees, from whiff to smash.

10. ‘Hamnet’

With two Oscar nominations, the awards shelf of animated Netflix smash “KPop Demon Hunters” might look a little more golden soon.

Having garnered nods for animated feature and original song, the film and its breakthrough musicians look to assert Korean-diaspora pop music and animation’s place not just as a commercial and critical phenomenon globally, but as a permanent fixture within the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Hollywood.

Now that the 2026 Oscar nominations are out, it’s officially binge watch o’clock.

Chances are you caught a few of the contenders upon their 2025 movie theater openings, but with the onslaught of new releases in the weeks leading up to Thursday’s nominations announcement, even some voters are surely behind. (Don’t tell the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences).

Warner Bros. led all studios with 30 Oscar nominations, aided by strong showings from Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” and the Leonardo DiCaprio-led “One Battle After Another.”

“Sinners” set an Oscar record Thursday morning with 16 nominations, beating the previous high of 14, held jointly by 1950’s “All About Eve,” 1997’s “Titanic,” and most recently, 2016’s “La La Land.” “One Battle After Another” landed just shy of the former record, tallying 13 nominations Thursday.

The producers of the Oscars telecast always breathe easier when there are a couple of major blockbusters in the best picture race, knowing audiences are more likely to tune in to the ceremony if they’ve actually seen the films. This year’s lineup offers only partial assurance.

The 10 films nominated for best picture have earned a combined $662 million at the domestic box office and about $1.4 billion worldwide, according to current theatrical grosses — a drop of roughly 18% from last year’s global box-office total.

When Oscar nominations were announced Thursday morning, there was a newcomer on the list of familiar categories: achievement in casting.

The nominees — Nina Gold for “Hamnet,” Jennifer Venditti for “Marty Supreme,” Cassandra Kulukundis for “One Battle After Another,” Gabriel Domingues for “The Secret Agent” and Francine Maisler for “Sinners” — landed alongside best picture and the acting races, formally elevating a part of the filmmaking process that usually happens long before a movie reaches the screen. It’s the first new Oscar category introduced since animated feature was added in 2001.

“Wicked: For Good” and its leading ladies may be coming to the end of the (yellow brick) road.

The sequel to Jon M. Chu’s thrillifying movie musical was completely shut out of the 2026 Oscar race after its predecessor collected a staggering 10 nominations last year, including best picture.

Ryan Coogler’s period vampire drama “Sinners” set an Oscar record Thursday morning, earning 16 nominations, the most ever received by a single film.

The total surpassed the previous high of 14 nominations, a milestone shared by “All About Eve” (1950), “Titanic” (1997) and “La La Land” (2016).

Wagner Moura made history Thursday morning when he was nominated for an Academy Award in the category for actor in a leading role for his performance in Kleber Mendonça Filho’s 2025 film “The Secret Agent.”

This historic nomination makes Moura the first Brazilian actor nominated for an Oscar in this field.

These are the nominees for best picture:

“Bugonia”

“F1”

“Frankenstein”

“Hamnet”

“Marty Supreme”

“One Battle After Another”

“The Secret Agent”

“Sentimental Value”

“Sinners”

“Train Dreams”

See the full list of nominees.

These are the nominees for actor in a leading role:

Timothée Chalamet, “Marty Supreme”

Leonardo DiCaprio, “One Battle After Another”

Ethan Hawke, “Blue Moon”

Michael B. Jordan, “Sinners”

Wagner Moura, “The Secret Agent”

See the full list of nominees.

These are the nominees for actress in a leading role:

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”

See the full list of nominees.

These are the nominees for 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”

See the full list of nominees.

These are the nominees for 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”

See the full list of nominees.

The nominations for the 98th Oscars will be announced at 5:30 a.m. Pacific by Danielle Brooks and Lewis Pullman. Watch below via the Academy’s YouTube stream and find out more about the nominations.

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While we await the nominations for the 98th Academy Awards, take a spin through our ranking of the 101 best Los Angeles movies. How many Oscar winners can you find on the list?

See the full list.

It’s almost time! Actors Danielle Brooks and Lewis Pullman will announce the nominees of the 98th Academy Awards from the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in about an hour.

Here’s how to stream the Oscar nominations announcement live.

It is often said that film directors are siloed off from one another, that they don’t get to watch how others work. So when you put a group of them together, as with the six participants in The Envelope’s 2025 Oscar Directors Roundtable, they are quick to share all sorts of ideas. Like where they prefer to sit in a movie theater — centered in a row or on an aisle? How far back is the best for sound, or so the screen runs up to the edges of your peripheral vision? Should you even take the worst seats in the house, since somebody will eventually be asked to pay money to sit there?

Guillermo del Toro, there with his adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic novel “Frankenstein,” likes the top of the first quarter of the theater. Rian Johnson, who finds new twists for Benoit Blanc in his third “Knives Out” detective story, “Wake Up Dead Man,” says, “I look for wherever Guillermo’s sitting.” Nia DaCosta, who made the bold, adventurous Ibsen adaptation “Hedda,” likes the top of the first third. Mona Fastvold, who explores the life of the founder of the religious movement known as the Shakers in “The Testament of Ann Lee,” likes the center a little farther back. Jon M. Chu, who made the second part of a musical adaptation with “Wicked: For Good,” sits dead center — and has been known to talk to the theater manager if the sound isn’t loud enough. And Benny Safdie, who explores the rise and fall of mixed martial arts fighter Mark Kerr in “The Smashing Machine,” tries to find a spot where he can fidget in his seat and not bother anyone.

Here’s where the rubber meets the road, O watchers of awards season.

The critics’ groups have had their say and the academy has dropped its nominees. So who will win the 2026 Oscars? The guilds’ picks will trickle in until early March, but for now, bold as they are, the stalwarts of the BuzzMeter panel have stuck out their necks for their official winner predictions in 10 Oscar categories. Here are their picks, against which you can compare your own come Oscar night (March 15). May the best pickers prevail!

Even the most accomplished actors sometimes feel out of their depth on a movie.

Gwyneth Paltrow, who returns to the big screen this fall as an Old Hollywood star trying to make a new start in “Marty Supreme,” was “way out over her skis” in her early 20s when she played a Park Avenue wife opposite older co-star Michael Douglas in “A Perfect Murder.” Jennifer Lopez, who showcases her triple-threat skill set in the musical “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” felt a “huge” responsibility to get it right when portraying Tejana icon Selena Quintanilla in the 1997 biopic about the late singer. And Emily Blunt, who goes toe-to-toe with Dwayne Johnson in the mixed martial arts saga “The Smashing Machine,” had to avoid being typecast as the go-to “acerbic British bitch” after the success of 2006’s “The Devil Wears Prada.”

Have you ever wondered what movie might draw praise from Jacob Elordi and Benicio Del Toro for its cinematic reverie?

When you gather six actors from some of this year’s most acclaimed films, a thoughtful discussion about their roles and the craft is to be expected. But in kicking off The Envelope’s 2025 Oscar Actors Roundtable, the talent reminded us that they’re movie fans like the rest of us, picking the films they wish they could experience again for the first time.

The holidays are over, but the Christmas Adventurers no doubt are still celebrating. The “Marty Supreme” blimp rests, for now, in its hangar. Chloé Zhao is clearing her mind. And I still have that Neil Diamond song stuck in my head.

All of which brings us to the unveiling of nominations for the 98th Oscars on Thursday. Might Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” or Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” tie or even break the record for most nods for a single movie? Fourteen is the magic number, held by “All About Eve,” “Titanic” and “La La Land.” Somewhere, James Cameron is clutching his crown tightly.

Cinephiles, assemble.

Nominations for the 98th Academy Awards will be revealed Thursday in a livestream that’s sure to spur some chatter. While critics seem to agree on a few locks, as this month’s Golden Globes — and last year’s Oscars, for that matter — proved, there’s always room for surprise.