Six Reactions to the 2026 Academy Award Nominations

The 98th annual Academy Award nominations were announced this morning at the Academy’s headquarters in Beverly Hills, CA. Overall, a great list of films was recognized, with shockingly few baffling decisions or outrages. Below are some of my reactions to the nominations, followed by the full list. Feel free to share your reactions in the comments below!

Sinners and One Battle After Another Dominate – Happily, the Academy decided to recognize two of the best films of the year with a plethora of nominations. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners received 16 nominations, breaking the previous record of 14 held by All About Eve, Titanic, and La La Land, while One Battle picked up 13 nods. In Sinners, two Black twin brothers face off against white supremacists and the vampiric power of Christian colonialism, while in One Battle, a group of revolutionaries challenges the inhumane treatment of immigrants by the United States government. The movies grossed a combined $500MM worldwide. In other words: The Oscars are relevant again! Also, it’s nice to see Delroy Lindo score his first Oscar nomination. Long overdue.

Neon continues punching above its weight – Scoring 18 nominations for films like Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent, Neon had another healthy showing for a film production/distribution company that has only a few dozen employees. While I was no fan of The Secret Agent, Sentimental Value was one of my favorite films of the year and scored major nominations in categories like Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and several more. It’s a beautiful film about the power of art as a medium of communication, even in circumstances when it feels impossible. And it features some mind-blowing performances that are worth the price of admission alone. 

No One Mourns the Wicked (Lack of Oscar Nominations) – While Wicked received 10 nominations last year, Wicked: For Good was completely shut out, with not even any perfunctory nominations for Cynthia Erivo or Ariana Grande. Most of For Good’s issues can be attributed to the musical’s narrative challenges as well as its more subdued tone. Was that what turned off the Academy? Perhaps it was the decision to split one story up into two separate films. Either way, for a film series that seemed like it had the potential to be a formidable presence at the Oscars this year, the total lack of nominations is a bit of a surprise.

Avatar Fever Has Crested(?) — Despite having the same caliber of filmmaking as its predecessors and making over $1.3 billion at the global box office, Avatar: Fire and Ash scored only two nominations (for Best Costume Design and Best Visual Effects), while Avatar 1 and Way of Water received 9 and 4 respectively. It feels like franchise fatigue is finally setting in. With James Cameron indicating he’s ready to move on, and audiences and critics seemingly willing to do the same, it feels like the Avatar era of our lives may finally be coming to an end. 

‘It Was Just An Accident’ Deserved More - Jafar Panahi’s film was nominated for Best International Feature and Best Original Screenplay. But as someone who ranked this as his number one film of the year and appreciated the film’s message about the after effects of repressive regimes, I think it would’ve been nice to see some more recognition for this one. Still, here’s hoping it gives people some motivation to check this one out. 

The “Achievement in Casting” Category Is Off To a Cool Start - For the first time since 2001 (when Best Animated Film was added), the Academy is adding an additional category for Achievement in Casting. The nominees include Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, The Secret Agent, and Sinners, all of which have wonderful and diverse ensembles (although this award is less about the ensemble and more about the work of putting them together). I’m looking forward to seeing how the category evolves in the future – for instance, perhaps by recognizing films that may not receive recognition in any other category.

Other Random Thoughts:

• F1 is now a Best Picture nominee. What a world!
• I was happy to see Bugonia get recognized in multiple categories, including Best Picture and Best Actress. Notable for a film that is bleak as hell. But where's the nomination for Jesse Plemons? That man carried that film.
• Frankenstein got a lot of (deserved) love, despite not landing a nomination for Guillermo Del Toro’s direction. 
• KPop Demon Hunters feels like a lock for Best Original Song and it’s nice to see it get recognized in the Animated Film category as well. 
• I’m not sure of the statistics but it feels like this year there are more instances than usual of multiple actors competing in the same category (Benicio Del Toro and Sean Penn for One Battle, Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas for Sentimental Value).
• Kate Hudson scored a Best Actress nomination for Song Sung Blue, which feels like this year’s example of a worthwhile nomination for a movie that no one I know has ever spoken about. 
• Shout out to Amy Madigan for landing Weapons' only nomination. Her performance will chill you to your core.

Below is the full list of nominations. 

Best Picture
"Bugonia"
"F1"
"Frankenstein"
"Hamnet"
"Marty Supreme"
"One Battle After Another"
"The Secret Agent"
"Sentimental Value"
"Sinners"
"Train Dreams"

Directing
Chloé Zhao, "Hamnet"
Josh Safdie, "Marty Supreme"
Paul Thomas Anderson, "One Battle After Another"
Joachim Trier, "Sentimental Value"
Ryan Coogler, "Sinners"

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"

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"

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"

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"

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
"Bugonia"
"Frankenstein"
"Hamnet"
"One Battle After Another"
"Train Dreams"

Writing (Original Screenplay)
"Blue Moon"
"It Was Just An Accident"
"Marty Supreme"
"Sentimental Value"
"Sinners"

Cinematography
"Frankenstein"
"Marty Supreme"
"One Battle After Another"
"Sinners"
"Train Dreams"

Music (Original Score)
"Bugonia"
"Frankenstein"
"Hamnet"
"One Battle After Another"
"Sinners"

Animated Feature Film
"Arco"
"Elio"
"KPop Demon Hunters"
"Little Amélie or The Character of Rain"
"Zootopia 2"

Animated Short Film
"Butterfly"
"Forevergreen"
"The Girl Who Cried Pearls"
"Retirement Plan"
"The Three Sisters"

Costume Design
"Avatar: Fire & Ash"
"Frankenstein"
"Hamnet"
"Marty Supreme"
"Sinners"

Live-Action Short Film
"Butcher's Stain"
"A Friend of Dorothy"
"Jane Austen's Period Drama"
"The Singers"
"Two People Exchanging Saliva"

Makeup and Hairstyling
"Frankenstein"
"Kokuho"
"Sinners"
"The Smashing Machine"
"The Ugly Stepsister"

Casting
"Hamnet"
"Marty Supreme"
"One Battle After Another"
"The Secret Agent"
"Sinners"

Documentary Feature Film
"The Alabama Solution"
"Come See Me in the Good Light"
"Cutting Through Rocks"
"Mr. Nobody Against Putin"
"The Perfect Neighbor"

Documentary Short Film
"All the Empty Rooms"
"Armed Only with a Camera: the Life and Death of Brent Renaud"
"Children No More: 'Were and Gone'"
"The Devil is Busy"
"Perfectly a Strangeness"

Editing
"F1"
"Marty Supreme"
"One Battle After Another"
"Sentimental Value"
"Sinners"

International Feature Film
"The Secret Agent"
"It Was Just an Accident"
"Sentimental Value"
"Sirat"
"The Voice of Hind Rajab"

Music (Original Song)
"Dear Me," from "Diane Warren: Relentless"
"Golden," from "KPop Demon Hunters"
"I Lied to You," from "Sinners"
"Sweet Dreams of Joy," from "Viva Verdi!"
"Train Dreams," from "Train Dreams"

Production Design
"Frankenstein"
"Hamnet"
"Marty Supreme"
"One Battle After Another"
"Sinners"

Sound
"F1"
"Frankenstein"
"One Battle After Another"
"Sinners"
"Sirāt"

Visual Effects
"Avatar: Fire and Ash"
"F1"
"Jurassic World Rebirth"
"The Lost Bus"
"Sinners"