On January 22, 2026, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced nominations for the upcoming Academy Awards. Otherwise known as the Oscars, this annual ceremony recognizes excellence in cinema, and is one of the most highly anticipated events of the award season. For the second year in a row, comedian Conan O’Brien will host the Oscars at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles on March 15, 2026. Until then, the nomination list is the best guess viewers have at what the 98th Oscars will look like.
A few movies seem to be clear Academy favorites this year; Ryan Coogler’s Sinners broke the existing record with nominations in 16 categories, with One Battle After Another close behind with 13 total nominations. Other highly nominated films include Marty Supreme, Sentimental Value, Frankenstein, and Hament. Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent have continued the recent trend of non-English films making it into the Best Picture category, a shift that suggests Academy members’ and audiences’ increasing appreciation for the remarkable films beyond Hollywood. Notably, Bugonia, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, received fewer nominations than some expected, although audiences did not receive Bugonia as well as Lanthimos’ previous film, Poor Things (2023), which earned 11 Academy nominations and 4 awards. In addition, Wicked: For Good was not nominated in any category, despite its box-office success and the two Oscars the first movie earned.
The Academy, following in the footsteps of its British counterpart, the BAFTA Film Awards, introduced a new Casting category this year. With this category, the Academy recognizes the important role that casting directors play in building a cohesive cast that becomes more than the sum of its parts. All of the movies nominated in this category — Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, Sinners, and The Secret Agent — were in the top bracket of nominated films this year, though it’s worth noting that Sinners still would have broken the previous nomination record of 14 nominations without the boost from this new category.
Leading up to the Oscars, several other award ceremonies tend to indicate which film is the frontrunner for the Academy. These include the BAFTAs, held on February 22, 2026; the Producers Guild of America Awards on February 28; and the Actors Awards on March 1. Similarly, though Oscar nominations are not always the best predictors of award success, Sinners and One Battle seem to be strong contenders for most of the categories they’re nominated for, particularly for Best Picture. Sinners, set in a Black community in 1930s Mississippi, is a horror film, but it is also a love letter to the Blues, a creative look into American history, and a heartfelt, original story that is sure to capture the hearts of the Academy. Still, One Battle After Another, artfully blends dark comedy, action, and social commentary, depicting revolution in a way that might feel particularly timely for Academy voters, who typically favor politically and socially relevant stories.
2025 saw many exceptional films, and if the nominations are any indicator, the 98th Academy Awards are sure to be filled with fierce competition between truly phenomenal movies. Want to decide for yourself? Many of the top films for this year’s Academy Awards are already streaming, so there is still time to pick your favorites before the big night.