The oscar nominations 2026 gave movie fans one of the biggest surprises in Academy Awards history. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners did something no movie had ever done before: it collected 16 Oscar nominations, breaking a record that had stood for decades. The official Academy Awards nominations also brought huge recognition for One Battle After Another, Marty Supreme, Frankenstein, Sentimental Value and Hamnet. But famous names such as Ariana Grande and Paul Mescal were left out, while Wicked: For Good received no nominations at all.
When Were the Oscar Nominations 2026 Announced?
The nominations for the 98th Academy Awards were announced on January 22, 2026.
Oscar-nominated actress Danielle Brooks and actor Lewis Pullman revealed the nominees from the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
The announcement began early in the morning in Los Angeles and was shown around the world through the Academy’s digital platforms and several broadcast and streaming services.
The Oscars themselves took place on March 15, 2026, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood.
The ceremony honored movies released during 2025 and was hosted by Conan O’Brien.
Which Movie Received the Most Oscar Nominations in 2026?
The answer was Sinners.
Ryan Coogler’s film received an extraordinary 16 nominations.
That was not only the highest total of 2026.
It was the highest nomination total for a single movie in the entire history of the Academy Awards.
Before Sinners, the record was 14 nominations.
Three movies had reached that number:
All About Eve.
Titanic.
La La Land.
Then Sinners arrived and pushed the record to 16.
That instantly turned the 2026 nominations morning into a piece of Oscar history.
Why Was Sinners Such a Big Oscar Story?
Sinners was directed by Ryan Coogler and starred Michael B. Jordan in a dual role.
The movie mixed vampire horror with blues music, family drama and a story set in the segregated American South.
Movies from the horror genre have sometimes struggled to receive broad Academy recognition.
Sinners broke through almost everywhere.
It earned nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, cinematography, editing, sound, visual effects, music, writing and several other categories.
Michael B. Jordan received a Best Actor nomination.
Ryan Coogler received a directing nomination.
Delroy Lindo was nominated for Supporting Actor.
Wunmi Mosaku was nominated for Supporting Actress.
The nominations showed that Academy voters did not see Sinners as only a horror movie.
They treated it as one of the major filmmaking achievements of the year.
Which Movies Had the Most Oscar Nominations?
After Sinners and its record 16 nominations, One Battle After Another was the next strongest movie with 13 nominations.
Three films followed with nine nominations each:
Marty Supreme, Sentimental Value and Frankenstein.
Hamnet also had a very strong showing with eight nominations.
These movies dominated many of the acting, directing, writing and technical categories.
What Were the Best Picture Oscar Nominations 2026?
Ten movies competed for Best Picture.
They were Bugonia, F1, Frankenstein, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, The Secret Agent, Sentimental Value, Sinners and Train Dreams.
It was an unusually mixed group.
There were large studio movies.
International films.
A racing blockbuster.
A vampire story.
Literary drama.
Dark comedy.
And smaller character-focused films.
That variety made the 2026 Best Picture race especially interesting.
Which Movie Won Best Picture?
When Oscar night arrived on March 15, One Battle After Another won Best Picture.
The movie had entered Oscar night with 13 nominations.
Paul Thomas Anderson also won Best Director, and the film collected several other major awards.
So there was an interesting difference between nominations morning and Oscar night.
Sinners made history with the most nominations.
But One Battle After Another ultimately won the top award.
Who Were the Best Actor Nominees?
The 2026 Best Actor field included five well-known performances.
Michael B. Jordan was nominated for Sinners.
Timothée Chalamet was nominated for Marty Supreme.
Leonardo DiCaprio received a nomination for One Battle After Another.
Ethan Hawke was nominated for Blue Moon.
And Wagner Moura was nominated for The Secret Agent.
It was a strong group with several previous nominees and major stars.
Michael B. Jordan eventually won the category for Sinners.
Did Michael B. Jordan Win an Oscar for Sinners?
Yes.
Michael B. Jordan won the 2026 Academy Award for Actor in a Leading Role for Sinners.
It was one of the biggest victories of the night for the record-breaking movie.
Jordan’s performance was especially unusual because he played two characters in the film.
The role helped turn Sinners into both a commercial movie event and a major awards contender.
Who Were the Best Actress Nominees?
The Best Actress nominees were Jessie Buckley for Hamnet, Rose Byrne for If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Kate Hudson for Song Sung Blue, Renate Reinsve for Sentimental Value and Emma Stone for Bugonia.
The category included both established Oscar names and performers receiving renewed recognition.
Jessie Buckley eventually won Best Actress for Hamnet.
Her victory became one of the movie’s biggest moments on Oscar night.
Why Was Kate Hudson’s Nomination Important?
Kate Hudson’s Best Actress nomination for Song Sung Blue became one of the warmer surprises of nomination morning.
Hudson had already been an Oscar nominee many years earlier.
Her return to the category therefore felt like a major career moment.
Awards seasons often focus heavily on new stars.
Hudson’s nomination showed another side of the Oscars.
Sometimes a familiar performer can return with the right role and remind audiences why they became famous in the first place.
Who Were the Best Supporting Actor Nominees?
The Supporting Actor nominees were Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro for One Battle After Another, Jacob Elordi for Frankenstein, Delroy Lindo for Sinners and Stellan Skarsgård for Sentimental Value.
Sean Penn eventually won the award for One Battle After Another.
But Delroy Lindo’s nomination carried a special emotional story.
Was This Delroy Lindo’s First Oscar Nomination?
Yes.
Despite a long and respected acting career, Delroy Lindo had never previously been nominated for an Academy Award.
His performance in Sinners finally changed that.
That made his nomination one of the most celebrated moments of the morning.
Sometimes an Oscar nomination is not only about one movie.
It can feel like recognition for decades of work.
Who Were the Best Supporting Actress Nominees?
The Supporting Actress nominees were Amy Madigan for Weapons, Elle Fanning for Sentimental Value, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas for Sentimental Value, Wunmi Mosaku for Sinners and Teyana Taylor for One Battle After Another.
Amy Madigan went on to win the Academy Award for Weapons.
Her nomination had already been considered one of the more interesting surprises of the race.
The category was also notable because Sentimental Value placed two actresses in the same field.
Who Was Nominated for Best Director?
The 2026 directing nominees were Paul Thomas Anderson for One Battle After Another, Chloé Zhao for Hamnet, Josh Safdie for Marty Supreme, Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value and Ryan Coogler for Sinners.
Paul Thomas Anderson won.
Ryan Coogler’s nomination helped complete the extraordinary showing for Sinners.
Chloé Zhao also returned to the category after previously winning Best Director for Nomadland.
Why Was Guillermo del Toro Missing From Best Director?
This became one of the notable Oscar snubs.
Frankenstein earned nine nominations, showing that Academy members admired many parts of the movie.
Yet Guillermo del Toro did not make the five-person directing category.
That is one of the strange things about Oscar voting.
A film can perform extremely well overall without its director being nominated.
Different branches vote in different nomination categories, so the results do not always match perfectly.
What Were the Animated Feature Nominees?
The Animated Feature category included Arco, Elio, KPop Demon Hunters, Little Amélie or the Character of Rain and Zootopia 2.
KPop Demon Hunters won the award.
The movie also had another huge Oscar moment.
Its song “Golden” won Best Original Song.
That gave KPop Demon Hunters two Academy Awards.
Was Zootopia 2 Nominated for an Oscar?
Yes.
Disney’s Zootopia 2 received a nomination for Best Animated Feature Film.
It competed against KPop Demon Hunters, Arco, Elio and Little Amélie or the Character of Rain.
However, KPop Demon Hunters won the category.
What Were the International Feature Film Nominees?
The five nominated countries and films were Brazil for The Secret Agent, France for It Was Just an Accident, Norway for Sentimental Value, Spain for Sirāt and Tunisia for The Voice of Hind Rajab.
Norway’s Sentimental Value won the award.
The film had already been one of the strongest international performers across the entire nomination list.
It did not stay inside the international category.
It also received Best Picture, acting, directing, editing and writing nominations.
What Were the 2026 Original Screenplay Nominees?
The Original Screenplay nominees were Blue Moon, It Was Just an Accident, Marty Supreme, Sentimental Value and Sinners.
Ryan Coogler won the award for Sinners.
That victory added another major prize to the film’s Oscar night.
What Were the Adapted Screenplay Nominees?
The nominated adapted screenplays came from Bugonia, Frankenstein, Hamnet, One Battle After Another and Train Dreams.
Paul Thomas Anderson won for One Battle After Another.
The award became part of the film’s strong run through the evening.
What Was New About the Casting Oscar in 2026?
The 98th Academy Awards introduced a major new category: Achievement in Casting.
It was the first new competitive Oscar category since Animated Feature was established in 2001.
The five inaugural nominees were Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, The Secret Agent and Sinners.
Cassandra Kulukundis won the first-ever Casting Oscar for One Battle After Another.
For casting directors, it was a historic change.
Their work had always been important to movies.
For the first time, the Oscars gave it its own competitive award.
What Were the Cinematography Nominees?
The nominated films were Frankenstein, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, Sinners and Train Dreams.
Autumn Durald Arkapaw won for Sinners.
The cinematography was one of several technical areas where the film’s distinctive visual world impressed Academy voters.
Which Films Were Nominated for Costume Design?
The nominees were Avatar: Fire and Ash, Frankenstein, Hamnet, Marty Supreme and Sinners.
Kate Hawley won for Frankenstein.
The film also performed strongly in other categories connected with creating its physical world.
What Were the Makeup and Hairstyling Nominees?
The nominated films were Frankenstein, Kokuho, Sinners, The Smashing Machine and The Ugly Stepsister.
Frankenstein won the award.
The result was not surprising given how important character transformation and creature design were to the film.
What Were the Film Editing Nominees?
The editing nominees were F1, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, Sentimental Value and Sinners.
Andy Jurgensen won for One Battle After Another.
Editing can be difficult for casual viewers to notice.
But it controls rhythm, tension and how a story moves from one image to another.
What Were the Original Score Nominees?
The nominees were Bugonia, Frankenstein, Hamnet, One Battle After Another and Sinners.
Ludwig Göransson won for Sinners.
Music was especially important to Sinners, where blues culture formed part of both the story and atmosphere.
What Songs Were Nominated at the 2026 Oscars?
The nominated songs were “Dear Me” from Diane Warren: Relentless, “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters, “I Lied to You” from Sinners, “Sweet Dreams of Joy” from Viva Verdi! and “Train Dreams” from Train Dreams.
“Golden” won Best Original Song.
Its win completed a strong evening for KPop Demon Hunters, which also won Animated Feature.
What Were the Production Design Nominees?
The films nominated for Production Design were Frankenstein, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another and Sinners.
Frankenstein won.
That gave the movie another technical Oscar alongside Costume Design and Makeup and Hairstyling.
What Were the Sound Nominees?
The Sound nominees were F1, Frankenstein, One Battle After Another, Sinners and Sirāt.
F1 won.
For a racing movie, sound was naturally one of its most important filmmaking tools.
Engines, speed and the feeling of being inside a race depend heavily on sound design.
What Were the Visual Effects Nominees?
The Visual Effects nominees were Avatar: Fire and Ash, F1, Jurassic World Rebirth, The Lost Bus and Sinners.
Avatar: Fire and Ash won the Oscar.
The Avatar series has long been closely associated with ambitious visual-effects technology.
Which Documentaries Were Nominated?
The Documentary Feature nominees were The Alabama Solution, Come See Me in the Good Light, Cutting Through Rocks, Mr. Nobody Against Putin and The Perfect Neighbor.
Mr. Nobody Against Putin won the category.
The documentary field showed that the Oscars are not only about Hollywood stars.
Real-world stories remain an important part of the awards.
What Were the Animated Short Nominees?
The five Animated Short nominees were Butterfly, Forevergreen, The Girl Who Cried Pearls, Retirement Plan and The Three Sisters.
The Girl Who Cried Pearls won.
What Were the Documentary Short Nominees?
The Documentary Short nominees were All the Empty Rooms, Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud, Children No More: “Were and Are Gone”, The Devil Is Busy and Perfectly a Strangeness.
All the Empty Rooms won the Oscar.
What Were the Live Action Short Nominees?
The nominated films were Butcher’s Stain, A Friend of Dorothy, Jane Austen’s Period Drama, The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva.
Oscar night produced an unusual result.
The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva were both listed as winners, creating a tie.
Ties are extremely rare at the Academy Awards.
What Was the Biggest Oscar Snub of 2026?
There was no single answer because fans cared about different movies.
But Wicked: For Good was probably the most talked-about overall omission.
The earlier Wicked movie had received 10 Academy Award nominations.
Its sequel received zero.
That surprised many fans because the movie had been expected to compete in at least some categories.
Its total shutout became one of nomination morning’s biggest stories.
Was Ariana Grande Nominated for an Oscar in 2026?
No.
Ariana Grande did not receive a Supporting Actress nomination for Wicked: For Good.
Her omission was widely described as one of the biggest acting snubs.
Awards predictions before nomination morning had kept her name in the conversation.
When the five nominees were announced, she was missing.
Was Paul Mescal Nominated for Hamnet?
No.
Paul Mescal was another major name left out of the acting categories despite Hamnet performing very well overall.
The movie earned eight nominations and Jessie Buckley went on to win Best Actress.
But Mescal did not receive an acting nomination.
That created another example of how a movie can receive broad Academy support without every expected performer making the final list.
Was Wicked: For Good Nominated for Any Oscars?
No.
Despite appearing on several Academy shortlists before final nominations, Wicked: For Good ended nomination morning with zero Academy Award nominations.
That was especially striking because it had been shortlisted in areas including Casting, Makeup and Hairstyling, Original Score, Original Song, Sound and Visual Effects.
Making a shortlist does not guarantee becoming an Oscar nominee.
The Wicked sequel became the clearest example of that in 2026.
Why Was F1’s Best Picture Nomination a Surprise?
F1 made the ten-film Best Picture lineup.
The racing movie also earned nominations for Editing, Sound and Visual Effects.
Its Best Picture inclusion stood out because large action-oriented commercial movies do not always receive top-category recognition.
The nomination showed that Academy voters responded strongly enough to its complete filmmaking package to place it among the year’s ten Best Picture contenders.
It later won the Oscar for Sound.
How Does Oscar Nomination Voting Work?
The Academy had 19 voting branches for the 2026 nominations.
In many categories, people working in a particular craft nominate their peers.
Actors generally nominate actors.
Costume designers vote on costume nominees.
Other branches follow similar systems.
Best Picture works differently.
Eligible voting members across all 19 branches can participate in selecting the Best Picture nominees.
The Academy said nomination ballots for the 2026 Oscars were submitted by members from 88 countries.
All voting is conducted through secret online ballots and tabulated by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
How Many Oscar Categories Were There in 2026?
The 98th Academy Awards presented 24 competitive categories.
Each category had five nominees except Best Picture, which had ten.
Casting was the major new addition.
The Academy had announced the creation of the category in 2024, with the first award scheduled for the 2026 ceremony.
What Changed About Oscar Voting in 2026?
The Academy introduced an important final-voting rule for the 98th Oscars.
Members had to watch all nominated films in a category before being eligible to vote in that category during the final round.
The Academy also added rules addressing generative artificial intelligence in relation to awards eligibility.
These changes showed how Oscar voting continues to evolve as filmmaking and technology change.
Who Hosted the 2026 Oscars?
Conan O’Brien returned as host.
The ceremony took place on Sunday, March 15, 2026, and aired live from Hollywood.
It was televised on ABC and streamed live on Hulu, with coverage available internationally.
Who Won the Most Important Oscars in 2026?
After weeks of predictions, the main winners became clear on March 15.
One Battle After Another won Best Picture.
Paul Thomas Anderson won Best Director.
Michael B. Jordan won Best Actor for Sinners.
Jessie Buckley won Best Actress for Hamnet.
Sean Penn won Supporting Actor for One Battle After Another.
Amy Madigan won Supporting Actress for Weapons.
Sinners also won Cinematography, Original Score and Original Screenplay.
KPop Demon Hunters won Animated Feature and Original Song.
Sentimental Value won International Feature Film.
The nominations had created the race.
Oscar night finally decided it.
Did Sinners Win Best Picture?
No.
This is important because the movie’s record 16 nominations can make people assume it also won the top prize.
It did not.
Best Picture went to One Battle After Another.
Sinners still had a successful evening.
It won Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan, Cinematography, Original Score and Original Screenplay.
So it left Oscar night with four wins after entering with a record 16 nominations.
Why Did Oscar Nominations 2026 Feel Different?
The nominations mixed familiar Oscar-friendly movies with genres that once might have struggled for recognition.
A vampire movie led everything.
A racing blockbuster reached Best Picture.
An animated K-pop fantasy became a major music and animation contender.
International films such as Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent crossed into major categories.
That made the list feel less predictable than some earlier Oscar years.
It also showed that Academy voters can reward films across very different genres when enough branches respond to the work.
FAQs About Oscar Nominations 2026
When were the Oscar nominations 2026 announced?
The nominations were announced on January 22, 2026. Danielle Brooks and Lewis Pullman presented the nominees.
When were the 2026 Oscars held?
The 98th Academy Awards took place on March 15, 2026, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
Which movie had the most Oscar nominations in 2026?
Sinners led with 16 nominations, the highest total ever received by one film.
What was the old Oscar nomination record?
The previous record was 14 nominations, shared by All About Eve, Titanic and La La Land.
How many nominations did One Battle After Another receive?
It received 13 nominations, the second-highest total of the year.
How many nominations did Frankenstein receive?
Frankenstein received nine nominations.
How many nominations did Marty Supreme receive?
Marty Supreme received nine nominations.
How many nominations did Sentimental Value receive?
Sentimental Value received nine nominations.
Who was nominated for Best Actor?
Michael B. Jordan, Timothée Chalamet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ethan Hawke and Wagner Moura were nominated.
Who was nominated for Best Actress?
Jessie Buckley, Rose Byrne, Kate Hudson, Renate Reinsve and Emma Stone were nominated.
Was Ariana Grande nominated for an Oscar in 2026?
No. Ariana Grande missed the Supporting Actress lineup for Wicked: For Good.
Did Wicked: For Good receive any Oscar nominations?
No. The movie received zero nominations despite appearing on several earlier Academy shortlists.
Was Paul Mescal nominated for Hamnet?
No. Mescal was one of the widely discussed acting omissions.
Was Zootopia 2 nominated for an Oscar?
Yes. Zootopia 2 was nominated for Best Animated Feature.
What won Best Animated Feature?
KPop Demon Hunters won Best Animated Feature.
What won Best Picture at the 2026 Oscars?
One Battle After Another won Best Picture.
Who won Best Actor?
Michael B. Jordan won for Sinners.
Who won Best Actress?
Jessie Buckley won for Hamnet.
What new Oscar category debuted in 2026?
Achievement in Casting became a competitive Oscar category for the first time.
Who won the first Casting Oscar?
Cassandra Kulukundis won for One Battle After Another.
Who hosted the Oscars in 2026?
Conan O’Brien hosted the 98th Academy Awards.
Final Thoughts
The oscar nominations 2026 will probably be remembered first for one number:
16.
That was how many nominations Sinners received.
Ryan Coogler’s vampire story went where no movie had gone before, passing the 14-nomination record held by All About Eve, Titanic and La La Land.
But the morning produced far more than one record.
One Battle After Another earned 13 nominations and eventually became the Best Picture winner.
Marty Supreme, Frankenstein and Sentimental Value each earned nine.
Hamnet became another major contender and later gave Jessie Buckley the Best Actress Oscar.
There were happy surprises.
Delroy Lindo finally became an Oscar nominee after decades of respected work.
Kate Hudson returned to the Best Actress race.
F1 made the Best Picture lineup.
KPop Demon Hunters reached both animation and music categories before winning both of them.
There were painful surprises too.
Ariana Grande missed Supporting Actress.
Paul Mescal was left out.
Guillermo del Toro did not receive a directing nomination even though Frankenstein collected nine nominations.
And Wicked: For Good went from serious awards conversation to zero Oscar nominations.
The Academy also made history in another way.
Casting finally became an Oscar category.
After decades of casting directors helping filmmakers find exactly the right people for their stories, their craft received its own Academy Award for the first time.
Then came Oscar night.
The movie with the most nominations did not win Best Picture.
One Battle After Another took the top prize and Paul Thomas Anderson won Best Director.
Sinners still left with four major victories, including Michael B. Jordan’s Best Actor win.
That is what made the 2026 Oscar season interesting.
The nominations created history.
The snubs created arguments.
And the final winners created a story that was not exactly the one people expected on nomination morning.
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