Oscar nominations 2026: ‘Sinners’ makes history with record-breaking 16 nods

The 98th Academy Award nominations have been unveiled and Ryan Coogler’s vampire horror Sinners has made Oscar history by being nominated for a record-breaking 16 categories, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay.

This is not only notable because horror films are frequently shunned by the Academy but chiefly because no movie before Sinners has ever landed more than 14 nominations - something achieved only by All About Eve (1950), Titanic (1997) and La La Land (2016).

In our review of Sinners, which made our Best Movies of 2025 list, we said: “Sinners is first and foremost a film about music, specifically the blues. By establishing it as a sort of magical conduit between worlds but also across time, Coogler shows that blues music is not only a precious connection to the past and a reminder of post-slavery resilience but also a future refuge that can be exploited. (...) This daring and fascinating take on classic vampire lore sees Coogler not only politicising vampires; he’s also made one of the best films of the year so far."

Right behind Sinners is One Battle After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson’s politically charged serio-comedy which topped our favourite films of 2025 and got 13 nominations.

Already the clear frontrunner during awards season, having won big at the Golden Globes earlier this month, One Battle After Another is seen as the favourite to win Best Film and Best Director. Paul Thomas Anderson has never won an Oscar - despite 11 nominations for films such as There Will Be Blood, The Master and Phantom Thread.

In our review of One Battle After Another, we wrote: "It’s heartening to see that there are still studios out there willing to grant creative freedom and bankroll such daring and entertaining cinema – which, on paper, may read like lunacy. So, Viva la Revolución, down with the Christmas Adventurers, and bring on awards season. We’re betting that One Battle After Another will steamroll its way to Oscar glory, with voters recognising that this new PTA classic deserves all the trophies."

Hate to say we told you so... Although Sinners is enjoying a mighty push...

Both Sinners and One Battle After Another are Warner Bros. titles and have 29 nominations between them, representing a huge coup for the studio - which has 30 in total, with one nomination for Amy Madigan in the Best Supporting Actress category for her stellar camp villain in Weapons. It is the best Oscar showing in the 102-year-old studio’s history.

The studio prepares for its controversial sale to Netflix, which has cinema lovers worried about Netflix’s reduced theatrical windows. Earlier this week, Netflix amended its $72 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery to an all-cash offer, sweetening its offer over that of Paramount Skydance.

But enough of the business side and back to the nominations...

Scroll down for the full list of the 2026 nominees.

On its side, Netflix scored big with Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein with nine nominations (including Best Film), tied with Josh Safdie’s ping pong drama Marty Supreme and Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value. Behind them are Chloé Zhao’s Shakespearian drama Hamnet with eight, and both Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia and Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent have four nominations each.

It is notable that many international features nominated for Best International Feature are also nominated in other categories – most impressively Brazil’s The Secret Agent and Norway’s Sentimental Value, which are up for Best Film also.

Fresh from its clean sweep at the European Film Awards, Joachim Trier’s family drama will represent Europe’s best hope when it comes to Oscars this year. It bagged a total of nine nominations, with Best Director for Trier, acting nods for Renate Reinsve for Best Actress, Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas in the Best Supporting Actress category, and Stellan Skarsgård makes history by becoming the first Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominee for an international film.

Meanwhile, this year’s Palme d’Or winner, It Was Just An Accident by Jafar Panahi scored two nominations (Best International Film and Best Original Screenplay), while one of our favourite films of 2025, Oliver Laxe’s Sirāt, also got two nominations (Best International Feature and Best Sound).

A shout out to another European film which we didn’t expect: The Ugly Stepsister, Emilie Blichfeldt’s debut feature, which scored one nomination for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.

Another surprise – less of an enthusiastic one – came with F1, the racing drama which managed to get nominated in four categories, including (upsettingly) Best Film.

As for the biggest snub of this year’s nominations, the dubious award goes to the Wicked sequel, Wicked: For Good, which was brushed aside in categories such as Best Actress, Best Score and Best Film. Considering how well the first instalment did at last year’s Oscars, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo can’t be best pleased about today’s announcement.

This year’s Best Actor category is worth singling out, as it will be a heavyweight contest between Timothée Chalamet, whose (frankly tiresome) promotional shenanigans turned Marty Supreme into A24’s biggest ticket seller, and One Battle After Another ’s Leonardo DiCaprio. Other nominees include Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon), Michael B. Jordan (Sinners), and Wagner Moura, who recently won a Golden Globe for The Secret Agent. The safe money is on Chalamet nabbing his first Oscar, but the category’s nominees are impressive to say the least.

Elsewhere, it looks like a neck and neck race between Hamnet ’s Jessie Buckley and If I Had Legs I'd Kick You ’s Rose Byrne for Best Actress. They will face off against two-time winner Emma Stone (Bugonia), as well as Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value) and Kate Hudson (Song Sung Blue).

One notable newbie this year: the Best Casting category – an additional section which makes perfect sense, considering the choice of performers is of paramount importance to a film’s success.

The next new category will come in 2028, when the Oscars will recognise Best Stunt Design.

Here is the full list of this year’s Oscar nominees:

Best Film

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

Best Director

• 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

Adapted Screenplay

• Bugonia
• Frankenstein
• Hamnet
• One Battle After Another
• Train Dreams

Original Screenplay

• Blue Moon
• It Was Just an Accident
• Marty Supreme
• Sentimental Value
• Sinners

International Feature Film

• The Secret Agent
• It Was Just an Accident
• Sentimental Value
• Sirat
• The Voice of Hind Rajab

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 Are Gone
• The Devil Is Busy
• Perfectly a Strangeness

Live Action Short Film

• Butcher’s Stain
• A Friend of Dorothy
• Jane Austen’s Period Drama
• The Singers
• Two People Exchanging Saliva

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

Cinematography

• Frankenstein
• Marty Supreme
• One Battle After Another
• Sinners
• Train Dreams

Film Editing

• F1
• Marty Supreme
• One Battle After Another
• Sentimental Value
• Sinners

Production Design

• Frankenstein
• Hamnet
• Marty Supreme
• One Battle After Another
• Sinners

Achievement in Casting

• Hamnet
• Marty Supreme
• One Battle After Another
• The Secret Agent
• Sinners

Original Score

• Bugonia
• Frankenstein
• Hamnet
• One Battle After Another
• Sinners

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

Sound

• F1
• Frankenstein
• One Battle After Another
• Sinners
• Sirat

Visual Effects

• Avatar: Fire and Ash
• F1
• Jurassic World Rebirth
• The Lost Bus
• Sinners

Makeup and Hairstyling

• Frankenstein
• Kokuho
• Sinners
• The Smashing Machine
• The Ugly Stepsister

Costume Design

• Avatar: Fire and Ash
• Frankenstein
• Hamnet
• Marty Supreme
• Sinners

The 98th Academy Awards will take place on Sunday 15 March at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, with Conan O’Brien returning as host.