Golden Sinners…

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences(AMPAS) announced their nominations for the 2026 film year with a live-streaming announcement held on January 22, 2026, The announcement was hosted by actors Danielle Brooks and Lewis Pullman, where they presented the nominations for The 98th Academy Awards, or as they are known these days, the Oscars at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The Oscars will air live on Sunday, March 15th, 2026, from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, and be televised on ABC. The ceremony will be produced by Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan, with Hamish Hamilton serving as director. Comedian and podcaster Conan O’Brien is returning as host for the second year. Sinners received the most nominations of all time with 16, followed by One Battle After Another with 13 each.

The two films will compete along with Bugonia, F1: The Movie, Frankenstein, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, The Secret Agent, Sentimental Value, and Train Dreams for the coveted award of the night, Best Picture. The only female director nominated this year was Chloé Zhao, who directed Hamnet, she also picked up a nomination for co-writing the adapted screenplay with Maggie O’Farrell, based on the novel by O’Farrell. Leading Actress of the film, Jessie Buckley was nominated for her first Oscar for her role as Agnes Shakespeare.

The sixteen nominations received by Sinners are the most in Oscar history, surpassing the previous record of fourteen shared by All About Eve (1950), Titanic (1997), and La La Land (2016). It also broke the record for most Black individuals nominated for a single film at ten. Frankenstein, Marty Supreme, Sentimental Value are tied for nine nominations, while Hamnet recieved eight nominations.

Youngest Firsts…

A number of historic milestones also emerged among this year’s nominees. At just 30 years old, Timothée Chalamet made awards-season history. He became the youngest actor to receive three acting nominations since Marlon Brando and the youngest person ever nominated in the same year for both acting and producing — surpassing the previous benchmark set by Warren Beatty.

Meanwhile, Wagner Moura achieved a historic milestone as the first Brazilian performer nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role. In another notable first, Stellan Skarsgård became the first actor nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for a performance in a non-English-language international feature film.

The 40-year span between Amy Madigan’s first nomination — for her supporting performance in Twice in a Lifetime — and her latest nod for Weapons set a new record for the longest gap between Oscar nominations for any actress.

Costume designer Ruth E. Carter reached another landmark, becoming the most-nominated Black woman in Academy Awards history across all categories with her fifth nomination for Best Costume Design. Meanwhile, cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw made history as only the fourth woman ever nominated for Best Cinematography — and the first woman of color to achieve the distinction.

Director Chloé Zhao also added to the list of milestones. She became the second woman ever nominated twice for Best Director — following Jane Campion — and the first woman of color to reach that mark. Zhao is also the first woman to receive two Best Director nominations after already winning the award.

In the producing category, Dede Gardner set a new benchmark. With nine career nominations for Best Picture, she became the most-nominated female producer in the category’s history, surpassing the previous record she had shared with Kathleen Kennedy.

Surprisingly Snubbed…

Along with Sinners record breaking nominations, came Delroy Lindo‘s first nomination, but with that surprise, delivered a snub for newcomer Miles Caton for Best Supporting Actor. There was hope both would be nominated, but were voters split and opted for Lindo in the end.

It was one snub after the other, with fellow newcomer Chase Infiniti, being left off of the Leading Actress nominations for her role as Willa in One Battle After Another, despite the film recieving 13 nominations. Instead the blues were for a surprise nod for Kate Hudson for her role as Claire Sardina in the film Song Sung Blue, and the sadness continued for Hamnet when Paul Mescal failed to land a Supporting Actor nod for his role as WIlliam Shakespeare.

The best actor category also featured a surprise in Ethan Hawke for his role as Lorenz Hart in the film Blue Moon, which was on the fence to land a nomination. Some other notable snubbs for the 98th Oscars include Jesse Plemons for Bugonia, Jennifer Lawrence for Die My Love, Jennifer Lopez and Tonatiuh for Kiss of the Spider-Woman and the actors from Train Dreams, the cast included lead actor Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, William H. Macy and Kerry Condon.

It almost seemed like witchcraft the way Wicked: For Good was notably snubbed. A year after the first Wicked recieved 10 nominations at the 97th Oscars, including for stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.  Avatar: Fire and Ash, Jay Kelly, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, The Testament of Ann Lee, and Is This Thing On? were notably left off the 98th Oscars nominations.

You can check out my Complete List for the 98th Oscars 2026 nominees below!

BEST PICTURE:

BEST DIRECTOR:

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM:

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM:

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:

BEST ORIGINAL SONG:

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:

BEST COSTUME DESIGN:

BEST FILM EDITING:

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING:

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN:

BEST SOUND:

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM:

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM:

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM: