98th Academy Awards nominations: Sinners makes Oscars history with 16 nods

The nominations for the 98th Academy Awards were announced on January 22, 2026, from the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Los Angeles. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners emerged as the clear front-runner on the morning, scoring 16 nominations, an all-time record, surpassing the previous peak of 14 nominations held by All About Eve, Titanic and La La Land.

Coogler’s film, a period-set, blues-rooted horror epic, shows up across the board: Picture, Director, leading and supporting performances, plus a dense spread of craft categories that often signal strength in preferential-ballot voting.

Close behind, Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another secured 13 nominations, positioning the film as the most direct challenger in major categories.

Best Picture: a ten-title field reflecting the year’s industry contrasts

The Best Picture lineup confirms a year where the Academy’s top field holds studio scale and auteur specificity in the same frame: Bugonia, F1, Frankenstein, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, The Secret Agent, Sentimental Value, Sinners and Train Dreams.

Warner Bros. leads the studios with 30 nominations overall, driven primarily by Sinners and One Battle After Another, while international and non-English-language titles continue to hold more than a symbolic presence, particularly through Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent.

The directing race: Coogler and Anderson, with Zhao, Safdie, Trier

The Best Director quintet: Chloé Zhao (Hamnet), Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme), Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another), Joachim Trier (Sentimental Value) and Ryan Coogler (Sinners), maps a year where the conversation is shaped as much by filmmakers’ signatures as by genre positioning.

Acting: Chalamet, DiCaprio, Jordan; Hudson and Lindo as headline “surprises”

In leading actor, Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme), Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another), Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon), Michael B. Jordan (Sinners) and Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent) form a slate that mixes Hollywood incumbents with a notable international breakthrough.

On the actress side, the nominees are Jessie Buckley (Hamnet), Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I’d Kick You), Kate Hudson (Song Sung Blue), Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value) and Emma Stone (Bugonia). Hudson’s inclusion has been seen as a real surprise of the morning.

Among supporting races, Delroy Lindo’s nomination for Sinners is a notable example of a “late-season narrative” that ultimately gains recognition from the Academy.

The new Oscar: Casting enters the competition

The Academy’s newest competitive category, Best Casting, debuts this year. The inaugural nominees are Hamnet (Nina Gold), Marty Supreme (Jennifer Venditti), One Battle After Another (Cassandra Kulukundis), The Secret Agent (Gabriel Domingues) and Sinners (Francine Maisler).

Snubs and surprises: Wicked: For Good gets zero, del Toro misses Director

Every nominations announcement comes with a parallel list of notable omissions, and this year the most striking is the complete shutout of Wicked: For Good. Despite a sustained awards-season presence and the recent Oscar traction of the franchise, the film failed to secure a single nomination, including for its principal cast—a result widely read as the morning’s most conspicuous exclusion.

A similar sense of imbalance marked the reception of Frankenstein. While the film registered strongly across major and technical categories, its director, Guillermo del Toro, did not appear in the Best Director lineup, reinforcing a recurring Academy pattern in which a film’s overall support does not necessarily translate into recognition for its author.

Among the other frequently cited omissions is Paul Mescal, whose performance in Hamnet had been widely forecast as a contender. Equally notable is the limited impact of The Smashing Machine, which failed to convert a high-profile campaign into above-the-line nominations.

International cinema also registers a significant absence, with No Other Choice, the latest work by Park Chan-wook, considered a strong prospect in the International Feature conversation but ultimately not making the final cut.

Finally, Train Dreams’s otherwise solid showing across categories did not extend to acting recognition for Joel Edgerton, a conspicuous omission given the film’s visibility within the Academy’s broader nominations slate.

When and where: March 15, 2026, on ABC and Hulu, Conan O’Brien hosting

The 98th Oscars will take place on Sunday, March 15, 2026, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, airing on ABC and streaming live on Hulu, with Conan O’Brien returning as host.

Full list of nominees – 98th Academy Awards (2026)

Best Picture

• 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

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

• Bugonia — Screenplay by Will Tracy

• Frankenstein — Written for the screen by Guillermo del Toro

• Hamnet — Screenplay by Chloé Zhao & Maggie O’Farrell

• One Battle After Another — Written by Paul Thomas Anderson

• Train Dreams — Screenplay by Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar

Writing (Original Screenplay)

• Blue Moon — Written by Robert Kaplow

• It Was Just an Accident — Written by Jafar Panahi; script collaborators Nader Sa’ivar, Shadmehr Rastin, Mehdi Mahmoudian

• Marty Supreme — Written by Josh Safdie & Ronald Bronstein

• Sentimental Value — Written by Eskil Vogt & Joachim Trier

• Sinners — Written by Ryan Coogler

Animated Feature Film

• Arco

• Elio

• KPop Demon Hunters

• Little Amélie or the Character of Rain

• Zootopia 2

International Feature Film

• The Secret Agent (Brazil)

• It Was Just an Accident (France)

• Sentimental Value (Norway)

• Sirat (Spain)

• The Voice of Hind Rajab (Tunisia)

Documentary Feature Film

• The Alabama Solution

• Come See Me in the Good Light

• Cutting Through Rocks

• Mr. Nobody Against Putin

• The Perfect Neighbor

Animated Short Film

• Butterfly

• Forevergreen

• The Girl Who Cried Pearls

• Retirement Plan

• The Three Sisters

Documentary Short

• 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

Best Casting

• Hamnet — Nina Gold

• Marty Supreme — Jennifer Venditti

• One Battle After Another — Cassandra Kulukundis

• The Secret Agent — Gabriel Domingues

• Sinners — Francine Maisler

Cinematography

• Frankenstein — Dan Laustsen

• Marty Supreme — Darius Khondji

• One Battle After Another — Michael Bauman

• Sinners — Autumn Durald Arkapaw

• Train Dreams — Adolpho Veloso

Costume Design

• Avatar: Fire and Ash — Deborah L. Scott

• Frankenstein — Kate Hawley

• Hamnet — Małgosia Turzańska

• Marty Supreme — Miyako Bellizzi

• Sinners — Ruth E. Carter

Makeup and Hairstyling

• Frankenstein

• Kokuho

• Sinners

• The Smashing Machine

• The Ugly Stepsister

Music (Original Score)

• Bugonia — Jerskin Fendrix

• Frankenstein — Alexandre Desplat

• Hamnet — Max Richter

• One Battle After Another — Jonny Greenwood

• Sinners — Ludwig Göransson

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

Film Editing

• F1

• Marty Supreme

• One Battle After Another

• Sentimental Value

• Sinners

Sound

• F1

• Frankenstein

• One Battle After Another

• Sinners

• Sirat

Visual Effects

• Avatar: Fire and Ash

• F1

• Jurassic World Rebirth

• The Lost Bus

• Sinners