With the 2026 Oscars round the corner, bookies and cinephiles alike are hedging their bets on the outcomes of the biggest awards ceremony of the Western (mainstream) cinematic sphere. With big names and a variety of genres, tones and styles in the running, predicting who will hold the famous golden statuette is no easy business.
Across all categories, Sinners overshadows many of the other films, already holding the record as the film with the most nominations in Oscars history — its 16 nominations putting it two categories ahead of the previous record holder, All About Eve, and its spectacular sweep at the 1951 Academy Awards. From Best Picture, to Directing, all the way through to Leading Actor and Music, Ryan Coogler’s thrilling horror-supernatural period drama is expected to take home at least a handful of awards, off the back of its immense popularity with the public.
Contending especially in the Leading Actor and Best Picture category is Marty Supreme, the table tennis film with a goliath marketing effort putting Timothée Chalamet’s face everywhere — from a bright orange blimp above LA, to the Las Vegas Sphere — and ultimately guaranteeing the film a win for most unhinged press run, if only such a category existed. Whether the PR noise is hiding the lack of enthusiasm around the movie itself is yet to be seen, but Chalamet and the rest of Marty Supreme’s cast are often favourites at the Academy Awards.
Alongside them in Best Picture appear seven more films directed by men, and, of course, the awe-inducing Hamnet — the only nominee in that category captained by a female director, and tipped to receive the award for Leading Actress, amongst others. In fact, Jessie Buckley’s performance in Chloé Zhao’s masterpiece is a generational feat of emotion, and a showcase of such talent that it seems impossible that she won’t take the award home with her.
Amongst many other big names and staple figures which will surely be recognised on the day, the Portuguese The Secret Agent remarkably stands out against the rest of the Anglo-American nominees, with Bugonia and Frankenstein also creating important ripples within the awards system. A trained eye can see the direction that the awards season is heading in based on the Critics’ Choice, Golden Globes, and DGA outcomes, but as the Academy closes the season in March, it is all still to play for.
