Top Contenders for Oscar’s 2026 Awards

Best Picture

One Battle After Another, director Paul Thomas Anderson.
Sinners, director Ryan Coogler.
Hamnet, director Chloé Zhao.
No Other Choice, director Park Chan-wook.
Avatar: Fire and Ash, director James Cameron.

Q: Why do you feel that some genres like comedy, horror, and action really struggle to break into Best Picture?

A: I think there’s this stigma out there that these movies are seen as lesser.

He goes on to discuss Martin Scorsese, whom we can both agree is one of the greatest filmmakers, and remarks that comic book movies are roller coaster rides.

Scorsese has been a consistent critic of the genre, from his op-ed feature in The New York Times from 2019 entitled “Martin Scorsese: I said Marvel Movies Aren’t Cinema. Let Me Explain.”

William Howells believes that if the Academy were brave enough, it would nominate Liam Neeson for Best Actor.

If we look at horror, Sinners broke theatre records, and it should be nominated for Best Picture.

Our long shot for the category would be 28 Years Later, or Warfare.

With Warfare, it simply presents the situation of war; it starts in the war and it ends in the war. There is no real space for character development, because Warfare is 90 minutes of real-time war.

Best Actor

Dwayne The Rock Johnson, for The Smashing Machine.
Leonardo DiCaprio, for One Battle After Another.
Daniel Day-Lewis, for Anemone.
Paul Mescal, for Hamnet.

Best Supporting Actor

David Johnson, for The Long Walk.

Last year, the Oscars had The Substance, where an actor could come in and be like, “Yeah, I’ve done stupid movies, got the paycheque, but I can act.” This year, we may have Dwayne The Rock Johnson.

David Johnson should sweep the Best Supporting Actor awards this season with his magnetic and heartcrushingly raw performance in The Long Walk. His only downside may be the popularity of the Stephen King film and the Thriller/Horror genre. If it were possible for a full cast to earn Oscars, it should either go to Warfare or The Long Walk.

I, for one, would like to include Cooper Hoffman for Best Actor, but the competition this year may be too high; however, between The Long Walk and Liquorice Pizza, he has proven his father proud.

Best Actress

Ariana Grande, for Wicked: For Good.
Emily Blunt, for The Smashing Machine.
Emma Stone, for Bugonia.

Emma Stone is the Christphor Nolan for the Actress category, with two Oscars under her belt: La La Land in 2017 and Poor Things in 2024. The Best Actress category is always the hardest to predict. Male actors start their Oscar runs early; their performances have always been centred on the Oscars, and women can be pushed aside.

The most likely highest-grossing film, Wicked: For Good, with a leading female cast of Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, may be dismissed in these categories for their previous nominations in Wicked.

Technical Categories

F1 for editing and sound.
Superman for visual effects and score.

But perhaps, the more interesting awards this film season are the BAFTAs. Leading with Warfare, with a full British cast and British filmmaker, Hamnet, starring Irish actor Paul Mescal, The Roses, starring Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch.

My personal “long shots”