Oscars 2026 Best Picture Nominees, Ranked From Worst To Best

The 2025 Oscar season is finally nearing its end, as we now know which films will be competing for Hollywood’s highest honor this year. On Thursday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled the list of nominees for the 98th Academy Awards in a live presentation hosted by Danielle Brooks and Lewis Pullman. There were, of course, several shocks and snubs along the way — “Wicked: For Good” was completely shut out of the event, despite Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo making another push for acting honors. Kate Hudson, meanwhile, managed to bring the relatively under-buzzed “Song Sung Blue” to the table with a surprise Best Actress nomination.

When it came to the Best Picture category, however, the selections shook out more or less as pundits expected. “F1” got across the finish line probably in something of a photo finish, outpacing blockbusters like “Wicked” and “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” Timothée Chalamet pulled “Marty Supreme” one step closer to greatness through sheer will. “Sinners” tore apart the record for most nominations received by a single film. And “One Battle After Another” remains the critically acclaimed elephant in the room that has a pool of top-tier artists approaching the ceremony with particular uncertainty. 

As a whole, the category is too exciting this year for us not to rank our favorites. So here are the 2026 Best Picture Oscar nominees, ranked.

Perhaps the biggest surprise from the Best Picture announcements was the inclusion of the racing drama “F1.” Though by no means an unextraordinary film, its initial positioning as a quintessential summer blockbuster puts it just slightly out of step with the kinds of small, performance-heavy dramas moviegoers might expect to see competing for Best Picture (like, for example, Jafar Panahi’s “It Was Just an Accident,” which was left out of the nominations in the category despite taking home the coveted Palme d’Or at Cannes). But if you’ve seen “F1” for yourself — and/or have been following this awards season closely — its inclusion makes total sense.

The premise of a washed-up athlete (in this case a racecar driver named Sonny Hayes, played by Brad Pitt) being pulled back into the sport he once loved only to clash with and learn from the next generation (embodied by Damson Idris’ rookie driver Joshua Pearce) is nothing new for the sports drama subgenre. What is new is the “pretty reckless” way director Joseph Kosinski shot the action. Instead of using CGI animation and green screens to simulate the environment of a Formula 1 race, Kosinski shot the film’s races as practically as possible, with Pitt and Idris actually driving modified cars rigged with cameras on actual race tracks during actual racing events. When CGI was used, it turned real F1 racing moments into plot for the film.

The popular appeal of “F1” belies the fact that there really isn’t another film like it. It’s Kosinski’s second entry into a Best Picture race after “Top Gun: Maverick.” Though stiff competition this year means it will likely walk away from the evening empty-handed, Best Sound is a possibility, and it arguably deserves Best Visual Effects over “Avatar: Fire and Ash.”

Guillermo del Toro returns to the Best Picture race for the first time since 2022’s “Nightmare Alley” (though he notably took home Best Animated Feature in 2023 for his stop-motion adaptation of “Pinocchio”). Having won the category in 2018 for the fantasy romantic drama “The Shape of Water,” returning with an enchanting and equally striking adaptation of the classic horror novel “Frankenstein” feels auspicious for the director.

Indeed, “Frankenstein” is del Toro in his element. Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi star as the titular mad genius and the “monster” he created to satisfy his own scientific hubris. Unlike many “Frankenstein” adaptations, del Toro attempts to stay as close to Mary Shelley’s story as possible — whether that manifests as obvious reverence or seeming hubris in and of itself has been one of the most fascinating conversations surrounding del Toro’s adaptation. Some argue that he proves his devotion to the material throughout, particularly in the few alterations he makes to the story that still manage to give life to Shelley’s vision. Others argue the film’s controlling vision is the result of a close misreading of the story,and point to aspects like the film’s ending quote as evidence of del Toro’s damning deviation.

As divisive as it may be in its relationship to Shelley’s work, “Frankenstein” is an undeniably haunting masterpiece in its own right, a nigh-Promethean feat of filmmaking that electrifies a 200-year-old story like only del Toro could. It’s a longshot in the Best Picture race — Elordi faces monstrous competition in Best Supporting Actor as well. It has a fair shot at taking home well-deserved honors in Best Costume Design (Kate Hawley) and Best Production Design (Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau).

Over a decade and a half after first breaking into the Academy Awards with a Best International Feature Film nomination for 2009’s “Dogtooth,” the prolific and unstoppable auteur Yorgos Lanthimos is still hunting down his first win. Could it be “Bugonia?”

If the chances of this bizarre, brazen black comedy thriller winning the Oscar depended on how it stacks up against Lanthimos’ other Best Picture nominations — “The Favourite” and “Poor Things” — or even his Best Original Screenplay nod (“The Lobster”), “Bugonia” might be in a bit of trouble. Against this year’s pool of nominees, its only hope of winning is if Lanthimos’ ingeniously idiosyncratic storytelling style is able to bewitch (rather than bewilder) enough Academy voters to pull focus from the clear frontrunners. In “Bugonia,” an apiarist and conspiracy theorist named Teddy (Jesse Plemons) kidnaps a pharmaceutical CEO (Emma Stone) and holds her hostage in an attempt to unveil the supposed secret presence of aliens and their influence on humanity.

With a darkly amusing screenplay by rising star Will Tracy (“Succession,” “The Menu”), Lanthimos is able to keep audiences in a constant feeling of unease and uncertainty throughout “Bugonia” — which might make for an unpleasant viewing experience were it not for Plemons and Stone doing some of the best work of their careers. As successful as the film is in its narrative aims, it’s competing as something of an underdog in all four of its categories.

When it began to see a wider release in the winter of 2025, we were quick to hail “The Secret Agent” as one of the best movies of the year. Written and directed by Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho, this period-set political thriller stars Wagner Moura (Alex Garland’s “Civil War”) as a political dissident trying to survive the Brazilian military dictatorship. This brutally authoritarian regime was notably the backdrop of “I’m Still Here,” Walter Salles’ moving 2024 biographical drama, which just last year became the first Brazilian film to win an Academy Award when it won Best International Feature.

Like “I’m Still Here,” “The Secret Agent” has strong footing in both Best Picture and Best International Feature — though it isn’t the only entry on this list that can claim that. The film does boast a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score, a peerless performance at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, and two crucial, elevating wins at this year’s Golden Globes — Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama for Moura. Though it isn’t a lock by any means, its chances of taking home at least Best International Feature are solid. 

Even if it walks away statue-less, “The Secret Agent” is an astonishing filmmaking achievement that succeeds through Filho’s confident command of history and the mystery and thriller genres, telling a story that’s as entertaining as it is capable of expanding one’s understanding of an eerily, universally relevant period in Brazil’s past.

Lauded for being as patient, understated, and emotionally devastating as Denis Johnson’s Pulitzer Prize-finalist novella, “Train Dreams” is thankfully nominated in the year’s Best Picture race, despite flying relatively under the radar. With Netflix as its distributor, the film was barely marketed and, of course, only briefly screened theatrically (enough time to ensure its awards season eligibility) before being thrown into the streamer’s content library. Even so, rave reviews have given the film enough buzz to be a genuine contender throughout the season.

Joel Edgerton (who was somewhat surprisingly ignored in the Best Actor category) stars in “Train Dreams” as Robert Grainier, an Idaho man born into misfortune whom the film follows through his entire adult life. In his struggles to find and maintain safe work while being present for his wife Gladys (Felicity Jones) and their child, he is forced to make peace with the dispassionate forward motion of life and the quiet beauty therein. It’s the sort of film you might find yourself having a hard time describing without earnestly falling into the cliche of, “It’s just a movie about life.” But it is very much that — and that Clint Bentley is able to make it so, while at the same time making it distinctly moving and unforgettable, is a testament to his talent as a storyteller. Both he and co-writer Greg Kwedar are nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, having previously competed in the category with the Kwedar-directed drama “Sing Sing.”

Its Oscar dreams might be ill-fated in the end, but “Train Dreams” deserves to be remembered as more than one of the best streaming movies of the year. It’s an immersive, visually and emotionally arresting work that needs to be lived through on the big screen.

Arguably more than Spain’s “Sirât” or France’s “It Was Just an Accident,” the Norwegian film “Sentimental Value” stands to challenge “The Secret Agent” for Best International Feature. Certainly it benefits from the fact that it prominently features Stellan Skarsgård and Elle Fanning, two actors already well-known to the Academy’s predominantly American voter base, as well as its manifestation of that old adage that Hollywood can’t help but love movies about movies. But that would be far from the whole story.

Directed by Joachim Trier (“The Worst Person in the World”), “Sentimental Value” is a gorgeously raw and intimate depiction of a woman’s attempt to process a dysfunctional childhood and better understand the man she holds responsible for it, explored in the context of a film’s production. Skarsgård plays Gustav Borg, a filmmaker who wants to cast his emotionally estranged daughter Nora in his next film. Nora is played by Renate Reinsve, who readers might recognize from Trier’s previous film (she was also incidentally originally cast in “Weapons,” also an awards contender this season). In a film that contains several of the best dramatic performances seen on screens this year, Reinsve still stands alone, delivering a nuanced portrayal that strives to further complicate an already volatile emotional journey that might tempt a less disciplined actor down a simpler path.

Skarsgård and Fanning (who plays the American actress Gustav hires in Nora’s stead) are tremendous in the film as well, as is Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas in the role of Nora’s sister Agnes. All four of them are nominated in acting categories, with Skarsgård’s chances at winning Best Supporting Actor seeming strong.

The most incredible part of the Oscars campaign for Josh Safdie’s “Marty Supreme” might be how successfully it’s shaped its narrative around an unrelenting pursuit of greatness while also managing to hold on to the mystique of the scrappy underdog when held up against the films we’ve yet to discuss. Though it has plenty of institutional support behind it and a slim chance at winning the top prize, it somehow feels like a success story in the making. It’s a meta-narrative that makes the obsessive energy of “Marty Supreme” more infectious than it already is.

In a role that will in all likelihood earn him his first Academy Award for Best Actor (a feat that feels like it was willed into existence by the vocally determined star), Timothée Chalamet plays Marty Mauser, a table tennis player whose background is inspired by Marty Reisman. As was the case with the protagonists of “Good Time” and “Uncut Gems,” Marty’s ambitions of success are constantly imperiled by his poor judgment and base impulses, creating a character arc that’s truly anxiety-inducing to behold. For some strange reason, it makes for thrillingly entertaining cinema.

To win Best Actor, Chalamet will have to come out ahead of both Wagner Moura and, poetically, Leonardo DiCaprio, once a hungry young actor himself, every bit as mythically devoted as Chalamet. It’s easy to parasocially imagine what impact DiCaprio has had on Chalamet’s journey, and what such a victory would mean for him (the two were also co-stars in 2021’s “Don’t Look Up”). “Marty Supreme” also has a strong chance at winning the inaugural Best Casting award, with casting director Jennifer Venditti going far afield of mainstream Hollywood to fill out an immaculate supporting ensemble.

“Sinners” broke a long-standing Academy record on Thursday morning when it racked up a staggering 16 nominations, beating the previous record of 14 nominations held by “La La Land,” “All About Eve,” and James Cameron’s “Titanic” (a hefty dose of salt in the wound of “Avatar: Fire and Ash” missing out on this year’s Best Picture race). That a blockbuster horror film could accomplish such a feat would have been unthinkable even five years ago, but we should all know by now not to underestimate Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan.

Adding this latest film to a remarkable resume of consistent hits (“Fruitvale Station,” “Creed,” “Black Panther”), the duo have cemented themselves as one of the most successful director-movie-star partnerships in the history of Hollywood. One Jordan wasn’t even enough for Coogler in “Sinners,” with the director casting him as twins Smoke and Stack Moore. When they attempt to start a juke joint in their hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi, dodging prohibition laws and the lingering threat of the Ku Klux Klan, their sanctuary of music is besieged and infiltrated by vampires. Coogler draws upon history, music, and popular horror mythos to spin an epic-feeling folk tale that poignantly explores what it takes to preserve one’s cultural identity in America.

“Sinners” was the eighth-highest grossing movie domestically in 2025, a success among critics and audiences alike. Still, even taking into consideration its record-breaking number of nominations, the film faces an uphill battle toward beating out several decisive front-runner. Jordan’s dynamic dual performances earned him a rightful place in the Best Actor conversation, but will it be enough to halt the momentum of Timothée Chalamet? Coogler can enter the ceremony feeling confident in Best Original Screenplay, while composer Ludwig Göransson and cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw remain competitive in their respective categories.

It would be foolishly ambitious for any writer or director to approach a story that revolves around “Hamlet” with the intention of producing a tragedy even half as grand, moving, and timeless as the classic William Shakespeare play. And yet, one can’t assume Chloé Zhao made this remarkable film by accident.

In “Hamnet” (which is based on a 2020 novel from co-screenwriter Maggie O’Farrell), we are asked to imagine what might inspire such a profound expression of grief. Zhao and O’Farrell turn the playwright himself (played by Paul Mescal, another snub from Thursday’s Best Actor announcements) into fiction, dramatizing the relationship between him and his wife Agnes (Jessie Buckley), the latter of whom serves as the story’s true steward. While William is away in London, attempting to make something of himself as a writer, Agnes raises their two children — when tragedy visits them, she is alone to answer.

Aside from proving that her work on “Eternals” was such an anomalous misfire it deserves to be expunged from her filmmaking record, “Hamnet” showcases Zhao’s unique ability to fully immerse the audience in an emotional experience that might at first seem alien to them. What she accomplishes in terms of storytelling through staging alone is exemplary, a minor aspect of the filmmaking prowess that might well cause a small upset in the Best Director category. Much more anticipated is Buckley’s win in the Best Actress category, her gutting portrayal of Agnes Shakespeare making her a clear and deserving frontrunner in the race.

If it wasn’t clear when it was first released, it only became more obvious as the awards season progressed: In the race for Best Picture, “One Battle After Another” is the one to beat.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s unwieldy and surprisingly hilarious political action thriller is a juggernaut of a film for many reasons. It boasts an ensemble cast that includes established stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, Benicio del Toro, Sean Penn, and Regina Hall, as well as excitingly fresher faces like Teyana Taylor and Chase Infiniti — all of whom are aiming for career-best performances. For his part, Anderson is in top filmmaking form, making an almost three-hour feature feel natural, earned, and consistently engaging. The story itself is timely, a sharp examination of a paranoid American political climate and an extreme kind of cruelty that feels stoppable only when combatted by extreme action.

In addition to being the clear favorite to win Best Picture, “One Battle After Another” is poised to secure statues for Anderson for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay (though Zhao and “Hamnet” are certainly in the conversation for both) and Taylor for Best Supporting Actress. Penn and del Toro are competing against each other for Best Supporting Actor, having each delivered singular scene-stealing performances that exemplify what the category aims to honor. All that being said, while the night certainly seems like it’s “One Battle After Another’s” to lose as of writing, there’s really no telling for sure who will come out on top.

The 2026 Oscars will air on ABC on March 15, 2026.