My 2026 Oscar Predictions

The 98th Academy Awards will be this Saturday, March 15th and I wanted to post some of my predictions, which I based on who've won the major awards so far. My predictions are in bold: 

Best Picture - Hamnet (Liza Marshall, Pippa Harris, Nicolas Gonda, Steven Spielberg, and Sam Mendes) * I say Hamnet cause the Oscars tend to award these films the most - even Sentimental Value could even win. Sinners or One Battle After Another could be a surprise win. 

 

Best Director - Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another

Best Adapted Screenplay - Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another) 

Best Original Screenplay - Ryan Coogler (Sinners) 

Best Actor - Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent) 

   

• this one was hard cause the Best Actor race has been so unpredictable this year. It could also go to Timothee Chalamet for Marty Supreme or Michael B. Jordan for Sinners could be a surprise win but I possibly think it's Wagner Moura. 

Best Actress - Jessie Buckley (Hamnet) 

Best Supporting Actor - Sean Penn (One Battle After Another) or Stellan Skarsgård (Sentimental Value)

Best Supporting Actress - Amy Madigan (Weapons)  *if they do award Sinners in any acting categories it could go to Wunmi Mosaku cause the academy mainly tends to award in the supporting categories 

Best Original Score - Ludwig Goransson (Sinners)  *also feel Bugonia had a great film score as well

Casting - Francine Maisler (Sinners)

Cinematography - Dan Lausten (Frankenstein)

 Film Editing - Stephen Mirrione (F1)

 Best Original Song - Golden - KPOP Demon Hunters (EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoo Seo and Teddy Park) or possibly I Lied To You (Raphael Saadiq and Ludwig Goransson) 

• I personally like Train Dreams and Dear Me as choices.

Costume Design - Frankenstein (Kate Hawley) 

Makeup and Hairstyling - Frankenstein (Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel and Cliona Furey) 

Visual Effects - Avatar: Fire and Ash (Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett) 

Best Sound - F1 (Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A. Rizzo and Juan Peralta) 

Production Design - Marty Supreme (Jack Fisk; Adam Willis)

International Feature Film - Norway (Sentimental Value) *Brazil (The Secret Agent) or Tunisia (The Voice of Hind Rajab) or France (It Was Just An Accident) - surprise wins

Documentary Feature Film - The Alabama Solution (Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman)

Documentary Short Film -  All The Empty Rooms (Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones) or possibly Children No More: Were and Are Gone (Hilla Medalia and Sheila Nevins)

Live Action Short Film - Butcher's Stain (Meyer Levinson-Blount and Oron Caspi) 

Animated Short Film - Butterfly (Florence Miailhe and Ron Dyens)

Animated Feature Film - KPOP Demon Hunters (Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans, and Michelle L.M. Wong)