By Mahnoosh Arsalan
Staff Writer
Last year was incredible for the arts, specifically film. With award winning movies like “Sinners,” “One Battle After Another,” “Hamnet” and so many more, 2025 had an impressive reign.
The 2026 Oscar nominations were announced on Jan. 22 with Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” gaining 16 nominations, including Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Actress, Best Director, and Best Picture. “Sinners” is officially the most Oscar nominated film of all time, the record previously belonging to “La La Land,” “Titanic” and “All About Eve” with 14 nominations.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” was nominated for 13 Oscars and has been dominating this awards season, including Best Picture. Taking the charge at both the Golden Globes and Actor Awards, Anderson’s epic seems to have a bright future at this year’s Oscars.
Surprisingly, Chase Infiniti was not nominated for her show-stopping performance as Willa in Anderson’s film. Her co-star Leonardo DiCaprio spoke out on this snub, saying that “she was the fabric of this movie. She was the heart and soul” of the film. DiCaprio was nominated for Best Actor, as well as Michael B. Jordan in “Sinners,” Timothee Chalamet in “Marty Supreme,” Wagner Moura in “The Secret Agent” and Ethan Hawke in “Blue Moon.”
Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet” is also gaining a lot of Academy attention this awards season. Jessie Buckley has been continuously winning Best Actress throughout the season, and “Hamnet” previously won Best Motion Picture-Drama at the Golden Globes. Buckley’s performance as Agnes in Zhao’s film was gut-wrenching, visceral and harrowing. She was nominated alongside Rose Byrne in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” Kate Hudson in “Song Sung Blue,” Renate Reinsve in “Sentimental Value” and Emma Stone in “Bugonia.”
Audiences were shocked to see Jacob Elordi’s name in the Oscar race this year. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his brilliant portrayal of The Creature in Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein.” Many still think Elordi as an amateur actor, however his role in “Frankenstein” truly changed that in the eyes of the Academy. His performance was absolutely haunting yet completely charming.
Other nominees include Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro in “One Battle After Another,” Stellan Skarsgård in “Sentimental Value” and Delroy Lindo in “Sinners.”
Another shock within the Oscar nominations was Joseph Kosinski’s “F1” being nominated for Best Picture. While the film held exciting, touching and passionate moments, people did not expect to see it up against the aforementioned films. Kosinski’s film was also nominated for Best Editing, Visual Effects and Sound.
Ultimately, the 2026 Oscars present a lot of competition, as well as a lot of promise. You can watch the 98th Academy Awards on March 15 hosted by Conan O’Brien. For the full list of nominations, check out the Academy Website.
