Oscar 2026 nominations: Sinners earns record nods, Homebound out of race and big-budget titles face snubs

The Oscar nominations are out and Team "Sinners" has set a major record. Ryan Coogler’s blues-infused vampire saga “Sinners” dominated nominations for the 98th Academy Awards and landed a record-breaking 16 nods, the most ever received by a single film.

The haul surpasses the long-standing record of 14 nominations previously held by “All About Eve,” “Titanic” and “La La Land.” Along with a best picture nomination, Coogler was recognised for best director and best original screenplay, while star Michael B. Jordan secured his first Oscar nomination, in the best actor category.

Blockbusters underperform, streaming titles and international filmmakers dominate Oscar race

Close behind is Paul Thomas Anderson’s father-daughter political epic “One Battle After Another,” which picked up 13 nominations. Its cast performed strongly with acting nods for Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, Benicio del Toro and Sean Penn, though breakout performer Chase Infiniti missed out on a best actress nomination.

Together, the two leading contenders signal the Academy’s strong endorsement of ambitious, politically charged American filmmaking. Coogler’s Jim Crow–era horror allegory, a rare genre film to gain Oscar traction, explores Black identity through myth, while Anderson’s film examines rebellion in an authoritarian police state.

Both titles come from Warner Bros., giving the studio one of its most successful Oscar mornings ever. The achievement arrives amid major industry upheaval, as the 102-year-old studio faces a proposed $72 billion acquisition by Netflix, challenged by Paramount Skydance, raising the prospect of the biggest shake-up Hollywood has ever seen.

The best picture nominees are: “Bugonia,” “F1,” “Frankenstein,” “Hamnet,” “Marty Supreme,” “One Battle After Another,” “The Secret Agent,” “Sentimental Value,” “Sinners” and “Train Dreams.”

Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” Josh Safdie’s “Marty Supreme,” and Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value” each received nine nominations.

Homebound, produced by Karan Johar, Apoorva Mehta and Adar Poonawalla under the banner of Dharma Productions, which was inspired by a 2020 article by Basharat Peer missed out on a nomination in the Best International Feature Film category at the 2026 Oscars.

The film centres on two friends, Shoaib and Chandan, who come from marginalised communities and are forced to navigate a society shaped by deep-rooted, systemic discrimination. Their journey unfolds during the COVID-19 lockdown, when they abruptly lose their means of survival and are left stranded, compelling them to find a way back home amid uncertainty and hardship.

Among the acting races, Timothée Chalamet earned his third best actor nomination for “Marty Supreme,” and insiders agree this year he is a frontrunner after narrowly missing a win last year for “A Complete Unknown.” He joins Jordan, DiCaprio, Ethan Hawke (“Blue Moon”) and Wagner Moura (“The Secret Agent”) in the category.

The best actress lineup includes frontrunner Jessie Buckley (“Hamnet”), Rose Byrne (“If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”), Kate Hudson (“Song Sung Blue”), Renate Reinsve (“Sentimental Value”), and Emma Stone, who secured her sixth nomination for “Bugonia.”

The year’s most-watched film, “KPop Demon Hunters,” which amassed over 500 million views on Netflix, earned Oscar nominations for best song (“Golden”) and best animated feature.

Big-budget releases, however, largely failed to break through. Universal Pictures’ “Wicked: For Good” received no nominations, while “Avatar: Fire and Ash” was recognised only for costume design and visual effects, marking the first time an Avatar instalment missed out on a best picture nod. The highest-grossing contender in the top category instead was “F1,” an Apple-produced racing drama that secured four nominations and was distributed in partnership with Warner Bros.

This year also marked the introduction of a new Oscar category for casting, which further boosted the tallies for “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another.” The other nominees in the category are “Hamnet,” “Marty Supreme” and “The Secret Agent.” Reflecting the Academy’s increasingly global outlook, international titles featured in every category, and for the eighth consecutive year, a non-English-language film made the best picture lineup. A record number of performances in languages other than English were also recognised.

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