2026 Oscars Predictions & Review Roundup!

Mar 10, 2026

This never-ending Oscars season is finally coming to a close this Sunday, March 15. It feels as though this campaign has been going on for over a year — and for Sinners, it basically has — and I hope the schedule is moved up next year. At this point, we’ve cycled through so many hype waves that predicting this year’s winners feels almost impossible. We’ve seen One Battle After Another and P.T. Anderson sweep a number of awards ceremonies, marking it as the obvious front-runner. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners seems to be a close second, with strong supporting representation and the most nominations of any film. The Best Supporting Actress category is completely unpredictable, with no clear front-runner after the precursor awards split so thoroughly, whereas Jessie Buckley seems almost guaranteed to take Best Actress.

I’ve shared my predictions below, though I’ll confess that I hope to be surprised this year. My hunch is that One Battle After Another will be duly rewarded by the Academy in the major categories, including Picture, Director, and Adapted Screenplay. I think we’ll see Sinners relegated to the more technical races, though perhaps an Original Screenplay win will keep us guessing throughout the night. Sentimental Value, despite its strong showing in the nominations, will likely be shut out outside of the International category, unless Stellan ekes out a Supporting Actor win. Given the Academy’s fondness for Sinners this year, I also think we might see another horror film rewarded, with Madigan taking Best Supporting Actress for Weapons. The Academy has been reluctant to celebrate Timothée Chalamet, and we could see a surprise upset in Best Actor. The Twittersphere is pulling for a Wagner Moura upset, but if it isn’t Timmy, it’s more likely to be DiCaprio, Jordan, or even Hawke.

I wish I were more excited about this slate of nominees. The complete absence of Mona Fastvold’s The Testament of Ann Lee is the year’s biggest travesty. A superb film that should have Amanda Seyfried all but guaranteed an Oscar was instead relegated to a botched theatrical release by Searchlight Pictures, which is especially shocking considering they managed to pull off an Oscar win for Adrien Brody with this filmmaking team’s last film, The Brutalist. I could not be more disappointed by what happened here, especially when I so deeply disliked Hamnet and Buckley seems all but guaranteed the statue.

One film I was pleasantly surprised to see on the list is Spain’s Sirat. It is an absolutely brilliant piece of work that deserves nominations across the board, but I’m happy to see it receive at least some recognition in the International Feature category, even if it has no real hope of winning. We’ll soon see what the show has in store. I only hope it proves a little less controversial than some of the other awards shows this year. Speaking of which, the BAFTAs controversy was addressed deftly in this article from The Guardian.

All that said, my predictions are below:

I’ll admit I’m in a bit of a movie lull at the moment. After a great Sundance weekend at the end of January — though that was too many movies in too short a span — and the usual industry slowdown during the first few months of the year, plus a brilliant little time sink called Marathon, I’m looking forward to getting back to The Movie Hall this month, starting with Project Hail Mary on Friday.

Check out my recent reviews below, and don’t forget to subscribe to The Movie Hall.

Rebuilding:

Wuthering Heights:

Send Help:

Sundance Recap:

Josephine: