98th Academy Awards (2026)
Hosted by Conan O’Brien
Sunday, March 15th
7PM EDT on ABC and Hulu
Oscar Races to Watch for:
The main categories in which I’m confident about their potential winners include Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Editing for One Battle After Another, Best Original Screenplay and Best Original Score for Sinners, Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for KPop Demon Hunters, Best Actress for Jessie Buckley in Hamnet, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, and Best Makeup/Hairstyling for Frankenstein, Best Sound for F1, and Best Visual Effects for Avatar: Fire and Ash.
For Best International Film, Sentimental Value is definitely the most likely to win, but The Secret Agent still has a possibility of overtaking it. Both have already won numerous awards at other ceremonies, so an upset in this category isn’t completely off the table. The Perfect Neighbor is currently the front runner for Best Documentary, but the surprise win by Mr. Nobody Against Putin at the BAFTAs could indicate some tough competition for the Oscar. Best Casting is a brand new category at this year’s ceremony, so it’s a little more difficult to predict. While Sinners is firmly in the lead with its Actor Award win for Film Ensemble, One Battle After Another could sneak up on it with its many acting nominations as well. Best Cinematography is a little more competitive with Sinners having been a favorite for most of the awards season, but One Battle After Another‘s wins at the BAFTAs and both the American and British Societies of Cinematography give it a solid lead over its competition. Additionally, Train Dreams‘ Critics Choice Awards win could make it a dark horse candidate for this category as well.
The three remaining acting categories are easily the most interesting races for this years Oscars, as the winners at other award ceremonies have had almost no consistency or predictability at all. For Best Supporting Actor, Sean Penn has recently jumped into the lead by winning the Actor Award and BAFTA award for his performance in One Battle After Another. However, Stellan Skarsgård and Jacob Elordi have also won major awards for their respective roles in Sentimental Value and Frankenstein, Delroy Lindo was a surprise nomination for his role in Sinners which could indicate a higher favorability with the Academy, and Benicio del Toro in One Battle After Another was considered a favorite to win for a while, so nothing is completely certain for this category. Best Supporting Actress has been narrowed down to three likely winners with Amy Madigan, Wunmi Mosaku, and Teyana Taylor all having taken home major awards for their performances in Weapons, Sinners, and One Battle After Another, respectively. Amy Madigan is slightly ahead with wins from the Actor Awards and Critics Choice Awards, but the other two are still close behind with Wunmi Mosaku winning the BAFTA and Teyana Taylor winning the Golden Globe. Finally, the Best Actor winner is probably the most uncertain at this point, as the BAFTA award went to Robert Aramayo, who will be eligible for an Oscar nomination at next year’s ceremony. As a result, the two front runners are now Timothée Chalamet in Marty Supreme, who’s been a major contender throughout the entire awards season with wins at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards, and Michael B. Jordan in Sinners, who suddenly became a potential winner for the Oscar after his big win at the Actor Awards. Although both actors gave incredible performances, Timothée Chalamet’s controversial campaign for his film might have turned some potential voters away, while Michael B. Jordan’s exciting win and excellent speech at the Actor Awards may convince people to vote in his favor, giving him a slight edge to win the award. The other three nominees also create some tough competition, as Wagner Moura won a Golden Globe for his role in The Secret Agent, Ethan Hawke earned overwhelming praise for his role in Blue Moon, and Leonardo DiCaprio had been an early front runner due to his amazing performance in One Battle After Another, so any of them could still pull it off.
With these close races in several major categories, it’s definitely an exciting year for the Oscars!
Full List of Personal Picks and Predictions (with links to reviews):
Best Picture:
– Bugonia
– F1
– Frankenstein
– Hamnet
– Marty Supreme
– One Battle After Another [W]
↳(Pick & Prediction)
– The Secret Agent
– Sentimental Value
– Sinners
– Train Dreams
Best Director:
– Paul Thomas Anderson [W]
↳(Pick & Prediction)
– Ryan Coogler
– Chloé Zhao
– Josh Safdie
– Joachim Trier
Best Original Screenplay:
– Blue Moon
– It Was Just an Accident
↳(Pick)
– Marty Supreme
– Sentimental Value
– Sinners [W]
↳(Prediction)
Best Adapted Screenplay:
– Bugonia
– Frankenstein
– Hamnet
– One Battle After Another [W]
↳(Pick & Prediction)
– Train Dreams
Best International Film:
– The Secret Agent
– It Was Just an Accident
↳(Pick)
– Sentimental Value [W]
↳(Prediction)
– Sirât
– The Voice of Hind Rajab
Best Animated Feature:
– Arco
– Elio
– KPop Demon Hunters [W]
↳(Prediction)
– Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
– Zootopia 2
↳(Pick)
Best Documentary:
– The Alabama Solution
↳(Pick)
– Come See Me in the Good Light
– Cutting Through Rocks
– Mr. Nobody Against Putin [W]
– The Perfect Neighbor
↳(Prediction)
Best Casting:
– Hamnet
– Marty Supreme
– One Battle After Another [W]
↳(Pick)
– The Secret Agent
– Sinners
↳(Prediction)
Best Actress:
– Jessie Buckley [W]
↳(Prediction)
– Rose Byrne
↳(Pick)
– Renate Reinsve
– Emma Stone
– Kate Hudson
Best Actor:
– Timothée Chalamet
– Leonardo DiCaprio
↳(Pick)
– Ethan Hawke
– Michael B. Jordan [W]
↳(Prediction)
– Wagner Moura
Best Supporting Actress:
– Elle Fanning
– Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas
– Amy Madigan [W]
↳(Pick & Prediction)
– Wunmi Mosaku
– Teyana Taylor
Best Supporting Actor:
– Benicio del Toro
– Jacob Elordi
– Delroy Lindo
– Sean Penn [W]
↳(Pick & Prediction)
– Stellan Skarsgård
Best Cinematography:
– Frankenstein
– Marty Supreme
– One Battle After Another
↳(Prediction)
– Sinners [W]
– Train Dreams
↳(Pick)
Best Production Design:
– Frankenstein [W]
↳(Pick & Prediction)
– Hamnet
– Marty Supreme
– One Battle After Another
– Sinners
Best Costume Design:
– Avatar: Fire and Ash
– Frankenstein [W]
↳(Pick & Prediction)
– Hamnet
– Marty Supreme
– Sinners
Best Makeup/Hairstyling:
– Frankenstein [W]
↳(Pick & Prediction)
– Kokuho
– Sinners
– The Smashing Machine
– The Ugly Stepsister
Best Original Score:
– Bugonia
– Frankenstein
– Hamnet
– One Battle After Another
– Sinners [W]
↳(Pick & Prediction)
Best Original Song:*
– “Golden” [W]
↳(Prediction)
– “Train Dreams”
– “Dear Me”
– “I Lied to You”
↳(Pick)
– “Sweet Dreams of Joy”
*[Click the links to listen]
Best Sound:
– F1 [W]
↳(Pick & Prediction)
– Frankenstein
– One Battle After Another
– Sinners
– Sirât
Best Editing:
– F1
– Marty Supreme
– One Battle After Another [W]
↳(Pick & Prediction)
– Sentimental Value
– Sinners
Best Visual Effects:
– Avatar: Fire and Ash [W]
↳(Pick & Prediction)
– F1
– Jurassic World Rebirth
– The Lost Bus
– Sinners
Best Live Action Short:*
– Butcher’s Stain
– A Friend of Dorothy
– Jane Austen’s Period Drama
– The Singers [W-Tie]
– Two People Exchanging Saliva [W-Tie]
↳(Pick & Prediction)
*[Click the links to watch]
Best Animated Short:*
– Butterfly
↳(Prediction)
– Forevergreen
– The Girl Who Cried Pearls [W]
– Retirement Plan
↳(Pick)
– The Three Sisters
*[Click the links to watch]
Best Documentary Short:
– All the Empty Rooms [W]
↳(Pick & Prediction)
– Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud
– Children No More: Were and Are Gone
– The Devil Is Busy
– Perfectly a Strangeness
Total Feature Film Win Predictions [and Results]:
One Battle After Another – 6 [6]
Sinners – 4 [4]
Frankenstein – 3 [3]
KPop Demon Hunters – 2 [2]
Sentimental Value – 1 [1]
The Perfect Neighbor – 1 [0]
Hamnet – 1 [1]
Weapons – 1 [1]
F1 – 1 [1]
Avatar: Fire and Ash – 1 [1]
Mr. Nobody Against Putin – 0 [1]
The 98th Academy Awards will stream live on ABC and Hulu this Sunday at 7pm EDT. Watch the ABC promo below:
– Overview by Will Hopper