We moved on too quickly from the nominations list.
I spent my winter break in Hollywood and the buzz post-Golden Globes and anxiety pre-Oscar nomination release filled the city. Those anxieties were put to rest Jan. 22 for the most part because, like every year, the list definitely had its surprises.
This is the first year in Academy history where all judges will be required to watch all nominated films in a category before they can cast their ballot. It’s been years of members just voting without this requirement, which to me was ridiculous. My best friend and I have been watching almost every film nominated for the past three years now. It’s really not that hard and the Academy owes it to the filmmakers.
Now with this in mind… the snubs and scores for the 2026 Awards become increasingly shocking. Let’s start with the biggest snub: “Wicked.”
“Wicked: Part I” landed 10 nominations at last year’s Oscars. This year, they weren’t nominated for a single category. Why? Well, sequels are historically known to not perform well with the Academy and in my opinion, “Wicked: For Good” wasn’t the strong second act I was anticipating. It’s not the answer fans want to hear right now, but I don’t think that this “shut-out” should be catching audiences by surprise.
On the other hand, the vampire genre-defying Ryan Coogler film “Sinners” set an Academy record. The film obtained a record-breaking 16 nominations on Thursday including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor and Actress (considerably the biggest categories to win). What I really want to call attention to is their nomination for Best Cinematography. Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first female person of color to be nominated in this category, and she couldn’t be more deserving. If you haven’t seen “Sinners” yet, you need to. It’s streaming now on HBO Max.
Timothée Chalamet now has three Academy Best Actor nominations, making him the youngest male actor of this honor since Marlon Brando in 1954. At only 30 years old, he also set the record as the youngest person nominated for acting and producing with the A24 film company box office hit “Marty Supreme.” That Zoom call was on everyone’s TikTok, the orange was in every city and suddenly, ping pong was all the craze. The film’s nine nominations are a big score for all the cast and crew, even Tyler, the Creator, with his hilarious cameo as the cab driver.
It’s hard to not root for Chalamet after his tough losses the past couple of years, most recently for his role as Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown.” I know I’m “dreaming big” for him, but will the raining orange ping pong ball press tour be enough to secure him the Oscar against Michael B. Jordan (who plays two characters) or the (already Oscar-winning) Leonardo DiCaprio?
Speaking of DiCaprio, “One Battle After Another” is the other frontrunner for this year’s awards season you need to know about. It recently won Best Picture-Musical or Comedy and Best Director at the Golden Globes. Paul Thomas Anderson’s drama is second behind “Sinners” with 13 nominations, but no nomination for Chase Infiniti in Best Actress. Her performance was what sold the film for me. Not seeing her name on the ballot shocked me, but I have no doubt the young actress will be back soon.
Miley Cyrus for Best Original Song “Dream as One” from “Avatar: Fire and Ash” and Paul Mescal for Best Actor in “Hamnet” were also missing from the 98th Academy Award ballot. But, Brad Pitt’s racecar drama “F1” somehow squeezed its way into the Best Picture nominees. To me, it was a “popcorn movie,” entertaining and not at all traditional Academy.
If you’ve been following the awards season at all, you know how much of a toss up the big prize, Best Picture, will be this year. “Hamnet” won at the Globes, “One Battle After Another” took the Critics Choice Award and “Marty Supreme” has been consistently nominated in this category but gotten no wins.
It will all be revealed in due time on Sunday, March 15 at the Dolby Theatre, Hollywood, for the 98th Academy Awards.