While the 2025 Oscars just wrapped up with our almost sweeper Anora as our latest Best Picture winner, it’s time to have some fun and make entirely blind 2026 Oscar predictions! Since it is so early in the year, our predictions will be entirely based off what we already know is coming, which means some IP films (hello Wicked, Knives Out and Avatar sequels) as well as mostly English-language films from distributors that have been announced, but not dated (hello new Lynne Ramsay, Julia Ducournau, and Noah Baumbach).

As more films are discovered at film festivals or announced by studios, these way-too-early predictions will maybe seem laughable at how wrong they are. It’s still fun to predict this early if the newest Paul Thomas Anderson will finally get him that Oscar or Luca Guadagnino will break into the race after not being recognized for an amazing 2024. While there are some films we’re possibly getting this year (Michael, Is This Thing On? or Lame Fame), as of now, we chose to not include the films that feel they’re not coming in 2025. Otherwise, Colman Domingo would be at the top of the pack for Supporting Actor, Bradley Cooper in Director (!!), and Willem Dafoe for Late Fame.

The 2026 Academy Awards will give us a brand new category recognizing casting! While for this article, we only included above-the-line categories, we including casting as well. This will be an interesting run to see what type of films break into the category. Films based on real people to compare them to? Films with original characters that feel so familiar? Or will we see famous adaptations recognized here?

As the year unwinds and more films pop up on our radar, especially international contenders, we’ll have more contenders than what we’re nailing down here, but what an exciting year up ahead with films from Kornél Mundruczó, Richard Linklater, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Nia DaCosta and a dip back into Oz and Pandora along with the return of Daniel Day-Lewis.

Below you’ll find just some of our way-too-early predictions.

BEST PICTURE

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH

WICKED: FOR GOOD

HIGHEST 2 LOWEST

JAY KELLY

THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME

FRANKENSTEIN

HAMNET

NO OTHER CHOICE

THE BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER

Some alternate titles to consider for Best Picture include After The Hunt, Alpha, Die, My Love, Marty Supreme, Mother Mary, Bugonia, The Bride!, Ann Lee, Sentimental Value, The Lost Bus, Deliver Me from Nowhere and Caught Stealing.

BEST DIRECTOR

PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON – ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

SPIKE LEE – HIGHEST 2 LOWEST

PARK CHAN-WOOK – NO OTHER CHOICE

GUILLERMO DEL TORO – FRANKENSTEIN

CHLOÉ ZHAO – HAMNET

Some alternate directors in the early running for the Best Director race to keep an eye would include Edward Berger (The Ballad Of A Small Player), Julia Ducournau (Alpha), Jon M. Chu (Wicked: For Good), Lynne Ramsay (Die, My Love), Joachim Trier (Sentimental Value) and Kathryn Bigelow (Untitled Film).

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

JAY KELLY

MATERIALISTS

MARTY SUPREME

I WANT YOUR SEX

THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME

Original screenplay could be stacked this next season with many heavy hitters listed above and in the running as alternate titles to keep in mind, including Mother Mary, Good Fortune, Sorry, Baby, The Smashing Machine, After the Hunt and Anemone.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

FRANKENSTEIN

HIGHEST 2 LOWEST

THE BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER

HAMNET

The Adapted Screenplay category is loaded this upcoming season with classic tales being brought back to the screen to hot novel adaptations. Picking just five was incredibly difficult with these blind predictions and there are so many alternate titles, including Die, My Love, Caught Stealing, The Life Of Chuck, Deliver Me From Nowhere and The Bride!.

LEAD ACTRESS

CYNTHIA ERIVO – WICKED: FOR GOOD

ROSE BYRNE – IF I HAD LEGS, I’D KICK YOU

TEYANA TAYLOR – ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

JESSIE BUCKLEY – HAMNET

JENNIFER LAWRENCE – DIE, MY LOVE

Lead Actress is always a bloodbath with heavy hitters with former winners or nominees and new performers to the Oscar conversation or legends looking for their first nomination. In addition to the above five we settled on, there are so many contenders, including Amanda Seyfried (Ann Lee), Olivia Colman (The Roses), Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value), Julia Roberts (After The Hunt), and Cate Blanchett (Father, Mother, Sister, Brother).

LEAD ACTOR

LEONARDO DICAPRIO – ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

DENZEL WASHINGTON – HIGHEST 2 LOWEST

COLIN FARRELL – THE BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER

TIMOTHEÉ CHALAMET – MARTY SUPREME

DANIEL DAY-LEWIS – ANEMONE

While some of these it may be unclear on category placement, Lead Actor is shaping up to be an all timer collection of actors with so many icons and new legends in the making. In addition to the five we landed on above, the race also includes Jeremy Allen White (Deliver Me From Nowhere), Oscar Isaac (Frankenstein), Austin Butler (Caught Stealing), Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon), Cooper Hoffman (I Want Your Sex) and Dwayne Johnson (The Smashing Machine).

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

REGINA HALL – ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

ARIANA GRANDE – WICKED: FOR GOOD

KIRSTEN DUNST – ROOFMAN

ALICIA SILVERSTONE – BUGONIA

ANNE HATHAWAY – MOTHER MARY

Supporting Actress could be a thrilling race with a return of former nominees and winners or beloved performers deserving their first nomination. While placement could change as the season unfolds, it’s always a hard category to just pick five this early out. Alternates for the line up include Emily Blunt (The Smashing Machine), Ayo Edebiri (After The Hunt), Jennifer Lopez (Kiss Of The Spider-Woman), Penélope Cruz (The Bride!) and Emily Watson (Hamnet).

SUPPORTING ACTOR

JEREMY STRONG – DELIVER ME FROM NO WHERE

JEFFREY WRIGHT – HIGHEST 2 LOWEST

STELLAN SKARSGÅRD – SENTIMENTAL VALUE

ADAM SANDLER – JAY KELLY

JOE ALWYN – HAMNET

Supporting Actor could be a race for the ages with industry veterans and newer faces hoping to earn their first recognition from the Academy. Alternates include Robert Pattinson (Die, My Love), Sean Penn (One Battle After Another), Andrew Scott (Blue Moon), Josh O’Connor (The History Of Sound) and Tahar Rahim (Alpha).

CASTING

FRANKENSTEIN

I WANT YOUR SEX

WICKED: FOR GOOD

JAY KELLY

HAMNET

2026 will be the first year for the Academy Award for Casting will be awarded and while we’ve had this category at the BAFTAs, it will be interesting to see how the Academy nominates here. Reminder, this is not like SAG Ensemble, this is for the casting directors! “Casting directors play an essential role in filmmaking, and as the Academy evolves, we are proud to add casting to the disciplines that we recognize and celebrate,” said Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang. While we landed on those five above, these are some other titles we’d consider, One Battle After Another, The Phoenician Scheme, The Ballad Of A Small Player, Marty Supreme, After The Hunt and Highest 2 Lowest.

While we’re not brave enough to predict all the craft categories sight unseen, it’s easy to note that with Wicked: For Good, Frankenstein and Avatar: Fire and Ash, we’ll see some amazing technical achievements recognized in the below-the-line categories. We’re hoping to see some amazing nominations maybe with Mother Mary in Costume Design, I Want Your Sex in Film Editing and what if Keanu Reeves popped up in Supporting Actor? We’ll stay tuned for another fun Oscar season and see how this list turns out next year!