The Academy has spoken. Here are a few surprises, snubs, and sins.
After months of guessing, second-guessing, and more, the 2026 Class of Academy Award Nominees has finally been revealed. And, as in every year, it has its share of surprises and snubs relative to the trends that emerged from them guesswork.
Here are some of the most notable.
Surprise: Sinners overperformed
The blockbuster vampire epic was widely expected to do very well but not this well. It’s the class valedictorian this year, garnering a total of 16 nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Macheal B. Jordan, playing twins), Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography (for Filipino-American Autumn Durald Arkapaw, making history as the first Filipino woman and the first woman of color nominated for the cinematography Oscar), and, in one of the bigger surprises of the year, Best Actor in a Supporting Role (for veteran Delroy Lindo, who did not figure in any of the precursor awards).
That’s two-thirds of all categories and the maximum it can possibly have, as it can’t compete for Best International Feature and the documentary and animated awards. The movie also breaks the Oscar record for most nominations by a film, which was previously held in a three-way tie with 14 nods each by All About Eve (1950), Titanic (1997), and La La Land (2016).
The question now is whether Sinners has a prayer and will follow in the footsteps of Eve and Titanic all the way to a Best Picture victory or if the Academy will again commit the sin of omission against it 10 years after doing it to La La Land.
The answer will come at the Oscar awards ceremony on March 16 (Philippine time).
Snub: Wicked: For Good got shut out
While nobody predicted this sequel to replicate its wicked showing (the Good Witch kind) at last year’s Academy Awards, where it snagged 10 nominations including Best Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role, and Best Editing, the movie was largely expected to land a few nominations at least.
In particular, Ariana Grande was seen as a lock to score a back-to-back nod for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, especially because For Good gave her room to showcase her dramatic acting chops and not just her singing and comedic skills as Glinda, the Good, wrestles with a lot of emotional and moral darkness. But apparently she wasn’t popular enough with the Academy members this time around to score what could have been an Oscar first — an actor, male or female, getting consecutive acting nominations for the same role.
More notably, the movie itself received not just a cold shoulder; the Academy practically gave it a cold full body, totally shutting it out from the nominations. Yes, neither of the movie’s two new tunes — Elphaba’s wistful and pleading No Place Like Home and Glinda’s implosive and bittersweet turning point song “The Girl in the Bubble — made the Best Original Song cut and the movie was missing in the Best Costume Design and Best Production Design categories that “Wicked” won last year. This was so not a change for the better.
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Surprise: The Ugly Stepsister stepped up
This acclaimed but little-seen Norwegian black comedy (worldwide gross: $5.2 million) pulled an upset in the Best Makeup and Hairstyling category, sneaking past Wicked: For Good (worldwide gross: $524 million) for the nomination, which Wicked received last year. If any Biblical reference is to be made for the 2026 Oscar nominations, here it is: The Ugly Stepsister beating Wicked: For Good is giving David slaying Goliath.
Surprise: F1 made it to the Grand Prix
This is not a shocker, only a mild surprise. Ever since the Academy expanded its Best Picture nominees from 5 to a maximum of 10 in 2009, a change widely seen as a response to critically acclaimed blockbusters like The Dark Knight being snubbed for nominations, artistic and commercial juggernauts have regularly figured in the top Oscar race. F1 is this year’s Top Gun (2023), which actually has the same writer-director-producing team and narrative (a decorated but complicated veteran mentors a hotshot upstart, framed with themes of legacy and redemption), Barbie (2024), and Wicked (2025).
Snub: Chase lost the battle
With 13 nods, the action-comedy One Battle After Another is the second most nominated film in this year’s Oscar race, but conspicuously absent from the list is Chase Infiniti. The 25-year-old was largely pegged as a shoo-in in the Best Actress in a Leading Role, especially given she got similar nods from the Golden Globes (Musical or Comedy category) and the Actor Awards of the Screen Actors Guild, which is the biggest branch in the Academy. Apparently the love for One Battle was not strong enough to overcome the surge of support for….
Surprise: Sentimental valued
…the Norwegian family drama Sentimental Value which went from being totally shut out from the Actor Awards to getting the most acting nominations in the Oscars. The film’s four acting accolades make up half of its total nine nominations, putting it in a tie with Frankenstein and Marty Supreme for the third most nominated films. The nods include the slot in Best Actress in a Leading Role that was predicted to go to Chase but which went to Sentimental actress, 38-year-old Norwegian Renate Reinsve, who won the same category at the European Film Awards last week as part of a five-trophy sweep.
Snub: No Choice
The Korean dark-comedy No Other Choice was seen as a strong contender in the Best International Feature category, especially following its nomination for the same prize at the Golden Globes. Unfortunately for the film, the Oscars only have five nominees for this category and the Academy chose to go with the other five Globes nominees.
Surprise: Avatar ashed
The third film in the billion-dollar franchise is this year’s representative of the law of diminishing returns. Avatar received nine nominations including Best Picture and Best Director, and the first sequel and won for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Visual Effects. The first sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, snagged only half of the first’s total nine nods, for Best Picture, Production Design, Sound, and Best Visual Effects, which it won.
The latest film, Avatar: Fire and Ash, was predicted to land the same number of nominations, if not more, with Miley Cyrus’ ballad entering the Best Original Theme Song, but all it could muster were two — Best Visual Effects and Best Costume Design. The latter surprised many, as the film is largely CGI. Turns out the costumes used in the film were hand-made. According to this report, the crafting was made by artisans at Weta Workshop, led by Academy Award-winning Costume Designer Deborah Scott, “to provide a real-world analog for the digital renderings of the costumes. Each handcrafted piece was made using traditional hand-crafting techniques and modern technology to create the unique culture and design of the Navi and human characters.” Much like the set pieces are real set pieces meant to ground a scene in reality, the costume design helps create realistic renders for Na’vi characters and authentic costumes for live-action characters that allow for an even more realistic feel to the film.”
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