Oscars 2026: The biggest surprises out of the nominations list
The 2026 Oscar nominations have arrived! Sinners, One Battle After Another, Marty Supreme, and Hamnet have plenty to celebrate. Casting made its debut as the Academy's brand-new category. And incredibly some much-raved about films got nothing at all.
We've shown you the nominees. We've bemoaned the snubs. Now, let's look at the pleasant surprises that came out of the 98th annual Academy Awards nomination announcements.
Oscar surprise: Sinners breaking Oscar history
Some Oscar prognosticators have been saying for months that Best Picture is a lock for One Battle After Another. However, Ryan Coogler's Sinners scored more nominations that the Paul Thomas Anderson thriller, and set a new record for Oscar nominations with a whopping 16 nods! As someone who's been rooting for Sinners since I first saw that barnburner of "I Lied to You" last spring, I was cheering at these nominations like I did when Sammie escaped Remmick's clutches! Sure, some nominations at this point seemed a guarantee, including Best Picture and Best Song. But seeing so much of the cast get recognized along with Coogler as writer, director, and producer? I'm ectastic.
Oscar surprise: Delroy Lindo, Sinners
Some might not be surprised that Delroy Lindo was among Sinners nominations. But unlike Michael B. Jordan and Wunmi Mosaku, who both got Critics Choice nominations and various guild awards, Lindo has been largely overlooked. And not just this past year! Lindo has been a mesmerizing actor for decades, working with Spike Lee (Malcolm X, Crooklyn, Da 5 Bloods), Danny Boyle (A Life Less Ordinary), and Barry Sonnenfeld (Get Shorty). So, you better believe we whooped with excitement when Lindo finally scored his first Academy Award nomination at 73 years old for our favorite movie of 2025.
Oscar surprise: The Ugly Stepsister
Makeup and Hairstyling is often a curious pocket of Oscar nominations, where movies that are weirder and wilder get a chance to shine. So when I heard The Ugly Stepsister called out among Frankenstein, The Smashing Machine, and Sinners, I cheered in excitement. This twisted fairytale made Mashable's list of the best horror movies of 2025, because of its stomach-churning and thought-provoking re-imagining of Cinderella. And as this nomination suggests, what this step-sibling goes through in pursuit of beauty is grisly business. Beauty hurts, or so I've been told.
Oscar surprise: F1 for Best Picture
F1 landing a Best Picture nomination is the kind of curveball that immediately lights up the group chat. On paper, it's a sleek, star-driven racing film anchored by Brad Pitt and Damson Idris, the kind of polished spectacle that can feel more surface than story — not the most obvious Academy pick. Still, I'll happily accept any Oscars scenario that includes Lewis Hamilton, seven-time F1 champion and producer, getting his moment on Hollywood’s biggest stage. — Crystal Bell, Culture Editor
Oscar surprise: Kate Hudson, Song Sung Blue
Admittedly, this one isn't the most stunning surprise. Kate Hudson is riveting in Song Sung Blue, a moving biopic about a Neil Diamond tribute band called Lightning and Thunder, who gets through their darkest moments through the power of song. Her portrait of Claire "Thunder" Sardina has been critically acclaimed — in part for her masterful delivery of a Milwaukee accent — and scored a Golden Globe nod for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy. However, Hudson has been falling behind in the Best Actress conversation, as pendants focused on Hamnet's Jessie Buckley and If I Had Legs I'd Kick You's Rose Byrne. So, she must be singing a happy tune this morning.
Oscar surprise: It Was Just an Accident
Iranian writer/director Jafar Panahi's latest It Was Just An Accident has been collecting accolades and awards since it took home the Palme D'Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. So, we weren't remotely surprised to see this compelling revenge drama score a nomination for Best International Feature Film, alongside The Secret Agent, Sentimental Value, Sirāt, and The Voice of Hind Rajab. However, in this American awards show, it's rare to see a screenwriting nomination for a screenplay that's not in English. Yet Panahi, alongside script collaborators Nader Saïvar, Shadmehr Rastin, and Mehdi Mahmoudian, achieved this! Previous foreign language screenplays to earn this nomination include Anatomy of a Fall, Parasite, and A Separation.
However, film fans online have jeered that It Was Just An Accident deserved more, declaring it was snubbed in Best Director and Best Picture.
How to watch: The 98th Oscars airs live on March 15 on ABC and Hulu.