The 97th Academy Awards have come and gone. Is it too soon to start thinking about next year?
According to Variety, it isn’t too soon, as the publication’s entertainment experts have already continued their tradition of predicting what films will be in the spotlight during next year’s award season.
Last year, Variety correctly predicted that “Conclave,” “Dune: Part Two” and “Nickel Boys” would be among the names of the best picture nominees, but “Anora” — the actual winner — was a surprise for them.
Predictions for 2026 might be a bit more difficult to get right as there are a lot of high-profile films coming to the big screen in the next 10 months, including Guillermo Del Toro’s live-action “Frankenstein,” James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” and Pixar’s “Elio,” according to Variety.
So skip the March Madness brackets, and take a look at some of Variety’s predictions before you make your own. Who knows, you might just guess some right.
Variety 2026 Oscar predictions
Here are Variety’s predictions for the top awards at the 2026 Oscars.
Best Picture
- Winner: “Hamnet”
- “The Ballad of a Small Player”
- “Bugonia”
- “Deliver Me From Nowhere”
- “F1″
- “Late Fame”
- “One Battle After Another”
- “Sentimental Value”
- “The Smashing Machine”
- “Wicked: For Good”
Best Director
- Winner: Chloé Zhao, “Hamnet”
- Edward Berger, “The Ballad of a Small Player”
- Jon M. Chu, “Wicked: For Good”
- Scott Cooper, “Deliver Me From Nowhere”
- Joachim Trier, “Sentimental Value”
Best Actor
- Winner: Willem Dafoe, “Late Fame”
- Oscar Isaac, “Frankenstein”
- Dwayne Johnson, “The Smashing Machine”
- Paul Mescal, “Hamnet”
- Jeremy Allen White, “Deliver Me From Nowhere”
Best Actress
- Winner: Jessie Buckley, “Hamnet”
- Cynthia Erivo, “Wicked: For Good”
- Lucy Liu, “Rosemead”
- Emma Stone, “Bugonia”
- June Squibb, “Eleanor the Great”
Best Supporting Actor
- Winner: Stellan Skarsgård, “Sentimental Value”
- Michael Cera, “The Phoenician Scheme”
- Colman Domingo, “Michael”
- Jeremy Strong, “Deliver Me From Nowhere”
- Adam Sandler, “Jay Kelly”
Best Supporting Actress
- Winner: Emily Blunt, “The Smashing Machine”
- Ariana Grande, “Wicked: For Good”
- Greta Lee, “Late Fame”
- Nia Long, “Michael”
- Alicia Silverstone, “Bugonia”
Animated Feature Film
- Winner: “In Your Dreams”
- “Elio”
- “Endless Cookie”
- “The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol”
- “Zootopia 2″
Original Song
- Winner: “Untitled Elphaba Song” from “Wicked: For Good”
- “Dear Me” from “Diane Warren: Relentless”
- Unknown song from “Maserati: The Brothers”
- Unknown possible song from “The Phoenician Scheme”
- “Untitled Glinda Song” from “Wicked: For Good”
2025 Oscar award winners
Before we completely move forward and focus on the 2026 awards season, here’s a look back at this year’s Oscar winners, as previously reported by the Deseret News.
- Best picture: “Anora”
- Best actor: Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist”
- Best actress: Mikey Madison, “Anora”
- Best supporting actor: Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain”
- Best supporting actress: Zoe Saldana, “Emilia Perez”
- Animated feature film: “Flow”
- Original song: “El Mal” from “Emilia Perez”