Critics Choice Awards 2026: Sinners Leads Noms

Sinners didn’t just win the morning—it hijacked it. Ryan Coogler’s vampire-laced Southern noir, with Michael B. Jordan doubling down on twin-brother menace, racked up 17 nominations at the 2026 Critics Choice Awards, announced today, December 5. That’s a full-body slam on the competition, especially after a week of Indie Spirits, Gothams, NYFCC, NBR, and AFI drops that already had the circuit wheezing. Warner Bros. didn’t break a sweat; they scripted this surge months ago, shortlisting below-the-line crafts in November to prime the pump. It’s the kind of pre-Oscars flex that screams “we own January.”

I’ve covered these reveals since the days when faxes jammed mid-announcement, and this one echoes the 2017 Get Out blitz—studio hype masking real craft until the noms hit like fangs. Sinners’ trailer edit was a masterclass: quick-cut bayou shadows bleeding into Jordan’s split-screen glare, that desaturated teal grading fooling no one into thinking it’s safe drama. It’s popcorn with a prestige chaser, targeted at the multiplex demo that skips TIFF but devours summer sequels. Coogler knows the game; post-Black Panther, he’s got the heat to make vampires respectable again. But zero love for Avatar: Fire and Ash? Cameron’s sequel screened at a frantic London fest last week—too late for the December 3 write-in deadline. I’ve seen this fumble before: holiday tentpoles chasing box office ghosts, not ballots.

Full 2026 Critics Choice Nominations List: The Breakdown

Here’s the complete slate, straight from the Critics Choice Association’s 575 voters. Sinners leads the pack, but Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another isn’t far behind with 14—his Denis Johnson adaptation pulling ensemble muscle. Frankenstein and Hamnet tie at 11, del Toro’s gothic remake and Zhao’s Shakespeare gut-punch trading blows in crafts. Marty Supreme clocks 8, while F1, Sentimental Value, and Wicked: For Good snag 7 each. Train Dreams (5), Jay Kelly and Weapons (4 apiece), Bugonia (3). Indies like The Testament of Ann Lee? Stone-cold shutout—Seyfried’s lead vanished without a whisper.

Best Picture

• Bugonia
• Frankenstein
• Hamnet
• Jay Kelly
• Marty Supreme
• One Battle After Another
• Sentimental Value
• Sinners
• Train Dreams
• Wicked: For Good

Best Actor

• Timothée Chalamet – Marty Supreme
• Leonardo DiCaprio – One Battle After Another
• Joel Edgerton – Train Dreams
• Ethan Hawke – Blue Moon
• Michael B. Jordan – Sinners
• Wagner Moura – The Secret Agent

Best Actress

• Jessie Buckley – Hamnet
• Rose Byrne – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
• Chase Infiniti – One Battle After Another
• Renate Reinsve – Sentimental Value
• Amanda Seyfried – The Testament of Ann Lee
• Emma Stone – Bugonia

Best Supporting Actor

• Benicio del Toro – One Battle After Another
• Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein
• Paul Mescal – Hamnet
• Sean Penn – One Battle After Another
• Adam Sandler – Jay Kelly
• Stellan Skarsgård – Sentimental Value

Best Supporting Actress

• Elle Fanning – Sentimental Value
• Ariana Grande – Wicked: For Good
• Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas – Sentimental Value
• Amy Madigan – Weapons
• Wunmi Mosaku – Sinners
• Teyana Taylor – One Battle After Another

Best Director

• Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another
• Ryan Coogler – Sinners
• Guillermo del Toro – Frankenstein
• Josh Safdie – Marty Supreme
• Joachim Trier – Sentimental Value
• Chloé Zhao – Hamnet

Best Original Screenplay

• Noah Baumbach, Emily Mortimer – Jay Kelly
• Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie – Marty Supreme
• Ryan Coogler – Sinners
• Zach Cregger – Weapons
• Eva Victor – Sorry, Baby
• Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier – Sentimental Value

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another
• Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar – Train Dreams
• Park Chan-wook, Lee Kyoung-mi, Don Mckellar, Jahye Lee – No Other Choice
• Guillermo del Toro – Frankenstein
• Will Tracy – Bugonia
• Chloé Zhao, Maggie O’Farrell – Hamnet

Best Casting and Ensemble

• Nina Gold – Hamnet
• Douglas Aibel, Nina Gold – Jay Kelly
• Jennifer Venditti – Marty Supreme
• Cassandra Kulukundis – One Battle After Another
• Francine Maisler – Sinners
• Tiffany Little Canfield, Bernard Telsey – Wicked: For Good

Best Cinematography

• Claudio Miranda – F1
• Dan Laustsen – Frankenstein
• Łukasz Żal – Hamnet
• Michael Bauman – One Battle After Another
• Autumn Durald Arkapaw – Sinners
• Adolpho Veloso – Train Dreams

Best Editing

• Kirk Baxter – A House of Dynamite
• Stephen Mirrione – F1
• Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie – Marty Supreme
• Andy Jurgensen – One Battle After Another
• Viridiana Lieberman – The Perfect Neighbor
• Michael P. Shawver – Sinners

Best Animated Feature

• Arco
• Elio
• In Your Dreams
• KPop Demon Hunters
• Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
• Zootopia 2

Best Comedy

• The Ballad of Wallis Island
• Eternity
• Friendship
• The Naked Gun
• The Phoenician Scheme
• Splitsville

Best Foreign Language Film

• It Was Just an Accident
• Left-Handed Girl
• No Other Choice
• The Secret Agent
• Sirāt
• Belén

Best Score

• Hans Zimmer – F1
• Alexandre Desplat – Frankenstein
• Max Richter – Hamnet
• Daniel Lopatin – Marty Supreme
• Jonny Greenwood – One Battle After Another
• Ludwig Göransson – Sinners

Snubs and Surprises: The Real Story Behind the List

The wreckage tells more than the wins. Avatar: Fire and Ash? Nada—late London screening doomed it, a classic December dump echoing 2019’s Cats catastrophe, where holiday hype buried awards hopes under $73 million domestic flops. Cynthia Erivo’s Wicked: For Good powerhouse? Snubbed in Actress, despite Ariana Grande’s Supporting nod and 7 total bids—franchise fatigue, plain as that teal-washed poster screaming “event movie” over “Oscar bait.” Jesse Plemons’ Bugonia weirdness, Jeremy Allen White’s Springsteen rawness in Deliver Me From Nowhere, George Clooney’s Jay Kelly vanity directorial? All ghosts. Clooney pulled Sandler into Supporting, but his own ego didn’t fit the frame.

Chase Infiniti’s Best Actress surprise in One Battle After Another? That’s the dark horse glow—her breakout from ensemble gigs now Oscar-adjacent, much like last year’s Mikey Madison surge. Wunmi Mosaku’s Supporting nod for Sinners feels right, her quiet fury cutting through the fangs like a stake. The Perfect Neighbor’s Editing bid? Underdog doc magic, raw racial tension edited into a gut-punch that voters couldn’t scroll past. Sentimental Value’s Foreign Language miss? Brutal—Trier’s Norwegian chill got iced despite Reinsve’s fire and Skarsgård’s growl. American voters crave subtitles with spectacle; quiet ache doesn’t trend.

For Trier’s under-the-radar streak, revisit our take on The Worst Person in the World—same intimate devastation, bigger heart.

The Hollywood Reporter’s full film noms here, and Variety dives into TV crossovers here.

Header Image Suggestion: Moody split-image: Sinners’ crimson bayou poster fading into a golden Critics Choice trophy cascade, Jordan’s silhouette central. ALT: Critics Choice Awards 2026 nominations led by Sinners.

What the 2026 Critics Choice Noms Really Signal

Vampire Renaissance Locked In Sinners’ 17 bids drag horror into Best Picture without apology—Coogler’s post-Wakanda pivot proves genre’s no longer the redheaded stepchild.

Anderson’s Ensemble Engine Revs Up One Battle’s 14 nods confirm PTA’s machine: literary dust turned to nom gold, DiCaprio and del Toro the spark plugs.

Late Screener Curse Strikes Again Avatar’s zero? Textbook timing fail—studios chase December dollars, forfeit January glory every time.

Dark Horses Gallop Forward Infiniti and Mosaku steal the acting spotlight; Train Dreams’ indie surge (5 bids) whispers low-budget threats to majors.

Foreign Bias Bites Hard Sentimental Value’s shutout? Voters’ subtitle allergy persists—brilliant imports need fireworks, not finesse.

This list isn’t prophecy—it’s a snapshot of a circuit craving edge after a bland fall. Sinners feels unstoppable, but Globes voters next week could crown del Toro’s Frankenstein the monster under the bed. One Battle’s depth might grind it out for Picture, yet Jordan’s heat has that X-factor. I’ve backed wrong horses before—Moonlight’s quiet Critics Choice fade before the Oscar roar? Classic. Track these shifts; the real bloodbath’s just starting. Which snub boils your blood most: Erivo’s miss or Avatar’s blackout?

FAQ