Oscar morning rarely goes quietly, but this year’s nominations arrived with a particularly sharp edge.
With Sinners dominating the field with a record-setting 16 nominations and One Battle After Another close behind with 13, the Academy sent a clear message about the kinds of films it embraced this year: ambitious, director-driven, and unafraid to swing big. The top of the ballot feels decisive, even confident.
And yet, just below that certainty, things get messy.
As always, the joy of Oscar nominations lies not only in who made the cut, but in who didn’t. For every triumph, there’s a snub that sparks disbelief, frustration, or outright fury. This year, high-profile franchises were iced out, subtle performances were overlooked, and at least a few omissions suggest deeper shifts in Academy taste.
Here are the biggest surprises and snubs from the 98th Academy Awards nominations.
SNUB: Wicked: For Good (Best Picture)
What a difference a year makes.
The first Wicked earned 10 nominations and won two Oscars. Surely the sequel would ride that goodwill. Instead, Wicked: For Good was completely shut out of Best Picture.
Yes, the box office dipped by more than $200 million globally. Yes, reviews were lukewarm. And yes, voters are famously resistant to rewarding sequels they just honored. Still, going from 10 nominations to zero is a brutal reversal. The second act of the musical is darker, messier, and less fun, but a total shutout underscores just how quickly Academy enthusiasm can evaporate.
SURPRISE: F1 (Best Picture)
Never underestimate the power of a Dad Movie.
Joseph Kosinski’s slick, high-octane racing drama found a welcome home with the Academy’s so-called “steak-eaters,” the older, traditionally minded voters who love competence, swagger, and engines that go vroom. While the Academy has diversified in recent years, this nomination proves that there is still room for glossy, old-school crowd-pleasers when executed well.
The dudes are back. For now.
SNUB: Avatar: Fire and Ash (Best Picture)
Even Pandora has its limits.
Despite grossing $1.3 billion worldwide, Avatar: Fire and Ash failed to land a Best Picture nomination. Its predecessor, The Way of Water, cleared that bar easily, but franchise fatigue appears to have finally set in. The film also missed with the Producers Guild, a bad sign for any large-scale spectacle hoping to muscle its way into the Oscar conversation.
Even James Cameron sounds ready to move on. The Academy clearly agrees.
SNUB: It Was Just an Accident (Best Picture)
This one stings.
Jafar Panahi’s sharp, furious critique of authoritarianism felt timely, necessary, and deeply human. While the film struggled with precursor groups, many expected voters to rally behind it given the current political climate and Panahi’s personal stakes. Its absence from Best Picture feels less like oversight and more like avoidance.
At best, it’s a miss. At worst, it’s a failure of nerve.
SURPRISE: Joachim Trier, Sentimental Value (Director)
Joachim Trier looked like he might slip through the cracks, but voters ultimately responded to Sentimental Value’s emotional precision and its quietly devastating view of Hollywood, memory, and regret.
The film’s ability to glide between past and present, hope and hurt, earned Trier a directing nomination and an original screenplay nod, echoing the success of The Worst Person in the World. Subtlety won the day.
SNUB: Guillermo del Toro, Frankenstein (Director)
This one shocked a lot of people.
Martin Scorsese championed the film. So did David Fincher, George Lucas, and Jason Reitman. Frankenstein earned nine nominations overall and secured a Directors Guild nod. Yet del Toro himself was left out.
The directors branch chose Trier instead, suggesting a preference for restraint over grandeur. Frankenstein may not be del Toro’s best work, but leaving him out still feels harsh.
To be clear, del Toro’s passion and love for Frankenstein came through. He should have been nominated.
SNUB: Jafar Panahi, It Was Just an Accident (Director)
Panahi won the Palme d’Or. He was sentenced to prison. His film is powerful and provocative. And still, no directing nomination.
He did earn his first Oscar nomination for original screenplay, but the snub here reinforces how difficult it remains for overtly political filmmakers to break through certain Academy branches.
SURPRISE: Kate Hudson, Song Sung Blue (Lead Actress)
Welcome back.
Kate Hudson’s warm, grounded performance in this adult-skewing heartwarmer earned her first nomination since Almost Famous. The film filled a lane Hollywood rarely occupies anymore: sincere, mid-budget, emotionally accessible storytelling.
Add in strong word of mouth, savvy screenings hosted by friends like Demi Moore and Reba McEntire, and a little Neil Diamond nostalgia, and voters were clearly sold.
SNUB: Chase Infiniti, One Battle After Another (Lead Actress)
Category placement matters.
Infiniti’s role, though impactful, occupies roughly half an hour of screen time. Moving her into the lead cleared space in support for Teyana Taylor, but the gamble didn’t pay off. In a crowded category, voters went with heavier lifts.
SNUB: Amanda Seyfried, The Testament of Ann Lee (Lead Actress)
For those who loved Seyfried’s ferocious, unhinged performance, this one hurts. Passionate believers will be talking about this snub for years.
SNUB: Cynthia Erivo, Wicked: For Good (Lead Actress)
The sequel simply didn’t give her enough runway.
Erivo remains powerful whenever she appears, but Wicked: For Good shifts focus away from Elphaba. In a stacked category, limited screen time and a fading campaign proved fatal.
SURPRISE: Delroy Lindo, Sinners (Supporting Actor)
Finally.
Lindo earned his first Oscar nomination thanks to his towering performance as Delta Slim, a Mississippi bluesman whose monologue about racial violence anchors Sinners emotionally and morally. The film’s record-setting 16 nominations certainly helped, but this recognition feels overdue and deeply deserved.
SNUB: Paul Mescal, Hamnet (Supporting Actor)
He played Shakespeare. The Academy was unmoved.
Sometimes the bard giveth, sometimes he taketh away.
SNUB: Ariana Grande, Wicked: For Good (Supporting Actress)
Grande’s Glinda took center stage this time, but the film’s overall cooling hurt her chances. Some voters may also have struggled with the character’s moral whiplash. With friends like Glinda, who needs enemies?
SURPRISE: Elle Fanning, Sentimental Value (Supporting Actress)
SAG voters ignored the ensemble, but Oscar voters did not.
Fanning joins a strong slate of Sentimental Value acting nominations, signaling deep respect for the film’s performances and its layered family dynamics.
SNUB: Odessa A’zion, Marty Supreme (Supporting Actress)
Her momentum faded late in the race. An Actors Award nod wasn’t enough to carry her across the Oscar finish line. There’s always television, and likely soon.
SNUB: No Other Choice (International Feature)
Park Chan-wook remains one of the Academy’s most consistent blind spots.
Despite critical praise and a humane, darkly comic approach to desperation, No Other Choice couldn’t break through. Oscar history suggests this is less about the film and more about a long-standing resistance.
SNUB: Superman (Visual Effects)
This omission is baffling.
James Gunn’s Superman was widely expected to land at least a Visual Effects nomination, especially in a year where the Academy leaned heavily on CG-driven spectacles. Instead, it was shut out entirely.
What makes the snub sting is that Superman delivered exactly the kind of effects work the Academy has been publicly championing: grounded, story-first visuals that blended practical elements with digital work rather than drowning the frame in excess. Gunn’s approach emphasized physics, scale, and clarity, letting VFX support the character rather than replace it.
If this didn’t qualify, it raises the question of what does. The snub feels less like a critique of the craft and more like lingering franchise fatigue or voter resistance to superhero reboots, regardless of execution.
And, uh, Jurassic World: Rebirth sucked.
SNUB: Jeremy Allen White, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere (Lead Actor)
This one hurts.
Jeremy Allen White was widely considered a serious contender for Lead Actor for his performance in Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, yet failed to make the cut.
White avoided the usual music-biopic trap of impersonation, instead delivering a restrained, interior performance that captured Bruce Springsteen’s pressure, self-doubt, and working-class drive. It was thoughtful, unflashy work, precisely the kind that often resonates with actors’ branches.
That it didn’t suggests either biopic fatigue or a crowded field favoring louder, more transformational performances. Still, leaving White out feels like the Academy undervaluing subtlety in favor of spectacle.
The Oscars will air live Sunday, March 15, 2026, at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT, broadcast on ABC and streamed live on Hulu, reaching audiences in more than 200 territories worldwide.
REELated:
Sinners leads 98th Oscar nominations with 16
