Oscar Predictions 2026
Will the Academy opt for political bravery or safety?
Oscars are a damned nuisance, because every year I wish I didn’t care about them. Logically, I ought to ignore them, as they seldom reward the films I’d wish to reward. Yet for some reason, every year, I find myself hoping that a small, elite group of Academy members will cast their vote in a way I’d favour.
At the same time, I enjoy writing about the Oscars because so often they give me a good excuse to rant about their various injustices, both at the nomination and winner stages. Letting rip with scathing venom on subjects such as tokenism, genre snobbery, corrupt campaigning, cowardly exclusion of the genuinely incendiary, and vomit-inducing acceptance speeches can be immensely cathartic. On the other hand, on the rare occasions when I agree with the winners, I have the wind taken out of my sails in a rather disappointing manner. I wonder if over-enthusiastic medieval executioners felt this way, if a prisoner they’d been particularly looking forward to disembowelling got a last-minute reprieve.
This year, at the nominations stage at least, I find myself sympathising with the aforementioned proverbial medieval executioner, as I have little to complain about. Most of the films I’d like to see nominated have indeed been nominated, in the categories I’d hoped they’d be nominated. There are a few significant exceptions, of course, and I’ll touch on these, but in the meantime, in time-honoured tradition, here are my predictions of what I think will win versus what I want to win.
