The awards season is starting to take shape and the first favorites for the 2026 Oscars are already on the Academy's radar. The list of possible nominees for Best Film brings together highly anticipated blockbusters, festival dramas and productions that have been garnering critical acclaim. Among them are big names such as Chloé Zhao, Paul Thomas Anderson, Kathryn Bigelow and James Cameron, as well as titles from Netflix, A24, Warner and Universal.
Some features are already strong in the competition, such as Hamnet, which won the audience award in Toronto, One Battle After Another, acclaimed by critics since its debut, and Pecadores, a horror by Ryan Coogler that gained space at the beginning of the year. Others will still hit theaters in the coming months, but they have a history of victories and high expectations — such as Avatar: Fire and Ashes and Wicked: Part 2.
A special highlight is The Secret Agent, a Brazilian production directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho and starring Wagner Moura. The film was awarded at Cannes and became one of the season's biggest international bets, showing the growing importance of national cinema on the world stage. The mix of political suspense with strong social criticism won over jurors and critics, consolidating the film as one of Neon's strongest cards in the Oscar race.
Check out the ten films that emerge as favorites for Best Film at the 2026 Oscars:
The official list of nominees will only be released on January 22, 2026, but the race is already intense. Until then, new releases could surprise and threaten the favorites, reinforcing that this edition of the Oscar promises to be one of the most competitive in recent years.
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