2026 Oscar Predictions: BEST PICTURE and BEST DIRECTOR (November)
Here are my 2026 Oscar nomination predictions in Best Picture and Best Director for November.
BEST PICTURE
| 1. One Battle After Another (Warner Bros) | Gotham |
| 2. Hamnet (Focus Features) | Gotham, TIFF People’s Choice Award |
| 3. Sinners (Warner Bros) | |
| 4. It Was Just an Accident (NEON) ↑ | Cannes Palme d’Or |
| 5. Sentimental Value (NEON) ↓ | Cannes Grand Prize |
| 6. Marty Supreme (A24) | |
| 7. Frankenstein (Netflix) ↑ | TIFF 1st runner-up |
| 8. Train Dreams (Netflix) ↑ | Gotham |
| 9. The Secret Agent (NEON) ↑ | |
| 10. Jay Kelly (Netflix) ↓ |
| 11. Weapons (Warner Bros/New Line Cinema) ↑ | |
| 12. F1: The Movie (Apple/Warner Bros) | |
| 13. Avatar: Fire and Ash (20th Century Studios) | |
| 14. Bugonia (Focus Features) | |
| 15. Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix) | TIFF 2nd runner-up |
| 16. Wicked For Good (Universal Pictures) ↓ | |
| 17. Nouvelle Vague (Netflix) ↑ | |
| 18. Nuremberg (Sony Pictures Classics) ↑ | |
| 19. Is This Thing On? (Searchlight Pictures) | |
| 20. No Other Choice (NEON) ↑ |
Next up: Blue Moon (Sony Pictures Classics), A House of Dynamite (Netflix) ↓ If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (A24) – Gotham, Rental Family (Searchlight Pictures), Sirāt (NEON) NEW, The Smashing Machine (A24) ↓, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere (20th Century Studios) ↓ Sound of Falling (MUBI), Song Sung Blue (Focus Features), The Testament of Ann Lee (Searchlight Pictures) – Gotham, The Voice of Hind Rajab (WILLA)
Other contenders: After the Hunt (Amazon MGM), Anemone (Focus Features), The Ballad of the Small Player (Netflix), A Bold, Beautiful Journey (Sony Pictures), Die My Love (MUBI), Ella McCay (20th Century Studios), Father, Mother, Sister, Brother (MUBI), Highest 2 Lowest (Apple/A24), The History of Sound (MUBI), The Life of Chuck (NEON), The Lost Bus (Apple Original Films), The Mastermind (MUBI), Materialists (A24), The Phoenician Scheme (Focus Features)
BEST DIRECTOR
| 1. Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another (Warner Bros) | Gotham |
| 2. Chloé Zhao – Hamnet (Focus Features) | |
| 3. Ryan Coogler – Sinners (Warner Bros) | |
| 4. Jafar Panahi – It Was Just an Accident (NEON) ↑ | Gotham |
| 5. Joachim Trier – Sentimental Value (NEON) ↓ | |
| 6. Josh Safdie – Marty Supreme (A24) | |
| 7. Guillermo del Toro – Frankenstein (Netflix) | |
| 8. Kleber Mendonça Filho – The Secret Agent (NEON) ↑ | Cannes Best Director |
| 9. Clint Bentley – Train Dreams (Netflix) ↑ | |
| 10. Noah Baumbach – Jay Kelly (Netflix) ↓ |
| 11. Zach Cregger – Weapons (Warner Bros/New Line Cinema) ↑ | |
| 12. Joseph Kosinski – F1: The Movie (Apple Original Films/Warner Bros) ↑ | |
| 13. James Cameron – Avatar: Fire and Ash (20th Century Studios) | |
| 14. Yorgos Lanthimos – Bugonia (Focus Features) ↓ | |
| 15. Oliver Laxe – Sirāt (NEON) NEW | Gotham |
| 16. Park Chan-wook – No Other Choice (NEON) | |
| 17. Jon M. Chu – Wicked For Good (Universal Pictures) ↓ | |
| 18. Bradley Cooper – Is This Thing On? (Searchlight Pictures) ↓ | |
| 19. Benny Safdie – The Smashing Machine (A24) | Venice Silver Lion |
| 20. Kathryn Bigelow – A House of Dynamite (Netflix) ↓ |
Next up: Richard Linklater – Blue Moon (Sony Pictures Classics), Richard Linklater – Nouvelle Vague (Netflix), Hikari – Rental Family (Searchlight Pictures), Scott Cooper – Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere (20th Century Studios) ↓, Mona Fastvold – The Testament of Ann Lee (Searchlight Pictures), Kaouther Ben Hania – The Voice of Hind Rajab (WILLA)
Other contenders: Luca Guadagnino – After the Hunt (Amazon MGM), Ronan Day-Lewis – Anemone (Focus Features), Edward Berger – The Ballad of the Small Player (Netflix), Kogonada – A Bold, Beautiful Journey (Sony Pictures), Lynne Ramsay – Die My Love (MUBI), James L. Brooks – Ella McCay (20th Century Studios), Jim Jarmusch – Father Mother Sister Brother (MUBI), Oliver Hermanus – The History of Sound (MUBI), Mike Flanagan – The Life of Chuck (NEON), Paul Greengrass – The Lost Bus (Apple Original Films), Celine Song – Materialists (A24), Wes Anderson – The Phoenician Scheme (Focus Features), Song Sung Blue – Craig Brewer (Focus Features), Mascha Schilinski – Sound of Falling (MUBI)
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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