FINAL 2026 Oscar Predictions: COSTUME DESIGN and PRODUCTION DESIGN
Don’t think I’m going to change my top 5 in Costume Design from last month, or any placement on the list. Five films have both Critics Choice and Costume Designers Guild nominations, which doesn’t make an Oscar nod a given. Dual Colleen Atwood’s designs are possible (but unlikely); Kiss of the Spider Woman for the musical period piece of it all and One Battle After Another if voters vote down ballot on the film. But Marty Supreme is the sneaky one here; hitting the BAFTA longlist over Hedda and KotSW.
As is often the case, Production Design and Costume Design can almost be a copy/paste and I think they’ll go 4/5 here; with Marty Supreme replacing Hedda in PD. One Battle is once again a real contender here, even as a contemporary film, but I’m really keeping an eye for The Fantastic Four: First Steps to be the upset. The 1960s era sci-fi has hit every precursor. That aesthetic just doesn’t gel with this branch. The Dune films have both gotten in, the first won. Both Avatar films have gotten in (again, the first won) but the new one has performed dismally across the board outside of visual effects. But it’s not quite the same vibe, it’s still a comic book adaptation, for what it’s worth. Barbie might be the closest recent comp but this would be the film’s only nomination and we haven’t seen that in this category since 2016’s Hail, Caesar! As it is, my final top 5 remains the same as last month.
Here are my final 2026 Oscar nomination predictions in Costume Design and Production Design.
COSTUME DESIGN
| 1. Frankenstein — Kate Hawley (Netflix) | CCA, CDG (BAFTA longlist) |
| 2. Wicked: For Good — Paul Tazewell (Universal Pictures) | CCA, CDG (BAFTA longlist) |
| 3. Hamnet — Malgosia Turzanska (Focus Features) | CCA, CDG (BAFTA longlist) |
| 4. Sinners — Ruth E. Carter (Warner Bros) | CCA, CDG (BAFTA longlist) |
| 5. Hedda — Lindsay Pugh (Amazon MGM) | CCA, CDG |
| 6. Marty Supreme — Miyako Bellizzi (A24) | (BAFTA longlist) |
| 7. Kiss of the Spider Woman — Colleen Atwood and Christine L. Cantella (Roadside Attractions) | CCA |
| 8. One Battle After Another — Colleen Atwood (Warner Bros) | CDG (BAFTA longlist) |
| 9. Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale — Anna Mary and Scott Robbins (Focus Features) | CDG (BAFTA longlist) |
| 10. Kokuho — Kumiko Ogawa (GKIDS) |
| 11. The Phoenician Scheme — Melina Cananero (Focus Features) | |
| 12. Snow White — Sandy Powell (Walt Disney) | |
| 13. Nouvelle Vague — Pascaline Chavanne (Netflix) | (BAFTA longlist) |
| 14. Nuremberg — Bartholomew Cariss (Sony Pictures Classics) | |
| 15. The Testament of Ann Lee — Malgorzata Karpiuk (Searchlight Pictures) | |
| 16. Blue Moon — Consolata Boyle (Sony Pictures Classics) | |
| 17. Train Dreams — Malgosia Turzanska (Netflix) | |
| 18. The Secret Agent — Rita Azevedo (NEON) | |
| 19. The Fantastic Four: First Steps — Alexandra Byrne (Walt Disney) | |
| 20. Song Sung Blue — Ernesto Martinez (Focus Features) |
Other contenders:
The History of Sound — Miyako Bellizzi (MUBI)
The Mastermind — Amy Roth (MUBI)
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere — Kasia Walicka Maimone (20th Century Studios)
PRODUCTION DESIGN
| 1. Frankenstein — Tamara Deverell, set decoration: Shane Vieau (Netflix) | ADG, CCA, SDSA (BAFTA longlist) |
| 2. Wicked: For Good — Nathan Crowley, set decoration: Lee Sandales (Universal Pictures) | ADG, CCA, SDSA (BAFTA longlist) |
| 3. Sinners — Hannah Beachler, set decoration: Monique Champagne (Warner Bros) | ADG, CCA, SDSA (BAFTA longlist) |
| 4. Hamnet — Fiona Crombie, set decoration: Alice Felton (Focus Features) | ADG, CCA, SDSA (BAFTA longlist) |
| 5. Marty Supreme — Jack Fisk, set decoration: Adam Willis (A24) | ADG, CCA, SDSA (BAFTA longlist) |
| 6. The Fantastic Four: First Steps — Kasra Farahani, set decoration: Jille Azis (Walt Disney) ↑ | ADG, CCA, SDSA (BAFTA longlist) |
| 7. One Battle After Another — Florencia Martin, set decoration: Anthony Carlino (Warner Bros) | ADG, SDSA (BAFTA longlist) |
| 8. Avatar: Fire and Ash — Dylan Cole and Ben Procter, set decoration: Vanessa Cole (20th Century Studios) ↓ | ADG, SDSA |
| 9. Hedda — Cara Bower, set decoration: Stella Fox (Amazon MGM) | |
| 10. Mickey 17 — Fiona Crombie, set decoration: Alice Felton (Warner Bros) ↑ | ADG, (BAFTA longlist) |
| 11. Train Dreams — Alexandra Schaller, set decoration: Melissa Jusufi (Netflix) | |
| 12. Nouvelle Vague — Katia Wyszkop (Netflix) ↓ | |
| 13. The Testament of Ann Lee — Sam Bader, set decoration: Lauren Doss and Mercédesz Nagyváradi (Searchlight Pictures) | |
| 14. The Phoenician Scheme — Adam Stockhausen, set decoration: Anna Pinnock (Focus Features) | ADG, SDSA |
| 15. Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale — Donal Woods, set decoration: Linda Wilson (Focus Features) | SDSA |
| 16. Kiss of the Spider Woman — Scott Chambliss, set decoration: Andrew Baseman (Roadside Attractions) | SDSA |
| 17. Nuremberg — Eve Stewart (Sony Pictures Classics) ↓ | |
| 18. The Secret Agent — Thales Junqueira (NEON) | |
| 19. Blue Moon — Susie Cullen, set decoration: Kevin Downey, Elia Martinoli (Sony Pictures Classics) ↓ | |
| 20. Ballad of a Small Player — Jonathan Houlding, set decoration: Zoe Lee (Netflix) NEW | (BAFTA longlist) |
Other contenders:
The History of Sound — Deborah Jensen, set decoration: Toni Child, Mary Fellowes, Laura Latorre (MUBI)
How to Train Your Dragon — Daniel Watkins, set decoration: Daniel Birt (Universal Pictures); SDSA
The Mastermind — Anthony Gasparro, set decoration: Amy Beth Silver (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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