The 98th Academy Awards, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), will take place on Sunday, March 15, 2026, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles, California. The ceremony will be broadcast live on ABC beginning at 7 p.m. ET, streamed on Hulu, and distributed internationally across more than 200 territories. Comedian Conan O'Brien returns as host for his second consecutive year, following widespread praise for his 2025 debut. Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan are back as executive producers for a third straight year, with Hamish Hamilton directing once again. With the ceremony fast approaching, Polymarket's Oscars prediction markets offer a real-time look at where the races stand across every major category.
The road to this year's ceremony included the release of shortlists across 12 categories on December 16, 2025, narrowing the field for awards including international feature film, documentary, and technical achievements. Oscar nomination voting ran from January 12 to 16, 2026, followed by final voting to determine the winners across all 24 categories. This edition continues the Academy's broader efforts to expand voter demographics and improve streaming accessibility, reflecting an ongoing commitment to celebrating global cinema.
This year's nomination field is one of the more genre-diverse in recent memory, spanning surreal sci-fi, historical drama, socially charged storytelling, and indie character studies. For the 2026 Oscars, Focus Features is heavily positioned for major nominations, specifically with Yorgos Lanthimos's surreal Bugonia starring Emma Stone and Chloé Zhao's Hamnet, a poetic exploration of grief with Steven Spielberg among its producers. Netflix scored two Best Picture nominees: Guillermo del Toro's emotionally rich reimagining of Frankenstein, and Train Dreams, which also earned Oscar nominations for cinematography, screenplay, and song. The Best Picture race also includes Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another, a layered character drama featuring Leonardo DiCaprio; Ryan Coogler's Sinners, which fuses action with social commentary starring Michael B. Jordan; Josh Safdie's Marty Supreme, an energetic indie driven by Timothée Chalamet's portrayal of a ping-pong prodigy; and Joachim Trier's introspective Sentimental Value. The Cannes Film Festival once again helped launch films that earned a combined 19 nominations across the slate, underscoring its role as a launchpad for Oscar frontrunner contenders.
The Best Director category features five filmmakers with distinct creative voices: Paul Thomas Anderson, Ryan Coogler, Chloé Zhao, Josh Safdie, and Joachim Trier, representing a range of styles from sprawling character epics to tightly wound indie filmmaking and contemplative Nordic storytelling.
In the acting categories, the Best Actor race pairs generational newcomers with seasoned veterans. Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme) and Michael B. Jordan (Sinners) bring physically committed, transformative energy, while Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another) and Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon) draw on decades of craft, and Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent) delivers coiled intensity in a spy thriller. On the Best Actress side, Jessie Buckley (Hamnet) channels visceral maternal grief, Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I'd Kick You) showcases sharp comic timing, Emma Stone (Bugonia) delivers an eccentric and magnetic performance, Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value) explores self-reinvention with subtlety, and Kate Hudson (Song Sung Blue) brings raw passion to her role.
In the supporting categories, Delroy Lindo scored his first-ever Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Delta Slim in Ryan Coogler's Sinners, while Elle Fanning earned her first-ever Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Rachel Kemp in Joachim Trier's Norwegian drama Sentimental Value.
In Best Original Screenplay, the nominees highlight the Academy's appetite for ambitious, inventive storytelling. Ryan Coogler's Sinners weaves together themes of justice and identity, Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie's Marty Supreme crackles with offbeat wit, Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value takes a philosophical approach to intimacy, Jafar Panahi's It Was Just an Accident probes fate and politics, and Blue Moon brings a lyrical sensibility to its musician's portrait.
Beyond the marquee categories, the international film and animation fields add further depth to this year's ceremony. The Voice of Hind Rajab, nominated for Best International Feature Film, has drawn attention as one of the most talked-about entries in the category. In Best Animated Feature, Pixar's Elio scored a nomination alongside Little Amélie or the Character of Rain, officially nominated in the same category, giving animation fans two distinctive visions to root for.
Across all categories, the lineup strikes a balance between auteur-led projects and mass-appeal entertainment, paving the way for a thrilling awards night. You can follow the race in real time on Polymarket, where prediction markets for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, and other Oscar categories let you track shifting odds and trade on the outcomes you believe in. Whether you're a casual awards-season follower or a dedicated cinephile, Polymarket offers a dynamic way to engage with the 2026 Oscars as the ceremony approaches.
