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- Early 2026 Oscars contenders emerge, from "Wicked: For Good" to Jennifer Lopez in "Kiss of the Spider Woman"</p>
<p>Joey NolfiJuly 8, 2025 at 12:00 AM</p>
<p>Universal Pictures/YouTube; Kurt Krieger/Corbis via Getty; RoadsideFlix/YouTube</p>
<p>Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in 'Wicked: For Good' ; Oscars statuette; Jennifer Lopez in 'Kiss of the Spider Woman'</p>
<p>Key Points -</p>
<p>Early 2026 Oscars contenders are already shaping up after Sundance, Cannes, and more.</p>
<p>Jennifer Lopez's Kiss of the Spider Woman could see her rebound after that Hustlers snub.</p>
<p>Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are poised for follow-up nominations for the Wicked sequel.</p>
<p>As thickly-accented ladies named Anora venture off into the night and the legacy of Conclave recedes into the papal chambers of history, a new crop of early Oscars contenders are on the rise to take their place in the upcoming awards race.</p>
<p>Positioned for potential glory by influential film festivals including Sundance and Cannes, early contenders for the 2026 Oscars include both high-brow international fare and heavyweight competitors hailing from major movies directed by Hollywood royalty.</p>
<p>This year, among the early contenders for Academy Awards glory include Jennifer Lopez rebounding from her Hustlers snub in a new musical, while Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are poised to score consecutive acting recognition for their work in the Wicked sequel Wicked: For Good — and so, too, might director Jon M. Chu, for his collective work on both films.</p>
<p>STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images</p>
<p>Oscars statue</p>
<p>Below the line, early contenders in technical categories include the 28 Years Later makeup department, the sound team responsible for the buzzy documentary Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore, and, of course, the visual effects artists working on titles like Jurassic World Rebirth, Thunderbolts*, and more big-budget blockbusters that typically fill up that category.</p>
<p>Also to consider ahead of the next ceremony? The Academy will implement a new category, Best Casting, for the upcoming competitive year, meaning that those who put together starry, ensemble casts for commercial-leaning projects like Sinners, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, and Wicked: For Good could earn their respective works another nod in the long run.</p>
<p>Check out more from EW's The Awardist, featuring exclusive interviews, analysis, and our podcast diving into all the highlights from the year's best in TV, movies, and more.</p>
<p>Conan O'Brien returns to host the 2026 Oscars ceremony on Sunday, March 15, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on ABC.</p>
<p>Ahead of the 98th Academy Awards, read on for Entertainment Weekly's list of early contenders for the 2026 Oscars.</p>
<p>Early contenders for Best Picture</p>
<p>A24</p>
<p>Eva Victor in 'Sorry, Baby'</p>
<p>Given the Academy's pattern of pulling Best Picture contenders from all corners of the industry (Sundance, Cannes, TIFF, Hollywood's slate of tentpoles, etc.), this race is perhaps the most wide-open of them all.</p>
<p>But, early passion for Eva Victor's Sorry, Baby out of Sundance led to a bidding war between several distributors, with awards machine A24 winning out and setting the critically lauded film for a summer release. As we've seen in the past, the changing tides of the awards race mean that early release dates can work in a film's favor, so expect the conversation to come back around on this one — if not for Best Picture (yes, it's still super early), then at least for a nomination for the film's screenplay.</p>
<p>Cannes' increasing ability to launch surefire contenders from global cinema also can't be discounted at this early stage, with Jafar Panahi's It Was Just an Accident taking the prestigious Palme d'Or prize and, in doing so, cementing the project's status as a contender for both Best Picture and Best Director. A good recent blueprint for this film's potential run through the season would be something like Justine Triet's Anatomy of a Fall, which won the same award at Cannes ahead of securing prime Oscars positioning.</p>
<p>The box office power of Sinners also shouldn't be discounted this year, as Ryan Coogler's vampire smash has shown incredible strength among audiences and will absolutely be part of the conversation later this year.</p>
<p>Be on the lookout for Chloé Zhao's directorial follow-up to Nomadland, Hamnet, to make waves in the months ahead, as well as similar traction for Bugonia, Wicked: For Good, Avatar: Fire and Ash, and the Timothée Chalamet vehicle Marty Supreme, among others.</p>
<p>Early Best Picture contenders:</p>
<p>After the Hunt</p>
<p>Avatar: Fire and Ash</p>
<p>Bugonia</p>
<p>Deliver Me From Nowhere</p>
<p>Hamnet</p>
<p>Highest 2 Lowest</p>
<p>It Was Just an Accident</p>
<p>Jay Kelly</p>
<p>The Life of Chuck</p>
<p>Marty Supreme</p>
<p>Nouvelle Vague</p>
<p>One Battle After Another</p>
<p>Sentimental Value</p>
<p>Sinners</p>
<p>Sorry, Baby</p>
<p>Twinless</p>
<p>Wicked: For Good</p>
<p>Early contenders for Best Director</p>
<p>Roy Rochlin/Getty</p>
<p>The cast of 'Wicked' with director Jon M. Chu</p>
<p>The Academy's directors occupy the group's branch with perhaps the most international-leaning taste, as global filmmakers have found their way into the category in increasing numbers in recent years.</p>
<p>Cannes standouts this year like Joachim Trier (Sentimental Value) and Jafar Panahi (It Was Just an Accident) feel like easy considerations for Best Director, but a wealth of more mainstream filmmakers are also early potentials, like the aforementioned Ryan Coogler for his box office smash Sinners, Guillermo del Toro for his presumably lavish Frankenstein adaptation, and James Cameron for what's shaping up to be yet another technologically marvelous Avatar installment.</p>
<p>If Chloé Zhao's Hament hits the same way Nomadland did, she could be looking at another strong showing in the category after previously winning Best Director. She'll battle for a spot alongside industry mainstays Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another), Spike Lee (Highest 2 Lowest), and Richard Linklater, who has multiple films in contention this year, but the nostalgia-fueled Nouvelle Vague seems primed for Oscar voters' attention.</p>
<p>It's Jon M. Chu, however, who poses perhaps the most interesting potential trajectory this year, with the question remaining: Even if Wicked: For Good doesn't land the same way with critics, will Oscar voters choose to herald his collective achievement in directing and releasing both Wicked movies, after he didn't show up in Best Director last year?</p>
<p>Early Best Director contenders:</p>
<p>Chloé Zhao, Hamnet</p>
<p>Guillermo del Toro, Frankenstein</p>
<p>James Cameron, Avatar: Fire and Ash</p>
<p>Jafar Panahi, It Was Just an Accident</p>
<p>Joachim Trier, Sentimental Value</p>
<p>Jon M. Chu, Wicked: For Good</p>
<p>Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another</p>
<p>Richard Linklater, Nouvelle Vague</p>
<p>Ryan Coogler, Sinners</p>
<p>Spike Lee, Highest 2 Lowest</p>
<p>Early contenders for Best Actor</p>
<p>Vitrine Filmes/YouTube</p>
<p>Wagner Moura in 'The Secret Agent'</p>
<p>For starters, let's get the most prominent Cannes acting winner out of the way: After a lauded turn in 2024's Civil War, Wagner Moura won Best Actor at the French film festival for his leading role in The Secret Agent. The film is a historical political thriller, and this subgenre has proven to be a goldmine for voters in the past, making Moura an automatic early contender for a polished run through the season.</p>
<p>Best Actor contenders more recognizable to American audiences include Timothée Chalamet's lightly transformative ping-pong sports film Marty Supreme, which is loosely based on table tennis icon Marty Reisman. Given that it's another Chalamet performance tackling a real-life figure (following last year's A Complete Unknown) and that industry voters tend to gravitate toward actors playing actual historical people, the Hollywood prince has another great shot at courting Academy affection.</p>
<p>The category is shaping up to be a stacked one, with A-list actors abound in films that stand to gain traction, from Denzel Washington in Highest 2 Lowest and Hugh Jackman in Song Sung Blue, to Colin Farrell in The Ballad of a Small Player, Leonardo DiCaprio in One Battle After Another, and Jay Kelly's George Clooney.</p>
<p>This year could be a monumental comeback for Daniel Day-Lewis as well, who will return to the screen for the first time since Phantom Thread as the star of Anemone, which he co-wrote with his son, Ronan Day-Lewis, who directs. Though still a relatively untested filmmaker, the jury is still out on whether Anemone will be a good enough film to break through, but Day-Lewis' name alone — and his grand return to cinema — should be enough to make him an automatic consideration for voters at this early stage.</p>
<p>Early Best Actor contenders:</p>
<p>Colin Farrell, The Ballad of a Small Player</p>
<p>Daniel Day-Lewis, Anemone</p>
<p>Denzel Washington, Highest 2 Lowest</p>
<p>Dwayne Johnson, The Smashing Machine</p>
<p>Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon</p>
<p>George Clooney, Jay Kelly</p>
<p>Hugh Jackman, Song Sung Blue</p>
<p>Jeremy Allen White, Deliver Me From Nowhere</p>
<p>Jesse Plemons, Bugonia</p>
<p>Joel Edgerton, Train Dreams</p>
<p>Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another</p>
<p>Oscar Isaac, Frankenstein</p>
<p>Paul Mescal, Hamnet</p>
<p>Timothée Chalamet, Marty Supreme</p>
<p>Tom Hiddleston, The Life of Chuck</p>
<p>Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent</p>
<p>Early contenders for Best Actress</p>
<p>Universal Pictures</p>
<p>Cynthia Erivo in 'Wicked: For Good'</p>
<p>From the jump, early 2025 Best Actress contenders Demi Moore (The Substance) and Karla Sofía Gascon (Emilia Pérez) felt all but assured shortly after their Cannes bows. Cynthia Erivo and Mikey Madison felt increasingly likely as the season progressed, and both Wicked and Anora garnered good will and golden box office returns, and Fernanda Torres... yeah, we'd like to meet whoever could've seen her coming at this point last year!</p>
<p>This year, the race feels far less assured for far fewer contenders. Erivo is somewhat of a lock once again as Wicked rebounds (and she'll likely have even meatier material to bite into this time around), and Renate Reinsve carries the weight of a glowing bow for Sentimental Value at Cannes with her. That momentum is powerful enough to sustain across the next few months, with an increasingly international voting base in the Academy even more inclined to look outside the United States' offerings while casting their ballots.</p>
<p>This could also be the year for Amy Adams to finally secure her long-overdue Oscar — but, whether that's for At the Sea (still questionable as to when this one will finally drop) or in Taika Waititi's Kazuo Ishiguro adaptation Klara and the Sun remains to be seen.</p>
<p>Other big-name potentials include Emma Stone (Bugonia), Cate Blanchett (Father Mother Sister Brother), Jennifer Lawrence (Die, My Love), and even Julia Roberts in After the Hunt.</p>
<p>But, it's Jessie Buckley who stands to make the biggest gains or fall out of the race entirely when Hamnet drops. She's a recognizable dramatic force, but still not a total Hollywood heavyweight who's in the conversation on name alone, like those mentioned before.</p>
<p>Early Best Actress contenders:</p>
<p>Amy Adams, At the Sea</p>
<p>Cate Blanchett, Father Mother Sister Brother</p>
<p>Cynthia Erivo, Wicked: For Good</p>
<p>Emma Stone, Bugonia</p>
<p>Jennifer Lawrence, Die, My Love</p>
<p>Jessie Buckley, Hamnet</p>
<p>Julia Roberts, After the Hunt</p>
<p>Renate Reinsve, Sentimental Value</p>
<p>Early contenders for Best Supporting Actor</p>
<p>Warner Bros.</p>
<p>Delroy Lindo as Delta Slim in 'Sinners'</p>
<p>The Best Supporting Actor race is really a game of association at this point, with familiar awards mainstays Christoph Waltz (Frankenstein), Sean Penn (One Battle After Another), Benicio Del Toro (One Battle After Another), and Andrew Garfield (After the Hunt) earning credibility here based on past awards experience and the pedigree of their projects.</p>
<p>Carrying early festival momentum this year is Stellan Skarsgård, whose Sentimental Value could break out in wider ways as the race takes shape, while Emmy favorite (and recent Oscar nominee) Jeremy Strong could also repeat and continue his streak in the category for his work in Deliver Me From Nowhere.</p>
<p>While he generated significant interest for his performance in 2020's Da 5 Bloods, Delroy Lindo now has critical adoration and commercial success bolstering a much stronger bid for Sinners.</p>
<p>Early Best Supporting Actor contenders:</p>
<p>Andrew Garfield, After the Hunt</p>
<p>Benicio Del Toro, One Battle After Another</p>
<p>Christoph Waltz, Frankenstein</p>
<p>Delroy Lindo, Sinners</p>
<p>Jeremy Strong, Deliver Me From Nowhere</p>
<p>Sean Penn, One Battle After Another</p>
<p>Stellan Skarsgård, Sentimental Value</p>
<p>Early contenders for Best Supporting Actress</p>
<p>Roadside Attractions</p>
<p>Jennifer Lopez in 'Kiss of the Spider Woman'</p>
<p>Both actress categories are shaping up to be similarly starry affairs this year, with Best Supporting Actress including prestigious TV performers such as The Bear's Ayo Edebiri (After the Hunt) going up against beloved film stars angling for their long-overdue first nominations from the Academy.</p>
<p>Two actresses who fall into the latter category are One Battle After Another's Regina Hall (please, finally!) and Jennifer Lopez, whose 2019 turn in Hustlers earned the best reviews of her career and a heavy haul of precursor nominations on the trail, only to amount to a massive snub from the Academy.</p>
<p>That stands to change (potentially) given Lopez's musically tinged performance in Kiss of the Spider Woman, which has more going for it in terms of prestige appeal: It's an adaptation, debuted at Sundance, and features Lopez mastering what she's well-known for doing as an electrifying on-stage performer. Instead of dismissing her as a Hollywood A-lister, audiences may connect with her here the same way they connected with performers such as Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born) or Bette Midler (The Rose) in their Oscar-nominated acting roles that also came in works that capitalized on their stars' musical prowess.</p>
<p>And then, there's the ever-present trickiness of weighing the probability of Glenn Close winning her first Oscar. She's come close — very close — in recent years, particularly for The Wife, which was a divisive film that contained a superb performance. She could score praise from audiences and critics in the latest Knives Out film in a juicy supporting role, and that could fulfill both boxes en route to her first victory, whereas The Wife really only had Close going for it in the first place.</p>
<p>Early Best Supporting Actress contenders:</p>
<p>Amy Adams, Klara and the Sun</p>
<p>Ariana Grande, Wicked: For Good</p>
<p>Ayo Edebiri, After the Hunt</p>
<p>Glenn Close, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery</p>
<p>Gwyneth Paltrow, Marty Supreme</p>
<p>Jennifer Lopez, Kiss of the Spider Woman</p>
<p>Regina Hall, One Battle After Another</p>
<p>Tilda Swinton, The Ballad of a Small Player</p>
<p>on Entertainment Weekly</p>
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