98th Academy Awards Preview- Who's Nominated, Who's Hosting and Where to Watch

The Oscars are almost here! The 98th Academy Awards, hosted by Conan O’Brien,  will take place at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood tomorrow night, Sunday, March 15, and begin at 4:00 PM Pacific / 7:00 PM Eastern. The ceremony will air on ABC, and viewers with a cable subscription can also watch by signing in through the ABC app or at abc.com. It will also be available to stream live on Hulu, YouTube TV, AT&T TV, and FuboTV.

Film buffs often have a love-hate relationship with the Oscars. While many criticize the Academy for notorious snubs, commercial bias, lack of diversity, or formulaic choices, others engage heavily with the awards to debate the year's films, celebrate technical achievements, or boost independent films. 

It is generally treated as a major annual, communal, and highly engaging event, with Oscar watch parties popping up everywhere, with people excited to discuss their predictions and opinions. At least in theory, the Oscars are meant to honor the year’s most impressive achievements in film. In reality, the Academy has often struggled to balance elitism, popularity, and cultural relevance, especially in the Best Picture category. 

That tension has set the tone for the modern awards race for years, from the expansion of the Best Picture lineup after public frustration over major mainstream snubs to the Academy’s attempt to introduce a separate “popular film” category. The result is an awards show that is still trying to define what cinematic excellence looks like in a film culture and audience that keeps changing.

This year’s Best Picture lineup reflects that ongoing shift. The nominees are Bugonia, F1, Frankenstein, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle after Another, The Secret Agent, Sentimental Value, Sinners, and Train Dreams. It is a wide-ranging field that includes prestige drama, literary adaptation, international cinema, and ambitious genre work, which makes this category feel broader and more representative than it once did.

The biggest race of the night seems to be between One Battle after Another and Sinners. Early in awards season, Hamnet and One Battle after Another looked like the obvious frontrunners after their Golden Globe wins, but things have shifted in recent weeks. Sinners was helped by major awards attention and a widespread sense of enthusiasm around Ryan Coogler’s Horror-Musical, while One Battle after Another has remained a strong contender throughout the season. 

That split is part of what makes this year especially fun to watch. BBC prediction coverage leans toward Sinners pulling ahead at the last minute, arguing that the film’s momentum and goodwill may be enough to overtake One Battle after Another. The Hollywood Reporter, on the other hand, still sees One Battle after Another as the safer Best Picture bet, citing its dominance across major awards ahead of the upcoming Oscars.

Awards season is also a good time to look both backward and forward, and our library includes several films that already have a place in Oscar history. The Sky Above, The Mud Below won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and remains an extraordinary portrait of endurance and exploration, following a seven-month journey across unmapped territory in Dutch New Guinea. Dangerous Moves, an Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film, turns a high-level chess championship into a gripping psychological and political drama. Black and White in Color, also an Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film, uses sharp satire to examine colonialism, war, and absurdity. One Day in September, which won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, remains one of the most haunting and essential documentaries about terrorism, media, and the lasting human impact of the 1972 Munich Olympics.

That is part of what keeps the Oscars compelling even when the results are debatable. The ceremony is not just about predicting winners. It is also about revisiting the films that have shaped film’s past while considering which stories and filmmaking the industry wants to celebrate now. This year’s race feels especially alive because it reflects competing ideas of what a Best Picture winner can be: bold genre storytelling, politically charged cinema, intimate literary drama, or something less expected.

Here is a full list of nominees from this year's Oscars: 

Best Picture

• Sinners
  
  

• One Battle After Another
  
  

• Bugonia
  
  

• F1
  
  

• Frankenstein
  
  

• Hamnet
  
  

• Marty Supreme
  
  

• The Secret Agent
  
  

• Sentimental Value
  
  

• Train Dreams
  
  

Best Director

• Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
  
  

• Ryan Coogler, Sinners
  
  

• Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme
  
  

• Joachim Trier, Sentimental Value
  
  

• Chloé Zhao, Hamnet
  
  

Best Actress

• Jessie Buckley, Hamnet
  
  

• Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
  
  

• Kate Hudson, Song Sung Blue
  
  

• Renate Reinsve, Sentimental Value
  
  

• Emma Stone, Bugonia
  
  

Best Actor

• Michael B. Jordan, Sinners
  
  

• Timothée Chalamet, Marty Supreme
  
  

• Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another
  
  

• Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon
  
  

• Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent
  
  

Best Supporting Actress

• Amy Madigan, Weapons
  
  

• Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another
  
  

• Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners
  
  

• Elle Fanning, Sentimental Value
  
  

• Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Sentimental Value
  
  

Best Supporting Actor

• Sean Penn, One Battle After Another
  
  

• Stellan Skarsgård, Sentimental Value
  
  

• Benicio Del Toro, One Battle After Another
  
  

• Delroy Lindo, Sinners
  
  

• Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein
  
  

Best Adapted Screenplay

• One Battle After Another
  
  

• Bugonia
  
  

• Frankenstein
  
  

• Hamnet
  
  

• Train Dreams
  
  

Best Original Screenplay

• Sinners
  
  

• Blue Moon
  
  

• It Was Just an Accident
  
  

• Marty Supreme
  
  

• Sentimental Value
  
  

Best Animated Feature

• KPop Demon Hunters
  
  

• Arco
  
  

• Elio
  
  

• Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
  
  

• Zootopia 2
  
  

Best Documentary Feature

• The Perfect Neighbor
  
  

• The Alabama Solution
  
  

• Come See Me in the Good Light
  
  

• Cutting Through Rocks
  
  

• Mr. Nobody Against Putin
  
  

Best International Feature

• Sentimental Value
  
  

• The Secret Agent
  
  

• It Was Just an Accident
  
  

• Sirât
  
  

• The Voice of Hind Rajab

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