Chapter 1: What makes 'Sinners' a record-breaking film with 16 Oscar nominations?
2026 brought vampire, Shakespeare, and ping pong to the big screen, all stories and performances riveting enough to put them in contention for Hollywood's highest honor, the Oscar. With Sinner's record-breaking 16 nominations, this year's awards are already historic.
It's like, wow, this movie has really grown legs and has roots, and it's really, it's solidified itself as a moment.
That was Center star Michael B. Jordan. The question is who will walk away with Oscar gold? Hello and welcome to USA Today's The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Friday, January 23rd, 2026. Joining me to discuss both the highs and the heartbreak following the announcement of this year's Oscar nominees is USA Today entertainment reporter Ralphie Aversa. It's good to have you back, Ralphie.
Chapter 2: How do the Golden Globes influence Oscar nominations?
Always a pleasure, Dana.
Let's start with Ryan Coogler's Sinner's record-breaking haul. After missing out on Best Picture at the Golden Globes, does this shift the momentum, Ralphie?
I think it does a little bit. I mean, one of the interesting things, and we've seen this before, the Golden Globes aren't always a direct indicator for what's going to transpire at the Academy Awards. The voting bodies are obviously different. The Golden Globes, it was the, as I like to call them, the artist formerly known as the Hollywood foreman. Press Association.
They're not called that anymore, but you get the idea. There are a lot of foreign press, obviously, that are voting with the Golden Globes.
Chapter 3: What are the chances for 'One Battle After Another' at the Oscars?
It's, of course, film and TV as well, another difference from the Oscars. But I do think the fact that while one battle after another led the Golden Globe nominations from a movie standpoint, the fact that Sinners is now leading from an Oscar standpoint certainly helps Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan and, of course, the rest of the cast and crew.
Well, of course, one battle after another has done well so far this season, picking up Best Picture awards at the Critics' Choice Awards and the Golden Globes. How strong does one battle after another look following yesterday's Oscar nominations?
Well, look, they didn't do so bad either, right? And so while Senators certainly had a record night, you have to look at one battle after another, not just with the amount of nominations they received at the Academy Awards, but also with how they've done so far in awards season, Critics' Choice, Golden Globes.
nomination, obviously, for Best Cast for the Actor Awards, which were formerly known as the SAG Awards. A lot of changes in Hollywood over the past couple of years, Dana. Nonetheless, I would still put One Battle After Another as the odds-on favorite to win Best Picture. Another, by the way, difference between the Golden Globes and the Oscars.
Chapter 4: What were the biggest snubs in this year's Oscar nominations?
Let's not forget that with the Golden Globes, we have things divided up into comedy, musical, and drama, the two different categories, whereas everything's in the same category, all genres, for the Oscars.
Our colleagues wrote about at least one snub from one battle after another, Chase Infinity for Best Leading Actress. What happened there?
Well, I think one of the things that happened is the fact that, you know, you could make the argument that perhaps one battle after another should have campaign chase for supporting actress as opposed to lead actress because of the amount of screen time that she has, which our colleague Patrick Ryan reported about in his story that you could see over at USA Today dot com.
And then, of course, the other thing that happens is, again, with the consolidations of the genres, the two different categories basically moving into one for something like the Oscars, that can lead to some of these issues as well where you're expecting someone to be nominated in a category and they are not. Now.
All of that said, Chase is still we're all shocked by this because, again, she was just racking up nomination after nomination for all of these big awards. And by the way, she's also fantastic in the film. So, yeah, that was a biggie.
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Chapter 5: Which films were surprisingly left out of the Best Picture category?
Ralphie, we have to talk about a Grande Best Supporting Actress snub. Did Wicked receive any love from the Academy?
No, they received nothing. Not at all. Not a thing. It was Wicked for good. We'll see you later, apparently, as far as awards season is concerned. Ariana Grande obviously has received a few nominations. We did see her on the red carpet at the Golden Globes. You know, I will say...
Chapter 6: Who are the leading contenders for Best Supporting Actress?
say, as somebody who's, of course, covering award season in person, I'm kind of missing all of the hoopla and all of the fanfare around the cast of Wicked and Wicked for Good being at these award shows, whether it's, of course, Ariana or Cynthia Erivo, Jeff Goldblum, And the list goes on and on with the star-studded cast.
But to answer your question, not even in production design, not even in costume, nothing for Ariana, who I think some people did expect based on past nominations already this awards season, nothing for Cynthia either. Zero.
Okay, so for Best Supporting Actress, who made the cut? What's the story, the Oscar story with that this year?
All right, well, as far as supporting actresses concerned, I think the odds-on favorite is Tiana Taylor for one battle after another. Of course, she did win the Golden Globe, and again, her performance in that is incredible. And perhaps, by the way, to what we were chatting about just now, that's the reason why Chase wasn't put up for supporting actress.
They didn't want, you know, two actresses from the same movie competing in the same category.
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Chapter 7: What surprises can we expect in the Best Actor category?
But Tiana, I think, is going to win that. I will say the one shock... And it's a shock for a good reason, at least in my opinion, because I watched Sentimental Value actually on a plane because it's playing right now on Delta flights. And Al Fanning is really, really good at it. And she received a nomination for Supporting Actress.
So those are two of the nominees in that category that I would highlight. Al with the shock. And then I think Tiana is the expected winner. If I had to pick a second person that I thought might win... Obviously, it'd be wound me, of course, as well, who is great in centers and has been also receiving a lot of love this award season.
Chapter 8: What will Conan O'Brien bring to this year's Oscar hosting?
And then what's the story for best supporting actor?
So as far as best supporting actor, first of all, let's give you like a little bit of a shock here. Delroy Lindo. from Sinners. Obviously, incredible actor, very accomplished, been around for a while.
Ran into him Golden Globes weekend, actually, both on the carpet at the Golden Globes and at the acclaimed BAFTA Tea Party as well, which was back this year after being canceled last year due to the Palisades fires. The fact that Mr. Lindo received a nomination in Supporting Actor for Sinners, I think, has a lot of people very pleased.
As far as who is going to take home this category, though, we're going to talk about sentimental value again. And Stellan Skarsgård, who, of course, did win the Golden Globe. I would put him right now as the odds-on favorite to win the Oscar.
Ralphie, the Academy can nominate up to 10 films for Best Picture. What was the biggest surprise this year?
You know, for me, maybe it shouldn't be a huge surprise. But to see F1, it does seem like the Academy always wants to give love to one blockbuster in that category, whether it's Top Gun Maverick or last year Wicked did receive a Best Picture nomination. F1, the highest grossing auto racing film of all time, a huge, huge hit for Apple.
It did well, of course, domestically and internationally as well, starring Brad Pitt. And so that was the one, I guess, as they were reading off the 10 nominees that caught my attention the most.
And now let's turn to the category that I think will send shockwaves no matter which way it goes, and that's for Best Actor. Will 2026 be Timothee Chalamet's year, or is this category just too close to call?
I would not put a – look, first of all, yeah, it's Timothee's, I think. I'm, like, pretty sure. I'm, like, I'd give it, like, 90%. But you never know. I mean, I just – I keep thinking about last year and the Academy Awards and Best Actress. Here's what's giving me some pause here.
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