My Thoughts on 2026 Critics Choice Nominations
A few days back the 2026 Critics Choice nominations dropped and there’s some interesting things to talk about here. What are they? Let’s talk about it!
Overall Thoughts: In general, I didn’t feel like with these nominations that there weren't too many surprises. In fact, the more surprising elements were the ones that didn’t get in. There’s some major ones that I don’t think will dramatically affect the awards season going forward. One Battle After Another and Sinners getting a lot of nominations, that’s not surprising to me. I expected those movies to lead the pack because of the extremely positive reviews they’ve been getting. I didn’t do a Critics Choice prediction (maybe I should’ve). But last minute I put together my predictions on The Awards Expert app and I think I did pretty well. I always like awards season especially the mid-December portion when we don’t really know who the front runners are, who’s likely to get in and whose not getting in. Like I said, the more interesting thing to talk about here is who didn’t get in.
- No Cynthia Erivo in Best Actress: This is one that seems to have the internet up in flames that the Critics Choice gave Wicked: For Good seven nominations but didn’t give Erivo a nomination. Ariana Grande got in, the film got into Best Picture. But the star of the movie, in a lot of ways, the glue holding the movie together didn’t. What do I think about it? It’s disappointing because she’s great in it, but ultimately I’m not super shocked that she missed. At awards shows, sequels don’t normally perform as well. I believe Wicked was the most nominated film at 2025’s Critics Choice award with 13 or 14 nominations. Wicked: For Good only got seven nominations, so half. This happened with Dune to Dune: Part II. We’ll talk about another sequel that missed in a major category. But this happens at the Oscars too where great sequels don’t get as much love as they probably should. I had my issues with Wicked: For Good, I don’t think it should’ve made the Best Picture lineup but Cynthia probably should’ve made the Best Actress lineup. Granted, I haven’t seen all of the other nominees, the only other nominees I’ve seen are Chase Infiniti and Emma Stone. With these we have to consider, did Cynthia Erivo actually give a better performance then the six ladies nominated? I don’t know. I would put Stone for Bugonia above her, but I’d put Erivo above Infiniti. I get why people are upset that she’s not here because she’s the star of a very popular movie that’s printing money for Universal. But just because she’s the star of a big blockbuster and gives a great performance doesn’t mean she deserves to be here. That’s something to consider when talking about the snubs. The bigger question/concern becomes what does this mean for Cynthia’s Oscar chances. I think not getting at Critics Choice hurts her a lot. There’s a lot of correlation in the major categories between Critics Choice and the Oscars. We’ll see how Cynthia does at the Golden Globes, I think she gets in especially for Musical or Comedy. I can see her missing at BAFTA and SAG and maybe the Oscar but we’ll just have to see.
- Avatar: Fire and Ash misses Best Picture: This is the other big snub that people were talking about. I actually didn’t realize this one until after the announcement and I heard people talking about it. I believe both of the previous Avatar films made it into Best Picture at the Critics Choice. People were expecting the third film to at least get into picture, following the trends and everything. One piece of information that’s important to know about this is when critics saw the film and when people had to submit their nominations. Critics saw the film on December 1st, but the ballots were due the night of December 2nd. So they had such a quick turnaround and had they delayed the day when the ballots were due by a few days then maybe it would’ve gotten in. But there were probably also a number of critics that submitted their ballots before they saw Fire and Ash. Related to Cynthia, does this beg trouble for Fire and Ash for Best Picture at the Oscars? Right now, I’m going to say no. If the movie doesn’t get in at the Golden Globes then yah I think the film is in trouble. But as of right now, without knowing the Golden Globe nominations, I don’t think it’s in trouble because of the circumstances of when critics saw the film and when the nominations were due. I haven’t seen the movie so I can’t comment as to whether or not I think the movie was snubbed or not.
- Sinners and One Battle After Another Dominate: This is one that didn’t surprise too much that the two most nominated films at the awards show were Sinners and One Battle After Another. I believe these two films were on the most lists when they revealed the short list. The fact that Sinners received 17 nominations and One Battle After Another received 14 isn’t too surprising. I think One Battle After Another will be the most nominated film at the Oscars. I think the movie solidifies that these are Best Picture locks at the Oscar, not that anybody was doubting it, but it’s confirmation that these movies will do well at the Oscars.
- F1 Got 7 Nominations: This is a smaller one to talk about but one that I found interesting. That’s the fact that F1 got 7 nominations, none of them in the major categories but 7 nominations for a movie that didn’t get Best Picture or Director is pretty impressive. I think Critics Choice is where F1 will get the most nominations. I think there’s a chance it gets in one category at the Golden Globes. Since Formula 1 is so popular overseas, maybe it does well at BAFTA. I think it could get a stunt nomination at SAG. If this movie can rack up enough technical categories at the Oscars and other award shows, maybe this can slip into Best Picture since films like Wicked: For Good and Avatar: Fire and Ash are on the chopping block. F1 is one of my favorite movies of the year and deserves the Best Picture nomination and we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
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