Vampires, Shakespeare and ping pong dominated the big screen in 2026, fueling a historic Oscar race led by “Sinners” with a record 16 nominations. USA TODAY Entertainment Reporter Ralphie Aversa joins USA TODAY’s The Excerpt to discuss the nominees.

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Dana Taylor:

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 Sinners' record-breaking 16 nominations, this year's awards are already historic.

Michael B. Jordan:

It's like, wow, this movie has really grown legs and has roots and it's solidified itself as a moment.

Dana Taylor:

That was Sinners' 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.

Always a pleasure, Dana.

Dana Taylor:

Let's start with Ryan Coogler's Sinners record-breaking haul. After missing out on best picture at the Golden Globes, does this shift the momentum, Ralphie?

Ralphie Aversa:

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 Foreign 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. 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, of course, the rest of the cast and crew.

Dana Taylor:

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?

Ralphie Aversa:

Well, look, they didn't do so bad either, right? And so while Sinners 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 award 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 in other, by the way, difference between the Golden Globes and the Oscars. 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.

Dana Taylor:

Our colleagues wrote about at least one snub from One Battle After Another. Chase Infiniti for best leading actress. What happened there?

Ralphie Aversa:

Well, I think one of the things that happened is the fact that you could make the argument that perhaps One Battle After Another should have campaigned 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 USAtoday.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.

Dana Taylor:

Ralphie, we have to talk about a Grande best supporting actress snub. Did Wicked receive any love from the Academy?

Ralphie Aversa:

No, they received nothing. Not at all. Not a thing. It was Wicked for good, we'll see you later, apparently, as far as award season is concerned. Ariana Grande obviously has received a few nominations. We did see her on the red carpet at the Golden Globes. I will 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 award season. Nothing for Cynthia, either. Zero.

Dana Taylor:

Okay, so for best supporting actress, who made the Cut? What's the story, the Oscar story with that this year?

Ralphie Aversa:

All right, well, as far as supporting actress is concerned, I think the odds-on favorite is Teyana 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 are chatting about just now, that's the reason why Chase wasn't put up for supporting actress. They didn't want two actresses from the same movie competing in the same category, but Teyana, 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 Elle Fanning is really, really good at it. And she received a nomination for a supporting Actress. So those are two of the nominees in that category that I would highlight Elle with the Shock. And then I think Teyana is the expected winner. If I had to pick a second person that I thought might win, obviously it'd be Wunmi of course, as well, who is great in Sinners and has been also receiving a lot of love this awards season.

Dana Taylor:

And then what's the story for best supporting actor?

Ralphie Aversa:

So as far as best supporting actor, first of all, let's give you 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, 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 Skarsgard, who of course did win the Golden Globe, I would put him right now as the odds-on Favorite to win the Oscar

Dana Taylor:

Ralphie, the Academy can nominate up to 10 films for Best Picture. What was the biggest surprise this year?

Ralphie Aversa:

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.

Dana Taylor:

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 Timothée Chalamet's year, or is this category just too close to call?

Ralphie Aversa:

First of all. Yeah, it's Timothee's, I think. I'm pretty sure I'm like, I give it 90%, but you never know. I mean, I keep thinking about last year and the Academy Awards and best actress. Here's what's giving me some pause here. And everybody thought it was Demi Moore's year for The Substance because she had won the Golden Globe and everybody loves a good story. Demi's was that incredible speech that she gave when she won the Golden Globe, and everybody thought, oh, Demi, Demi.

And then what ended up happening, of course, it was Mikey Madison from Anora. Anora had picked up a lot of steam leading into the Oscars last year, and of course, really cleaned up at the Oscars. Anora won best picture also. So that's the only little thing that gives me a pause.

Sometimes we just expect somebody to romp right through and win, and Timothy could very well do that. But again, as we talk about One Battle After Another and all of the success that it's had and how good Leo DiCaprio was in that film, yes, he already has an Oscar, but Adrian Brody already had an Oscar last year as well, and he won a second one. He beat out Chalamet of course, that time. So could there be another repeat of that? Maybe. But I think it is Timothee's year. Marty Supreme, what a wild, wild ride that is. And Timothee, of course, at the helm of it.

Dana Taylor:

Any surprises or snubs in the best actor category?

Ralphie Aversa:

Yes. Okay, so there was one huge snub, and this may be the biggest of snubs. Obviously it's all subjective, right? But Paul Mescal, not Mezcal, by the way, as I learned when I had to do a pickup, not like the tequila, no, Paul Mescal in Hamnet, which of course I would maybe perhaps put up there as well as another favorite to win best picture. But Paul not receiving a nod for his role in Hamnet, I think shocked pretty much everybody.

Dana Taylor:

We mentioned Chase Infiniti not getting a best actress nod this year. Who should we be watching for in the best actress category? You mentioned Hamnet. I let you know before that I thought Jesse Buckley was just phenomenal. She floored me in that movie,

Ralphie Aversa:

And I think Jesse is the odds-on favorite in that category as well. Absolutely. I would say of the shock factor, the fact that Kate Hudson received a nomination for Song Sung Blue. I mean really, really incredible. Her co-star in it, Hugh Jackman called it from the Jump as they were doing press for the film. He thought that his co-star would receive an Oscar nod and the fact that she did, unbelievable. So congratulations to her, obviously. But yeah, I think this is Jesse's to lose.

Dana Taylor:

Ralphie, you know how invested I am in best animated feature. KPop Demon Hunters has a chance to walk away with a statuette on Oscar night. Who are the other contenders in that category?

Ralphie Aversa:

Yes, I do think KPop Demon Hunters is the favorite. If I had to give you one other one though, it was so interesting at the Globes and at the BAFTA Tea Party to see some of the cast and crew from Zootopia 2 making the rounds as well as they had their award season campaign. And so that's the only other one I would say to watch out for. I know, Dana, what a big KPop demon hunters fan you are. Of course, golden is up for Best original song, so we'll see how that does not just at the Grammys, but now at the Oscars. I think that is a favorite, even though somebody that I get to speak to all the time, the great Diane Warren also nominated yet again in the best original song category. But yeah, KPop demon hunters, I would say that's the favor right now as far as animated film.

Dana Taylor:

Conan O'Brien is going to return for a second consecutive year hosting the show. What can we expect from Coco?

Ralphie Aversa:

Well, it will be, I think first of all, he's not going to be afraid to poke fun at people. I don't think. He's not going to go Ricky Gervais on everyone and make everyone uncomfortable, per se, squirming in their seats. But I don't think he's going to shy away from taking a jab here or there. I do think one of the reasons though, why they brought him back is because universally he was well received, and a lot of times you're universally well received because you kind of play it safe.

Again, I don't think safe is the right word to describe the way he's going to host the Oscars again. But it's funny, on one hand, he's obviously on ABC, which is owned by Disney, and of course you have this incredible Hollywood institution, the Academy, which is trying to figure out so many different things right now, just Hollywood in general as far as where films are being made and how they're being financed and how they're being distributed. And I think Conan is certainly sympathetic and aware of all of that.

At the same time, it's not like you're Jimmy Kimmel where you're on Disney and also Disney's your employer, right? That's not really the case here with Conan. He's kind of a hired gun, for lack of a better term. So I think he'll keep things entertaining, he'll keep things moving. I don't think anybody's going to be squirming in their seats though again this year.

Dana Taylor:

All right. Ralphie Aversa is a USA TODAY national entertainment reporter. Thank you so much for being on The Excerpt, Ralphie.

Ralphie Aversa:

Thanks.

Dana Taylor:

Thanks to our senior producer Kaely Monahan for her production assistance. Our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to podcasts@usatoday.com. Thanks for listening. I'm Dana Taylor. I'll be back Monday morning with another episode of USA TODAY's The Excerpt.