2026 Critics’ Choice Winners

We start the new year with the first major televised event of the 2025-2026 award season, the 31st Critics’ Choice Awards. While not a guaranteed indicator for the upcoming Academy Awards, the CCA along with other precursors such as the Golden Globes and BAFTAs, start establish which films and individuals go from nominees to potential winners. Going into 2026, the critic circle groups have leant heavily towards both Paul Thomas Anderson‘s “One Battle After Another” when it comes to Best Film wins, closely followed by Ryan Coogler‘s “Sinners”, and Chloe Zhao‘s “Hamnet” in a distant third. So it was no surprise that PTA’s epic action drama took home the big prize on the night, with additional awards for Anderson in Adapted Screenplay and Director.

The film did underperform across the rest of the night though, winning none of its eleven other nominations. “Sinners” and “Frankenstein” both walked away with more awards than the eventual top prize winner, with four awards each, the latter being seeing Jacob Elordi awarded for his role as the famous literary creature in the biggest surprise of the night. Another surprise, but not quite of the same level, was in International Feature, where “The Secret Agent” pipped the likes of “It Was Just an Accident” and “No Other Choice”, blowing the incredibly competitive category wide open for the remainder of the season.

The rest of the awards were less shocking, with frontrunners and likely runners up taking the remaining awards, with “F1” taking home awards for Sound and Editing, and “KPop Demon Hunters” unsurprisingly winning in the Animated Feature and Original Song categories.

Full list of winners at the 31st Critics’ Choice Awards:

Best Picture

  • “Bugonia”
  • “Frankenstein”
  • “Hamnet”
  • “Jay Kelly”
  • “Marty Supreme”
  • “One Battle After Another” – Winner
  • “Nickel Boys”
  • “Sing Sing”
  • “The Substance”
  • “Wicked”

Best Director

  • Paul Thomas Anderson “One Battle After Another” – Winner
  • Ryan Coogler “Sinners”
  • Guillermo del Toro “Frankenstein”
  • Josh Safdie “Marty Supreme”
  • Joachim Trier “Sentimental Value”
  • Chloe Zhao “Hamnet”

Best Actor

  • Timothee Chalamet “Marty Supreme” – Winner
  • Leonardo DiCaprio “One Battle After Another”
  • Joel Edgerton “Train Dreams”
  • Ethan Hawke “Blue Moon”
  • Michael B. Jordan “Sinners”
  • Wagner Moura “The Secret Agent”

Best Actress

  • Jessie Buckley “Hamnet” – Winner
  • Rose Byrne “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”
  • Chase Infiniti “One Battle After Another”
  • Renate Reinsve “Sentimental Value”
  • Amanda Seyfried “The Testament of Ann Lee”
  • Emma Stone “Bugonia”

Supporting Actor

  • Benicio del Toro “One Battle After Another”
  • Jacob Elordi “Frankenstein” – Winner
  • Paul Mescal “Hamnet”
  • Sean Penn “One Battle After Another”
  • Adam Sandler “Jay Kelly”
  • Stellan Skarsgard “Sentimental Value”

Supporting Actress

  • Elle Fanning “Sentimental Value”
  • Ariana Grande “Wicked: For Good”
  • Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas “Sentimental Value”
  • Amy Madigan “Weapons”
  • Wunmi Mosaku “Sinners”
  • Teyana Taylor “One Battle After Another”

Best Young Actor/Actress

  • Everett Blunck “The Plague”
  • Miles Caton “Sinners” – Winner
  • Cary Christopher “Weapons”
  • Shannon Mahina Gorman “Rental Family”
  • Jacob Jupe “Hamnet”
  • Nina Ye “Left-Handed Girl”

Best Ensemble

  • “Hamnet”
  • “Jay Kelly”
  • “Marty Supreme”
  • “One Battle After Another”
  • “Sinners” – Winner
  • “Wicked: For Good”

Best Original Screenplay

  • Noah Baumbach and Emily Mortimer “Jay Kelly”
  • Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie “Marty Supreme”
  • Ryan Coogler “Sinners” – Winner
  • Zack Cregger “Weapons”
  • Eva Victor “Sorry, Baby
  • Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier “Sentimental Value”

Best Adapted Screenplay

  • Paul Thomas Anderson “One Battle After Another” – Winner
  • Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar “Train Dreams”
  • Park Chan-wook, Lee Kyoung-mi, Don McKellar, Jahye Lee “No Other Choice”
  • Guillermo del Toro “Frankenstein”
  • Will Tracy “Bugonia”
  • Chloe Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell “Hamnet”

Best Cinematography

  • “F1”
  • “Frankenstein”
  • “Hamnet”
  • “One Battle After Another”
  • “Sinners”
  • “Train Dreams” – Winner

Best Editing

  • “F1” – Winner
  • “A House of Dynamite”
  • “Marty Supreme”
  • “One Battle After Another”
  • “The Perfect Neighbour”
  • “Sinners”

Best Costume Design

  • “Frankenstein” – Winner
  • “Hamnet”
  • “Hedda”
  • “Kiss of the Spider Woman”
  • “Sinners”
  • “Wicked: For Good”

Best Production Design

  • “The Fantastic Four: First Steps”
  • “Frankenstein” – Winner
  • “Hamnet”
  • “Marty Supreme”
  • “Sinners”
  • “Wicked: For Good”

Best Score

  • Hans Zimmer “F1”
  • Alexandre Desplat “Frankenstein”
  • Max Richter “Hamnet”
  • Daniel Lopatin “Marty Supreme”
  • Jonny Greenwood “One Battle After Another”
  • Ludwig Goransson “Sinners”

Best Song

  • “Clothed by the Sun” “The Testament of Ann Lee”
  • “Drive” “F1”
  • “Golden” “KPop Demon Hunters” – Winner
  • “I Lied to You” “Sinners”
  • “The Girl in the Bubble” “Wicked: For Good”
  • “Train Dreams” “Train Dreams”

Best Hair and Make-Up

  • “28 Years Later”
  • “Frankenstein” – Winner
  • “Sinners”
  • “The Smashing Machine”
  • “Weapons”
  • “Wicked: For Good”

Best Sound

  • “F1” – Winner
  • “Frankenstein”
  • “One Battle After Another”
  • “Sinners”
  • “Sirat”
  • “Warfare”

Best Visual Effects

  • “Avatar: Fire and Ash” – Winner
  • “F1”
  • “Frankenstein”
  • “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning”
  • “Sinners”
  • “Supreme”

Best Stunt Design

  • “Ballerina”
  • “F1”
  • “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” – Winner
  • “One Battle After Another”
  • “Sinners”
  • “Warfare”

Best Comedy

  • “The Ballad of Wallis Island”
  • “Eternity”
  • “Friendship”
  • “The Naked Gun” – Winner
  • “The Phoenician Scheme”
  • “Splitsville”

Best Animated Feature

  • “Arco”
  • “Elio”
  • “In You Dreams”
  • “KPop Demon Hunters” – Winner
  • “Little Amelie or the Character of Rain”
  • “Zootropolis 2”

Best Foreign Language Film

  • “Belen”
  • “It Was Just an Accident”
  • “Left-Handed Girl”
  • “No Other Choice”
  • “The Secret Agent” – Winner
  • “Sirat”

Films with most wins:

  • “Frankenstein” – 4
  • “Sinners” – 4
  • “One Battle After Another” – 3
  • “F1” – 2
  • “KPop Demon Hunters” – 2
  • “Avatar: Fire and Ash” – 1
  • “Hamnet” – 1
  • “Marty Supreme” – 1
  • “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” – 1
  • “The Naked Gun” – 1
  • “The Secret Agent” – 1
  • “Train Dreams” – 1
  • “Weapons” – 1

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