Oscar voting closes with Best Picture race between 'One Battle After Another' and 'Sinners'

Oscar voting has closed with 'One Battle After Another' and 'Sinners' emerging as leading Best Picture contenders

Final voting for the 2026 Academy Awards has closed, with the Best Picture race widely viewed as a contest between One Battle After Another and Sinners based on conversations with Academy members and anonymous ballot responses.

The Academy now has more than 11,000 members, including 10,136 active voters. According to the latest figures, the body is 35% women, 22% from underrepresented communities and 21% international members. The actors branch remains the largest voting bloc with 1,311 members.

This year’s digital Oscar ballot is linked to the Academy Screening Room, allowing members to watch nominated films online.

Under a new rule, voters must watch all nominees in a category before casting a vote in that category. Until those titles are viewed, the category remains unavailable on the ballot.

One voter explained their decision: “One Battle After Another is going to win best picture, but I voted for Sinners.” Similar comments were reported in discussions about the Best Director category, where Anderson and Coogler are competing.

In the acting races, Michael B. Jordan’s performance in Sinners appears to have strong backing among voters. Leonardo DiCaprio for One Battle After Another and Ethan Hawke for Blue Moon were also mentioned as contenders in the Best Actor category.

Jessie Buckley’s performance in Hamnet emerged as a widely supported choice in the Best Actress category. Some voters said they watched the film late in the voting period, which may have influenced final ballots.

Supporting actor voting appears split between Delroy Lindo for Sinners, Sean Penn for One Battle After Another and Stellan Skarsgård for Sentimental Value, while the supporting actress category features competition between Amy Madigan for Weapons and Wunmi Mosaku for Sinners.

The Academy Awards ceremony will take place on March 15 and will air on ABC and Hulu.