Oscars 2027: Which Movies Could be Top Contenders?
With the 2026 Academy Awards finally behind us, all that’s left to do is make a customary punt at what might end up in the Best Picture race in 2027 — after which we can stop thinking about awards season, at least for the next five months or so.
Granted, by the way things’ve been going lately, there’s every chance that some of the 2027 Oscar nominees have already premiered in places like Sundance and Berlin — or, if Sinners is anything to go by, in your local multiplex — but aside from a few notable summer blockbusters, the majority will still likely pop up in places like Cannes and at the Autumn shindigs in Venice and Toronto.
Before we get to the main contenders, we can note a few movies that just missed the cut in our blind ranking: Project Hail Mary already looks like a home run, but studio genre movies from this part of the year rarely have the legs to go deep into awards season — but on the other hand: Sinners. Similar things could be said about Michael, but it’s yet to be seen how much that film will engage with the thornier parts of the singer’s life. The Adventures of Cliff Booth, on the other hand, looks like it could be quite excellent, but, given that it's a sequel, it also might be more likely to feature in a race like supporting actor (Elisabeth Debicki?) or some ‘below-the-line’ stuff.
A little farther afield, Asghar Farhadi’s Parallel Tales could be meaty, but there’s still a little too much controversy around the director since the recent accusations of plagiarism around his previous film. Joel Coen’s Jack of Spades might have the juice, but neither brother has quite captured the imagination with their solo projects so far. Gerwig’s Narnia movie on Netflix should not be underestimated, but it is still a Narnia movie on Netflix. And last but not least, there is Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial, which looks nothing if not topical but is perhaps a little too close to another movie that did make our list.
Read on to discover more about the ten films we expect will be nominated for Best Picture at next year’s Academy Awards, and use the guide below to keep track of when and where to see them. More info as we get it.
The great Cristopher Nolan, coming off the back of a billion dollar-earning, best-picture winning Oppenheimer, with a movie based on one of the most important texts of all time (and yes, Homer is currently credited as co-writer on IMDb), that basically has every living A-list actor in it, and will likely make even more than its predecessor at the box office?
Yep. You can pretty much bet your house on The Odyssey being in the running next year.
Release date: July 17, 2026
Denis Villeneuve’s soon-to-be-trilogy of Dune movies has already received a combined 15 nominations at the Oscars, including Best Picture nods for both films in the sequence so far. All eight of the franchise’s wins from those nominations, however, have come in technical or ‘below-the-line’ categories — with the “biggest” arguably going for the first movie’s cinematography and score.
Given all we know about the story of Dune: Part Three (which is largely being adapted from Frank Herbert’s sequel, Dune Messiah), it’s unlikely that this climatic installment will be treated to the same valedictory victory lap that Peter Jackson enjoyed with Return of the King, but it would be a huge shock if it wasn’t at least amongst the ten nominations come next spring.
Release date: December 18, 2026
The only thing standing in the way of Steven Spielberg ending up in the Best Picture race for the 14th time (16th if you count his producer credits on Hamnet and Maestro) is the fact that his upcoming movie, Disclosure Day, is both a summertime blockbuster and a work of science fiction.
In fact, you have to go all the way back to E.T. for the last time the director was recognised for a film that didn’t roughly take place in reality and in the present day. Thankfully, by the look of the trailer, this hotly anticipated Josh O’Connor vehicle looks to be more in the region of his earlier, original idea movies like Close Encounters and A.I. (the latter of which would surely have made the cut in the era of ten nominations). We will have to wait patiently and see.
Release date: June 11, 2026
The latest movie from two-time Best Director winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu, titled Digger, looks like it will probably premier at one of the autumn festivals (my money’s on Venice) where its lead actor, Tom Cruise, will likely be standing-ovationed to within an inch of his life for deigning to grace a non action film with his presence for the first time in 20 years — depending on how you slice it.
Cruise will be hoping that Iñárritu will be able to get him into the conversation for a long-overdue Oscar just as he did for Michael Keaton with Birdman and DiCaprio with The Revenant. That will be a whole other saga, but barring a total catastrophe, this one looks like a safe bet to make the final ten next year.
Release date: Late 2026
As we mentioned above, there’s every chance that the Academy might find space for both Guadagnino’s Artificial (a film about OpenAI founder Sam Altman) and Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Reckoning — a spiritual sequel to The Social Network starring Jeremy Strong and Mikey Madison — in the final ten, but if there can only be one, it will likely be the latter.
Sorkin, of course, wrote the Oscar-winning script to David Fincher’s modern classic. When it comes to directing, it’s fair to say he is not on Fincher’s level. That said, wherever Sorkin’s dialogue goes, nominations tend to follow. If this one goes above 75% on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s probably getting in.
Release date: Late 2026
Given how fun and accessible Ruben Östlund’s movies have been to date, it’s almost shocking that the two-time Palme d’Or winner has yet to win a single Oscar. Triangle of Sadness earned him his first nominations for Picture and Director, but ended up as an also-ran that year. In 2018, The Square lost out on Best Foreign Language due to a timely win for A Fantastic Woman. His awesome 2014 breakout, Force Majeure, wasn’t even nominated.
The director’s latest farce, The Entertainment System is Down, looks like his most Hollywood-friendly film to date — the cast includes Kirsten Dunst, Keanu Reeves and Woody Harrelson — but the Academy rarely honours comedy, even the kind that’s elevated to high-brow satire. If Östlund breaks his duck, it will probably be for Screenplay, but a nomination for Best Picture wouldn’t be surprising.
Release date: Late 2026
I can’t really say how Belgian people feel about In Bruges, but it was pretty clear that a lot of Americans took issue with Three Billboards, just as some Irish people weren’t too keen on The Banshees of Inisherin. Not to worry, those three films racked up a combined 17 nominations at the Oscars, so it would be silly to bet against Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine adding to that tally next year.
For this one, the writer-director’s roving eye has taken him to the brutal coup that rocked Chile in 1973. Shot on location in Santiago and, tantalisingly, on Easter Island, the movie will reunite the director with Sam Rockwell (an Oscar winner for Billboards) in a cast that also features Steve Buscemi, John Malkovich and Parker Posey. The only thing holding it back might be a potential tonal proximity to the director’s Seven Psychopaths — his only project so far that failed to register with the Academy.
Release date: Late 2026
If you’re one of the most beloved fashion designers of your generation, with a net worth now solidly in the 10 figures, you can be forgiven for taking a little time between your side hustle projects as a celebrated filmmaker.
Tom Ford has so far directed both Colin Firth and Michael Shannon to acting nominations, in 2009’s A Single Man and 2016’s Nocturnal Animals, respectively, but missed out on a personal nomination on both occasions. Boasting an all-star cast (Nicolas Hoult, Hunter Shafer, Colin Firth and Adele(!!) all feature) and based on an Anne Rice novel set in the world of 18th-century Italian opera (sorry Timmy), Cry to Heaven, his first film in a decade, looks likely to buck that trend.
Release date: Late 2026
Cristian Mungiu won one of the all-time great Palme d’Ors in 2007 when 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days rose to the occasion and became the crowning achievement of the ascendant Romanian New Wave. Since then, the formidable and highly political filmmaker has stayed close to home with subsequent (and also excellent) films — Beyond the Hills, Graduation, and R.M.N. — at least until now.
The director’s latest, the Norwegian-set thriller Fjörd, looks likely to make Mungiu a contender in Cannes this year and — with two recent Oscar-nominees, Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan, in the lead roles — could easily propel Mungiu to the biggest awards race of them all.
Release date: Late 2026
Despite being a great champion of a classical style of period filmmaking and directing eight beloved features in the last 30 years, some of which had the-then considerable backing of a certain Harvey Weinstein, it’s surprising how little love James Grey has received from the Academy over the years.
Despite the director’s clear ability to cast incredible actors and draw remarkable performances in films that are gorgeously shot, costumed and produced, Grey’s movies have yet to score a single nomination in any category aside from a lone Sound Mixing nod for Ad Astra. His latest, Paper Tiger — a typically Grey-sounding familial crime drama starring Scarlett Johansson, Miles Teller and Adam Driver — will hopefully be the one to change his fortunes.
Release date: Late 2026
