Oscars 2027 nomination predictions: Which stars will be nominated at the 99th Academy Awards?
Oscars 2027 nomination predictions: Which stars will be nominated at the 99th Academy Awards?
Joey NolfiThu, October 29, 2026 at 1:00 PM UTC
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2027 Oscar nominations predictions: Early contenders include Anne Hathaway, Penélope Cruz, and moreCredit: Universal Pictures; Carla Oset/Netflix; Warner BrosKey Points -
Entertainment Weekly’s nomination predictions for the 99th Academy Awards are here.
Top acting contenders so far include Julianne Moore, Inde Navarrette, Tom Cruise, Jaafar Jackson, and more.
The Odyssey, La Bola Negra, You Can See Everything, The Invite, and others are among the major Best Picture contenders.
Another battle for awards glory (and Oscar nominations) is shaping up in the shadow of One Battle After Another’s Best Picture reign.
From the sea-spanning tale of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey to Julianne Moore’s heroic turn as a suburban housewife who finds her voice as an actress in Jesse Eisenberg’s festival favorite The Debut, the roster of major contenders shaping up at this early stage is as eclectic as the ensemble cast of A-list stars in Denis Villeneuve’s likely Best Picture nominee, Dune: Part Three.
Though there are still four months until the 99th Academy Awards, Entertainment Weekly has assembled an early list of Oscar nomination predictions, including our picks for who will be nominated in major categories for acting, directing, and the coveted Best Picture prize.
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Ahead of the Jan. 21 Oscar nominations announcement, read on for EW’s full list of nomination predictions, updating as often as the race changes in the coming weeks.
Matt Damon as Odysseus and Zendaya as Athena in ‘The Odyssey’Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal StudiosBest Picture
Box office might and an epic haul of past awards season honors bolsters Christopher Nolan’s bid for yet another Best Picture victory this year. While The Odyssey pulled off a heroic feat in courting positive critical reaction and a titanic haul at the global box office, it also went over well in acting circles thanks to its incredible ensemble cast. From Anne Hathaway (more on her later) to Matt Damon, John Leguizamo, Charlize Theron, Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland, and Zendaya, the film is packed with star power — and that means more wattage juicing up the film’s campaign on the trail.
La Bola Negra, however, has steadily risen through the ranks of festival season to become a major threat to The Odyssey’s reign. While its starry supporting cast (Penélope Cruz, Glenn Close) gives the film broader appeal, it seems to succeed on the strength of its storytelling and direction, with former Drag Race España judges Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi crafting a timely story of queer resilience that could latch on to bound ahead as the race progresses.
Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut is also an industry-focused tale with wide appeal across Hollywood circles, so it shouldn’t have too tough a battle entering the category strong.
All eyes are on Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s Elizabeth Holmes documentary You Can See Everything, however, as its trailblazing commercial success and chokehold on the current pop culture conversation have it skyrocketing up our predictions list — enough so that we think it will likely become the first-ever documentary to be nominated for Best Picture in the Academy’s nearly 100-year history.
The Odyssey
La Bola Negra
The Debut
The Invite
Wild Horse Nine
You Can See Everything
All of a Sudden
Dune: Part Three
Elsinore
Michael
In contention: Project Hail Mary; Fjord; Digger; I Play Rocky; Obsession; Artificial; Being Heumann
Christopher Nolan directing ‘The Odyssey’Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal PicturesBest Director
The battle for the top spot in Best Director is shaping up to be a war of ideals: Will the Academy go for a filmmaker whose commercial power and broad appeal help keep Hollywood afloat, or two mainstream newcomers whose singular storytelling boosted their international project into the global spotlight?
Nolan’s hot streak with the Academy (and at the box office) is no small feat; he’s released two giant smashes in Oppenheimer and The Odyssey in just over three years. Though he’s expected to emerge victorious in this category for now, that could be the very thing that leads to his undoing: Nolan is the obvious choice at this stage, and some members might want to stray and cast their vote for emerging artists such as Calvo and Ambrossi over a tried-and-true industry staple.
As You Can See Everything creeps up our predictions list in Best Picture, so, too, do directors Fielder and Oppenheim in the Best Director category. Their singular stamp on a work of non-fiction has a great deal to do with the film’s broader appeal.
While many aren’t predicting him for now, also expect Eisenberg’s appeal as a star to work in his favor on the campaign trail, while The Debut (about a suburban housewife who finds her voice through a role in a local theater production) will also hold major weight with those working in the entertainment industry at all levels.
Christopher Nolan, The Odyssey
Javier Ambossi and Javier Calvo, La Bola Negra
Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, You Can See Everything
Ryusuke Hamaguchi, All of a Sudden
Jesse Eisenberg, The Debut
In contention: Olivia Wilde, The Invite; Martin McDonagh, Wild Horse Nine; Cristian Mungiu, Fjord; Denis Villeneuve, Dune: Part Three; Lee Chang-dong, Possible Love; Alejandro González Iñárritu, Digger
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Andrew Scott in ‘Elsinore’Credit: Anthony Dickenson/Focus FeaturesBest Actor
Two things awards voters traditionally love are tragic tales and self-reflexive stories about the entertainment industry. Elsinore is both. The Simon Stone movie revolves around Andrew Scott’s portrayal of late Chariots of Fire actor Ian Charleson’s final days as he prepared to star in Hamlet while dying of AIDS. The film’s emotional core is strong enough to hook any viewer, and Scott’s performance is more moving than virtually any other from a leading man this calendar year — plus, the fact that Scott is a gay man playing a queer character adds further credibility to his bid, as the industry has long pushed for more equity in LGBTQ people representing stories from their own community on the big screen.
Rounding out the category will likely be Tom Cruise, whose work in Digger didn’t win over audiences or critics, though Hollywood elites welcomed it (and the film at large) with open arms thanks to the film’s big-swing themes and director Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s larger-than-life approach to the craft. Cruise’s showy work will undoubtedly have its vocal supporters on the trail this season, so expect to see him pop up among SAG’s Actor Awards nominations and at the celeb-loving Golden Globes this year.
Andrew Scott, Elsinore
Matt Damon, The Odyssey
John Malkovich, Wild Horse Nine
Jaafar Jackson, Michael
Tom Cruise, Digger
In contention: Sebastian Stan, Fjord; Ryan Gosling, Project Hail Mary; John Turturro, The Only Living Pickpocket in New York; Anthony Ippolito, I Play Rocky
Julianne Moore in ‘The Debut’Credit: A24Best Actress
At this early stage, gauging the Best Actress category is merely a matter of figuring out who’s going to pad out the category that Julianne Moore is primed to win for the second time in her career. The Debut is a locked-and-loaded awards contender that’ll hit industry personnel square in the heart. Its tale of a suburban housewife who finds her voice through auditioning for a local musical is a hilarious, moving, darkly poignant meditation on the acting process that’s endlessly relatable in industry circles.
With that out of the way, Obsession breakout Inde Navarrette feels like a more obvious runner-up than most people might think. Obsession is an undeniable commercial smash, a rare indie-turned-blockbuster that not only flexed the financial might of the horror genre, but also Navarrette’s appeal as a performer. Much of Obsession’s success can be attributed to the future X-Men series star’s work in the film, from mere praise for her bone-rattling work to widely shared memes prominently featuring her ace facial contortions and horrifying delivery of the movie’s signature lines. SAG and the Globes will go wild for her and bolster her standing as perhaps the strongest challenger to Moore’s hold on the category.
Olivia Wilde and Virginie Efira feel like shoo-ins for spots three and four on the list, and 2025 first-time nominee Renate Reinsve’s dramatic appeal should be enough to push her into the category at No. 5 thanks to her work in the Cannes powerhouse Fjord. But, as for Anatomy of a Fall nominee Sandra Hüller, a smaller distributor (Mubi) dampens her chances at squeezing in for now. And, yes, we know Demi Moore’s The Substance succeeded with Mubi as well, but Rose hardly has the headline-making comeback narrative and commercially charged, buzzy premise to warrant a prediction for its star just yet.
Julianne Moore, The Debut
Inde Navarrette, Obsession
Olivia Wilde, The Invite
Virginie Efira, All of a Sudden
Renate Reinsve, Fjord
In contention: Sandra Hüller, Rose; Ruth Madeley, Being Heumann; Jeon Do-yeon, Possible Love; Léa Seydoux, Gentle Monster; Zendaya, The Drama and Dune: Part Three
Guitarricadelafuente as Sebastián in ‘La Bola Negra’Credit: Carla Oset/NetflixBest Supporting Actor
Practice the name now, because Guitarricadelafuente is going to be on the tip of everyone’s tongue by the end of awards season. The breakout star has earned raves at the center of La Bola Negra. The only newcomer amid our predicted five, the performer faces competition from a roster of Hollywood vets, including a mix of past Oscar winners and nominees, as well as Leguizamo, who previously won an Emmy.
For now, Giamatti’s weighty turn as a prickly theater director in The Debut feels like the strongest challenger to Guitarricadelafuente’s meteoric rise through the ranks, but keep an eye out for Leguizamo, whose turn in The Odyssey will end the season as by far the most-viewed performance of the bunch — and, especially in a year where there’s a severe lack of diverse contenders in the mix, his nomination will mean something amid a slate that desperately needs a broader mix of stars.
Guitarricadelafuente, La Bola Negra
Paul Giamatti, The Debut
Andrew Garfield, Artificial
John Leguizamo, The Odyssey
Sam Rockwell, Wild Horse Nine
In contention: Edward Norton, The Invite; Colman Domingo, Michael; Adam Driver, Paper Tiger; Mark Ruffalo, Being Heumann
Mia Goth and Anne Hathaway in ‘The Odyssey’Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal PicturesBest Supporting Actress
Most actors (except for, say, Zendaya) can only dream of having the kind of year that Hathaway did in 2026. She started off strong on the prestige circuit with the buzzy Mother Mary, then kicked things into high gear with her highly anticipated blockbuster sequel The Devil Wears Prada 2, battled dinosaurs in the campy thriller The End of Oak Street, and built buzz via her adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel Verity.
While she was singled out for her work in each of the aforementioned projects, her performance in The Odyssey courted some of the most substantial praise the star has received 14 years after winning her first Oscar for Les Misérables.
Hot on her tail is La Bola Negra and The Invite actress Cruz, who will likely be the first person in Oscars history to contend in the same category for two different performances (thanks to a recent rule change). Samantha Morton’s scene-stealing turn in The Odyssey feels like an obvious choice at this stage as well, while Tao Okamoto has built a steady stream of support ever since All of a Sudden wowed audiences at Cannes earlier this year.
Anne Hathaway, The Odyssey
Penélope Cruz, La Bola Negra
Penélope Cruz, The Invite
Samantha Morton, The Odyssey
Tao Okamoto, All of a Sudden
In contention: Sandra Hüller, Project Hail Mary; Olivia Colman, Elsinore; Mariana di Girolamo, Wild Horse Nine
on Entertainment Weekly
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