Picture This Oscars 98 Opens the Floodgates to a 201 Film Free for All

MUMBAI: Hollywood’s awards season has officially yelled “action”, and this time the cast list is unusually crowded. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Thursday unveiled a list of 201 feature films eligible for Best Picture consideration at the 98th Academy Awards, setting the stage for what is shaping up to be one of the most wide-open Oscar races in recent memory. The ceremony is scheduled for March 15, to be held at the Beverly Hilton, with Conan O’Brien returning as host.

While the Best Picture field alone runs deep, the scale is even broader. The Academy confirmed that 317 films are eligible across all categories, underlining the sheer volume of theatrical releases that met qualification standards in 2025. Nominations across 24 categories will be announced on January 22, following a voting window for Academy members that runs from January 12 to January 16. The Academy had already released eligibility lists for Best Documentary, Animated Feature and International Feature Film in November, but Thursday’s announcement marked the most expansive reveal.

To make the cut, films were required to open theatrically during calendar year 2025 in at least one of six major US markets Los Angeles County, New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth or Atlanta and complete a minimum seven-day consecutive run in the same venue. As always, only feature-length titles with a running time of over 40 minutes were eligible, a rule that continues to separate cinematic releases from the swelling tide of streaming-first content.

The resulting best picture eligibility list is a cinematic sprawl. Big-ticket franchises such as Avatar: Fire and Ash, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Superman, Jurassic World Rebirth and Zootopia 2 sit alongside prestige dramas, documentaries, animated features and international titles. Indian cinema also makes its presence felt, with films including Kantara: A Legend – Chapter 1, Mahavatar Narsimha and Tanvi the Great among those in contention, reflecting the Academy’s increasingly global theatrical net.

What this list does not do is predict favourites. Oscar history suggests that eligibility is merely the starting line, not a verdict. Many films will fade quietly from the conversation, while a handful will gather momentum through guild awards, critics’ prizes and word of mouth. With the field this large, the race is less about survival of the loudest and more about endurance, consistency and timing.

For now, the Academy’s announcement serves as a reminder of cinema’s scale in a year where theatres fought for relevance and filmmakers chased attention in a fractured marketplace. With 201 Best Picture hopefuls and counting, the road to Oscar night has officially begun, crowded, competitive and, if history is any guide, full of late-breaking plot twists.

Here is the full list of movies eligible for best picture at the 2026 Oscars:

The Accountant 2
The Actor
After the Hunt
All of You
All That’s Left of You
The Alto Knights
The Amateur
Americana
Anaconda
Anemone
Anniversary
The Assessment
Audrey’s Children
Avatar: Fire and Ash
The Bad Guys 2
Ballad of a Small Player
The Ballad of Wallis Island
Ballerina
The Baltimorons
Bau, Artist at War
Becoming Led Zeppelin
Belén
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey
Black Bag
Black Phone 2
Blue Moon
Bob Trevino Likes It
Bone Lake
Bring Her Back
Brownsville Bred
Bugonia
The Carpenter’s Son
Caught Stealing
The Choral
Christy
The Chronology of Water
Companion
The Conjuring: Last Rites
Dead Man’s Wire
Death of a Unicorn
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle
Die My Love
Dog Man
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
Dust Bunny
East of Wall
Echo Valley
Eddington
Eden
Eephus
Eleanor the Great
Elio
Ella McCay
Eternity
Everything’s Going to Be Great
F1
Fackham Hall
Fairyland
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Father Mother Sister Brother
Final Destination: Bloodlines
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2
Folktales
40 Acres
Frankenstein
Freakier Friday
Freaky Tales
The Friend
Friendship
Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie
Good Boy
Good Fortune
Goodbye June
Guns & Moses
Hamnet
Hedda
Hell of a Summer
Highest 2 Lowest
Him
The History of Sound
A House of Dynamite
The Housemaid
How to Train Your Dragon
I Wish You All the Best
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Is This Thing On?
It Was Just an Accident
It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley
Jane Austen Wrecked My Life
Jay Kelly
Jurassic World Rebirth
Kantara: A Legend – Chapter 1
Karate Kid: Legends
Keeper
Kiss of the Spider Woman
The Knife
La Grazia
Last Breath
Left-Handed Girl
The Legend of Ochi
The Life of Chuck
Lilly
Lilo & Stitch
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
The Long Walk
The Lost Bus
Love Hurts
Love Me
The Luckiest Man in America
Magazine Dreams
Mahavatar Narsimha
The Man in My Basement
Marty Supreme
Materialists
M3GAN 2.0
Mickey 17
A Minecraft Movie
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
The Monkey
My Dead Friend Zoe
The Naked Gun
No Other Choice
Nobody 2
Nouvelle Vague
Novocaine
Now You See Me: Now You Don’t
Nuremberg
Oh, Hi!
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl
On Swift Horses
One Battle After Another
100 Nights of Hero
One of Them Days
One to One: John and Yoko
Opus
Orwell 2+2=5
Paddington in Peru
Peter Hujar’s Day
The Phoenician Scheme
The Plague
Plainclothes
Preparation for the Next Life
Presence
Prime Minister
Rebuilding
Regretting You
Relay
Rental Family
Resurrection
Roofman
Rosemead
The Roses
Rule Breakers
The Running Man
The Ruse
Scarlet
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
She Rides Shotgun
Sheepdog
Shelby Oaks
The Shrouds
Sinners
Sirāt
Sister Midnight
Sisu: Road to Revenge
Sketch
The Smashing Machine
Song Sung Blue
Sorry, Baby
Soul on Fire
Sovereign
Spinal Tap II: The End Continues
Splitsville
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere
Steve
The Summer Book
Superman
Tanvi the Great
Tetami
The Testament of Ann Lee
Thunderbolts*
Together
Tourist Family
Train Dreams
Trifole
Truth & Treason
28 Years Later
Twinless
The Ugly Stepsister
Urchin
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Warfare
Weapons
The Wedding Banquet
Wicked: For Good
Wolf Man
The Woman in the Yard
Zootopia 2