What are the biggest movies up for awards?
Hi there, I’m Jackson Weaver, a reporter with CBC News’s entertainment unit (and someone who watched more than 400 movies in 2025).
Already an awards darling, Chloé Zhao’s heartbreaking tale of woe Hamnet boasts the fourth most nominations of any film this year. The almost-surefire best actress in a drama win for star Jessie Buckley should set her up for what is already considered a lock at the Oscars. Anything else would surely be one of the biggest upsets of the night.
But competing against it in the best picture (drama) category are some other heavy-hitters: Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein and Ryan Coogler’s Sinners come in as the fifth and third most nominated films, respectively. Sinners and Hamnet are definitely the front-runners here, but it is still anyone’s game.
Meanwhile, a host of non-English language films (The Secret Agent, It Was Just an Accident and Sentimental Value) simply scoring nominations in the category proves a recent rule change allowing them to compete for top prizes has had an effect.
But perhaps most surprisingly, it is the comedy and musical category that houses some of the most talked about films this year. Dark horse Blue Moon has certainly captured the attention of critics, but Marty Supreme and One Battle After Another are the films at the centre of the cultural conversation.
Look closely at which front-runner (Timothée Chalamet for Marty, or Leonardo DiCaprio for One Battle) takes home the best actor award.
The Golden Globes are a notoriously good bellwether for the Academy Awards: in the last 35 years, 26 of the Oscars’ best actor winners had also won that year’s Globes. Only three of those winners came from the comedy category, though; that’s something that could absolutely change depending on who triumphs tonight.