The 2026 Golden Globe nominations were unveiled on Monday morning, giving the 2026 Oscar race a bit more shape and consideration.

Sure, this Globes group looks radically different compared to years past; the Globes have never been the best barometer for where the Academy is, but a harder slant into arthouse fare has reshaped how we look at the pre-Oscars awards ceremony.

Golden Globes snubs: Wicked, Avatar among big losers in 2026 noms

What are our big takeaways from this year's Golden Globe nominations as this all pertains to the 2026 Academy Awards? Rather than go through everything we noticed, we picked out five talking points of merit.

What's the frontrunner for Best Picture right now? Which films are losing steam? Let's analyze it all.

One Battle After Another is the Best Picture frontrunner

After leading the Golden Globes in overall nominations, One Battle After Another further solidified itself as the Oscar frontrunner for Best Picture. It's probably going to be a One Battle party in January at the Globes ceremony, as Paul Thomas Anderson, Leonardo DiCaprio and maybe even Tenaya Taylor and composer Jonny Greenwood could all get their first major speeches in to curry favor for their Oscar campaigns. Consider this the film to beat right now.

The big international films should be taken very seriously

The Academy's continual embrace of international films in top categories shouldn't be discounted this year, especially after the Golden Globes embraced Sentimental Value, The Secret Agent and It Was Just an Accident the way it did with multiple nominations for each film. All three could feasibly make it into Best Picture at this point and snag nominations across the board. Jafar Panahi making it into Best Director at the Globes in particular is notable.

Wicked: For Good and Avatar: Fire and Ash are melting

Could we miss out on a franchise blockbuster in Best Picture altogether? The two biggest contenders, Wicked: For Good and Avatar: Fire and Ash, missed out on feature nominations in musical or comedy and drama, respectively, with the Globes. That's wildly against Globes history and has us thinking about what may be in store for the Oscars. Neither film feels like a safe bet for Best Picture right now, to be perfectly honest with you.

Don't count out The Smashing Machine in the acting categories

Christopher Nolan being such a passionate defender of The Smashing Machine has stuck with me. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Emily Blunt both securing Globes nominations for their performances in the Benny Safdie MMA biopic makes me wonder if there might be more support for this film behind the scenes. If a titanic auteur like Nolan is so loudly in the film's corner, don't be shocked if Johnson and Blunt pick up steam for Oscar nominations.

Frankenstein feels like Netflix's safest film for Best Picture

Frankenstein and Nouvelle Vauge are the only Netflix films that registered nominations with the Globes in their top film categories, the latter making it into the less-predictive musical or comedy category. Guillermo del Toro's monster movie did quite well for itself, snagging nominations in best drama, best actor in a drama for Oscar Isaac, best supporting actor for Jacob Elordi and best original score for Alexandre Desplat. While Jay Kelly and Train Dreams both got left out for best film recognition in their respective genres, Frankenstein made it. Factoring in this and the Academy's fierce love for del Toro, Frankenstein is probably Netflix's strongest Oscar contender right now.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Oscar takeaways from the 2026 Golden Globe nominations

Reporting by Cory Woodroof, For The Win / For The Win

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