Ahead of the 98th Academy Awards, VegasInsider.com has collected a list of 50+ records that could be broken at the 2026 ceremony. See the full entries in detail below of marks that could be broken at the 2026 Oscars. They are divided into the award categories.
OVERALL
“Sinners”, which already broke the record for the most Oscar nominations received in one year by a film (16 nominations), could also break the record for the most Oscars won in one night, which is currently jointly held with 11 wins each by “Ben-Hur”, “Titanic” & “The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King”; the record for the most wins could also be broken by “One Battle After Another”, which received 13 nominations (however, 2 of those are in one category, so unless a rare occurrence of a tie happens, they can win up to 12 awards)
“Sinners” is the third film to ever feature black nominees for both Best Supporting Actor (Delroy Lindo) and Best Supporting Actress (Wunmi Mosaku) – if both of them managed to win, that would make it the first time in history (in the past, “Moonlight” and “Dreamgirls” earned nominations in both categories but only one of the actors went on to win the Oscar in both of those instances). Meanwhile, it is the second film to ever feature black nominees for both Best Actor (Michael B. Jordan) and Best Supporting Actor (Delroy Lindo) – once again, if both of them managed to win, that would make it the first time in history (in the past, “American Fiction” earned nominations in both categories but neither of the actors won in their respective categories)
“Sentimental Value” could break the record for the most Oscars won in one night by a non-English language film – “Sentimental Value” received 9 nominations at the 2026 Oscars and the current record is jointly held with 4 wins by 4 movies (“Fanny and Alexander”, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, “Parasite” & “All Quiet On The Western Front”); the record could also be tied by “The Secret Agent”, which received 4 nominations at the 2026 Oscars
Sean Penn (nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category for “One Battle After Another”) could become only the fourth male actor to ever win 3 acting Oscars, joining Daniel Day-Lewis, Jack Nicholson and Walter Brennan – Penn previously won in the Best Actor category for “Milk” & “Mystic River”
Amy Madigan (nominated for “Weapons” in the Best Supporting Actress category) could set a new record for an actress with the longest gap between a first nomination and a first victory at the Oscars – if she wins in 2026, it would be 40 years and 1 month after her first Oscar nomination, which she received for “Twice In A Lifetime” at the 58th Oscars (the current record holder amongst actresses is Geraldine Page who won for “The Trip To Bountiful” at the 1986 Oscars 32 years,1 month after her first nomination for “Hondo” at the 1954 Oscars)
BEST PICTURE
Dede Gardner & Jeremy Kleiner (nominated for “F1”) could tie the record for the most wins in the Best Picture category – the current record is held jointly by Sam Spiegel & Saul Zaentz with 3 wins and Gardner & Kleiner won two times in the past, so a win in 2026 would be their third; additionally, by winning, Dede Gardner would become the first woman to win 3 Best Picture Oscars
Timothée Chalamet (nominated for “Marty Supreme”) could become the first male actor to ever win for acting and producing in the same evening, and only the second individual to ever do so, joining Frances McDormand who won for both acting and producing “Nomadland” in 2021; Emma Stone (nominated for “Bugonia”) could also join Frances McDormand as only the second actress to ever win for producing and acting in one evening
Ryan Coogler (nominated for “Sinners”) could become the first black director to ever win for both directing and producing in one evening; additionally, Ryan Coogler and Zinzi Coogler could join Steve McQueen as the only black producers to ever win in the Best Picture category, which would also make Zinzi Coogler the first black woman to win in the category
“Sentimental Value” or “The Secret Agent” could become only the second non-English language film to win Best Picture, joining “Parasite”
Guillermo Del Toro (nominated for “Frankenstein”) could become the first Latin producer to win multiple times in the Best Picture category – he first won for “The Shape Of Water”
Three individuals could become the first Nordic winners in the Best Picture category ever – Norway’s Maria Ekerhovd & Andrea Berentsen Ottmar are nominated for co-producing “Sentimental Value” while Lars Knudsen, who is Danish, could win for co-producing “Bugonia”; meanwhile, Ireland’s Ed Guiney & Andrew Lowe, who are also nominated for co-producing “Bugonia” could become the first Irish winners in the Best Picture category
BEST DIRECTOR
Ryan Coogler (nominated for “Sinners”) could become the first black director to win in the Best Director category – Coogler is the 7th black director to earn a Best Director nomination at the Oscars
Chloé Zhao (nominated for “Hamnet”) could become the first woman to ever win on multiple occasions in the Best Director category – she first won in 2021 for “Nomadland” – in contrast, 21 male directors managed to win multiple times in the Best Director category; additionally, by winning, Zhao would join Ang Lee as only the second Asian director to ever win multiple times in the Best Director category and Zhao could also set a new record by becoming the first Chinese to win three (or four if she also wins for screenplay) Oscars
Joachim Trier (nominated for “Sentimental Value”) could become the first Nordic director to ever win in the Best Director category – Trier is Danish-Norwegian
BEST ACTOR
Wagner Moura (nominated for “The Secret Agent”) could become the first Brazilian to win in the Best Actor category and the first Brazilian to win in any acting category
Leonardo DiCaprio (nominated for “One Battle After Another”) could join a rare group of 11 actors who managed to win multiple times in the Best Actor category – he first won in 2016 for “The Revenant”
Michael B. Jordan (nominated for “Sinners”) could become the first individual to win in the Best Actor category for playing twins – in “Sinners”, he plays both Smoke and Stack
BEST ACTRESS
Jessie Buckley (nominated for “Hamnet”) could become the first Irish actress to ever win in the Best Actress category
Renate Reinsve (nominated for “Sentimental Value”) could become the first Norwegian actress to ever win in the Best Actress category (and the first Norwegian to win for any acting performance unless her co-star, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, wins earlier in the evening in the Best Supporting Actress category)
Emma Stone (nominated for “Bugonia”) could become only the third actress to ever win 3 times in the Best Actress category, joining Katharine Hepburn (4 wins) & Frances McDormand (3 wins) – Stone previously won for “La La Land” & “Poor Things”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Stellan Skarsgård (nominated for “Sentimental Value”) could become the first Swedish actor to ever win in the Best Supporting Actor category; additionally, by winning, Skarsgård would also become the first Swedish male actor to ever win an Oscar for acting and the first Nordic male actor to do so
Benicio del Toro (nominated for “One Battle After Another”) could become the first Puerto Rican actor to win multiple Oscars (and only the second Latin actor to do so, joining Mexican-American actor Anthony Quinn who won two Oscars in the Best Supporting Actor category) – Benicio del Toro won his first Oscar in the Best Supporting Actor category for “Traffic” in 2001; additionally, by winning, Benicio del Toro would join a rare group of 8 actors who managed to win multiple times in the Best Supporting Actor category at the Oscars
Delroy Lindo (nominated for “Sinners”) could become the first male actor to ever win an acting Oscar without being nominated for any of the 4 major preceding awards ceremonies during the awards season (Critics’ Choice Awards, Golden Globes, BAFTAs & Actor Awards); the only individual who managed to do so (since all of the award shows were established) is Marcia Gay Harden who won in the Best Supporting Actress category for “Pollock” at the 2001 Oscars without being nominated for any other awards that season
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Wunmi Mosaku (nominated for “Sinners”) could become the first Nigerian actress to ever win in Best Supporting Actress category – Mosaku is Nigerian-British and she was born in Zaria, Nigeria; by winning, Mosaku would also become the first Nigerian to ever win an Oscar (in any category)
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (nominated for “Sentimental Value”) could become the first Norwegian actress to ever win in the Best Supporting Actress category (and the first Norwegian to win for any acting performance)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Autumn Durald Arkapaw (nominated for “Sinners”) could become the first woman to ever win in the Best Cinematography category, as well as the first black cinematographer to ever win
Adolpho Veloso (nominated for “Train Dreams”) could become the first Brazilian to win in the Best Cinematography category
Darius Khondji (nominated for “Marty Supreme”) could become the first Iranian to win in the Best Cinematography category – Khondji is Iranian-French and he was born in Tehran
Dan Lausten (nominated for “Frankenstein”) could become the first Danish cinematographer to ever win in the Best Cinematography category
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Jafar Panahi, Shadmehr Rastin, Nader Saïvar & Mehdi Mahmoudian (nominated for co-writing “It Was Just An Accident”) could become the first Iranian writers to win in the Best Original Screenplay category
Joachim Trier & Eskil Vogt (nominated for co-writing “Sentimental Value”) could become the first Nordic writers to win in the Best Original Screenplay category – Trier is Danish-Norwegian while Vogt is Norwegian
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Chloé Zhao (nominated for “Hamnet”) could become the first Asian woman to ever win in the Best Adapted Screenplay category; additionally, Zhao would become the first Chinese writer to ever win an Oscar in either of the writing categories
Guillermo Del Toro (nominated for “Frankenstein”) could become the first Mexican (and the first Latin) writer to ever win in the Best Adapted Screenplay category
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
By winning her third Oscar in the Best Costume Design category, Ruth E. Carter (nominated for “Sinners”) would extend her record as the black woman with the most Oscars won – she won twice in the past for “Black Panter” & “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”
Malgosia Turzanska (nominated for “Train Dreams”) could become the first Polish costume designer to ever win in the Best Costume Design category at the Oscars
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Hannah Beachler (nominated for “Sinners”) could become the first black woman to win twice in the Best Production Design category and only the second black woman to ever win multiple competitive Oscars, joining Ruth E. Carter – Beachler previously won for “Black Panther”
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Dianne Warren (nominated for “Dear Me”) could get rid of her record as the most nominated individual without a win in the Best Original Song category (and overall) – “Dear Me” is Warren’s record-breaking 17th nomination but she has yet to win (even though she did win an Honorary Oscar). Having said that, if she does not win, Warren will officially break her tie with Greg P. Russell, and she will become the sole holder of the record for the most nominations without a win with 17 nominations. As a side note, Warren has already set another record by becoming the first individual to earn an Oscar nomination in the Best Original Song category for 9 consecutive years – her current run started in 2018, making 2026 her 9th consecutive nomination, thus breaking her previous tie with Sammy Cahn, who earned 8 consecutive nominations in the category between 1955 and 1962
Ejae, 24, Ido & Teddy Park (nominated for co-writing “Golden”) could become the first South Koreans to win in the Best Original Song category; additionally, “Golden” could become a first K-Pop song to win an Oscar
Ludwig Göransson (nominated for “I Lied To You”) could become the first Swedish songwriter to win in the Best Original Song category
BEST EDITING
Olivier Bugge Coutté (nominated for “Sentimental Value”) could become the first Danish editor to ever win in the Best Editing category at the Oscars
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Kazu Hiro (nominated for “The Smashing Machine”) could become the first Japanese to win 3 competitive Oscars – Hiro was born in Kyoto, Japan and he previously won for “Bombshell” & “Darkest Hour”
Thomas Foldberg & Anne Cathrine Sauerberg (nominated for “The Ugly Stepsister”) could become the first Danish (and the first Nordic) makeup artists to win an Oscar
BEST SOUND
Felipe Pacheco (nominated for “Sinners”) could become the first individual winner from Costa Rica to win an Oscar
BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE
Norway (“Sentimental Value”) or Tunisia (“The Voice Of Hind Rajab”) could win their first Oscar in the Best International Feature category at the Oscars
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Alysa Payne (nominated for “The Perfect Neighbor”) could become the first black woman to ever win in the Best Documentary Feature category at the Oscars
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Christalyn Hampton (nominated for “The Devil Is Busy”) could become the first black woman to ever win in the Best Documentary Short Subject category at the Oscars
Juan Arredondo (nominated for “Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud”) could become the first Colombian to ever win an Oscar
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Natalie Portman (nominated as a co-producer of “Arco”) could become the first individual to win in the Best Animated Feature category following a win in one of the acting categories – Portman won in 2011 in the Best Actress In A Leading Role category for “Black Swan”
Maggie Kang & Michelle L.M. Wong (nominated for “K-Pop Demon Hunters”) could become the first individuals of South Korean descent to ever win in the Best Animated Feature category
Domee Shi (nominated for “Elio”) could become the first individual of Chinese descent to ever win in the Best Animated Feature category – Shi was born in Chongqing, China
Byron Howard (nominated for “Zootopia 2”) could tie the record of Pete Docter for the most wins in the Best Animated Feature category (3 wins) – Howard previously won for “Encanto” and the first “Zootopia”
“Zootopia” could become only the second franchise (following “Toy Story”) to win multiple Oscars in the Best Animated Feature category if “Zootopia 2” wins in 2026
Pixar could extend its record as the studio with the most wins in the Best Animated Feature category – “Elio” could be its 12th victory in the category
