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Although the 2026 Critics Selection Awards actually felt enterprise as traditional, with comic Chelsea Handler internet hosting for the fourth straight yr on the ceremony’s third consecutive yr on the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, they did additionally symbolize the continuing identification disaster that almost all televised awards exhibits are presently dealing with.
Whereas a lot has been mentioned by the group right here at IndieWire about SAG’s Actors Awards now streaming on Netflix and the Oscars heading to YouTube in 2029, essentially the most urgent factor concerning the Critics Selection Awards shouldn’t be its broadcast companion as a lot because it’s the ceremony’s relationship to the Golden Globes.
How that comes up instantly is that this go-round, the exhibits swapped weekends, in order that the Critics Selection Awards turned the primary main televised awards present of the yr. For attendees, the advantage of that’s to re-enter awards season off of vacation break in a extra informal setting (once more, this awards present is inside a hangar, the Golden Globes are on the Beverly Hilton’s Worldwide Ballroom).
There’s a degree of reduction on the organizer’s aspect too, provided that, simply two years in the past, the CCAs have been jam-packed right into a marathon week of awards exhibits that had been delayed by the strikes. Final yr, the ceremony was delayed till February, a lot additional into Oscars season due to the Los Angeles wildfires. The latter ended up working to the present’s profit, as “Anora” successful Greatest Image began the tide shift that clued everybody in on the movie being the Oscars frontrunner.
This time, being first out the gate, the CCAs bought to set the tone the best way that the Globes normally do, and right here lies that identification disaster.
Each awards are voted on by leisure journalists, with the Golden Globes having extra of a global focus than the broadly American voting physique for Critics Selection. Again within the extra controversial years, earlier than its 2023 revamp, the Golden Globes had a status for being extra populist, wanting to offer their awards to essentially the most well-known awards contenders, whereas Critics Selection developed a status because the awards present that was extra predictive of who would win the Oscars.
Nonetheless, simply as they switched present dates this yr, Golden Globes and CCAs have additionally switched what the notion of what their winners are. Take into account this: the Golden Globes leaning into being the extra worldwide awards physique places them extra in tune with the Academy Awards.
The love for “I’m Nonetheless Right here” specifically was very influential on Oscars voters, particularly when, because of the fires, they got extra time to look at movies earlier than selecting nominees. However the wins for fellow Worldwide Function “Emilia Peréz” have been additionally a bellwether for what was to come back.
In the meantime, the 2025 Critics Selection Awards winners have been far more unfold out, and arguably extra populist, with the most important shock being that “Depraved” helmer Jon M. Chu received Greatest Director. He would go on to not even be nominated on the Oscars for guiding the primary half of the current film musical field workplace phenomenon.
When put within the place to develop the momentum for awards season winners, the 2026 Critics Selection Awards zigged in numerous classes that even voters thought they’d zag.
“One Battle After One other” successful Greatest Image got here as a shock to virtually nobody. “Marty Supreme” star Timothée Chalamet successful Greatest Actor and “Hamnet” star Jessie Buckley successful Greatest Actress is smart from an Oscar predictions standpoint, however many different influential critics circles have been voting in different methods. Many have been predicting both “The Secret Agent” star Wagner Moura or “Blue Moon” star Ethan Hawke to win the previous, and “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” star Rose Byrne to win the latter award. “Frankenstein” star Jacob Elordi and “Weapons” star Amy Madigan successful the supporting classes have been the one movie appearing awards that felt climactic.
That mentioned, 12 movies received awards throughout 23 classes, so few folks contained in the ceremony may come off as unhappy. If there was one core concern with the telecast, it was which awards got off-camera. The TV classes don’t have any craft awards, so solely Greatest Animated Collection, Greatest International Language Collection, Greatest Comedy Particular, and Greatest Selection Collection got off-air.
However on the movie aspect, whereas we have been nonetheless in a time the place it felt like sure classes have been anybody’s recreation, the CCAs selected to not air the 2 main director contenders Ryan Coogler and Paul Thomas Anderson successful Greatest Unique Screenplay and Greatest Tailored Screenplay, respectively, for “Sinners” and “One Battle After One other.” Whereas Anderson bought to talk elsewhere, the first representatives for “Sinners” onstage ended up being Greatest Younger Actor/Actress winner Miles Caton and Greatest Casting/Ensemble winner Francine Maisler.
The much more baffling omission was no Greatest International Language Movie, which had “The Secret Agent” win a slight upset. Even when Oscar frontrunner “Sentimental Worth” was not truly nominated within the class, the Greatest International Language Movie included a number of different nominees which might be nonetheless within the dialog for a Greatest Image Oscar nomination, together with the opposite three Neon contenders: “It Was Simply an Accident,” “No Different Selection,” and “Sirāt.”
Greatest Image presenters Moura and his “The Secret Agent” director Kleber Mendonça Filho had the most effective jokes of the evening, saying how that class could be the “international” one of their native Brazil. However evaluating the ten Greatest Image nominees on the CCAs, the place “Sentimental Worth” is the one movie not in English, to the 12 movies nominated for Drama or Musical/Comedy on the Golden Globes, virtually half of which aren’t in English, it does really feel just like the latter awards physique is extra in step with how the Oscars, which have had at a number of worldwide Greatest Image nominees the final two years is evolving.
By way of highlights from the room, Elordi stood up for “Adolescence” star Owen Cooper when he received for the Netflix restricted sequence, as the teenager actor performs the youthful model of Elordi’s character within the upcoming Warner Bros. Footage launch “Wuthering Heights.” Regardless of the notion that his fellow nominees appeared unenthused at him successful, “Prepare Desires” star Joel Edgerton instantly went to Chalamet’s desk afterwards to congratulate him.
And super-producer Amy Pascal, who’s believed to be an inspirational determine for the present, did cease by “The Studio” desk to meet up with her former Sony colleague Seth Rogen, and the title “James Bond” was talked about.
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