The 31st Critic Choice Awards

If you have been watching the 31st annual Critics' Choice Awards, you will know that One Battle After Another won Best Feature, after Paul Thomas Anderson pulled off an upset by winning Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for the Warner Bros. thriller.

Timothée Chalamet won Best Actor for A24’s Marty Supreme, and Jessie Buckley won Best Actress for Focus Features’ Hamnet. Best Supporting Actor and Actress went to Jacob Elordi for Netflix’s Frankenstein and Amy Madigan of Warner Bros’ Weapons.

Warner Bros’ Sinners came in with a leading 17 nominations, and Ryan Coogler’s blockbuster took home a co-leading four statuettes on Sunday: Best Original Screenplay, Young Actor or Actress (Miles Caton), Score, and the inaugural Casting and Ensemble prize. Netflix’s Frankenstein also won four CCAs: Best Supporting Actor for Jacob Elordi, along with Costume Design, Hair & Makeup, and Production Design.

Netflix’s K-Pop Demon Hunters won two for Best Animated Feature and Song, and Apple’s F1 also took a pair for Best Sound and Editing. Neon’s The Secret Agent won the award for Best Foreign Film, while Paramount’s The Naked Gun won the award for Best Comedy.

Other film winners included 20th Century Studios’ Avatar: Fire and Ash, Netflix’s Train Dreams, and Paramount’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, which won for stunts in a feature—about time.

Four Best Picture nominees—Wicked: For Good, Sentimental Value, Jay Kelly, and Bugonia—were shut out. Too bad; they would win next time. They still have time.

On the TV side, The Pitt won Best Drama Series, and the HBO Max hospital show’s Noah Wyle and Katherine LaNasa took the respective Best Actor and Supporting Actress prizes. It's about time he received recognition for his work on ER on NBC in the 1990s. They were both medical dramas. Noah Wyle is getting awards.

Apple TV’s The Studio took Best Comedy Series, following up on its Emmy win in September. The show’s Seth Rogen and Ike Barinholtz won Best Actor and Supporting Actor, respectively.

Jean Smart kept her Hacks awards momentum going with Best Actress in a Comedy for the HBO Max series.

Rhea Seehorn won Best Actress in a Drama Series for Apple TV’s freshman Pluribus.

Netflix’s Adolescence led all small-screen programs four wins for Best Limited Series, Stephen Graham for Best Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie and Owen Cooper and Erin Doherty for Supporting Actor and Actress, respectively.

After its tumultuous, newsmaking year, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! won Best Talk Show. So if they hate the President, they win awards?

Sarah Snook won Best Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie for Peacock’s All Her Fault. Other TV winners included Comedy Central’s South Park, Netflix’s Squid Game, ABC’s Abbott Elementary, NBC’s SNL50: The Anniversary Special, Peacock’s Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

Netflix lead all distributors and networks/streamers with a dozen CCAs — seven for film and five for TV — followed by Warner Bros with eight. HBO/Max and Apple TV were next with five each.

Chelsea Handler was back for a fourth consecutive stint as host of the ceremony from Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, and she lauded the late Rob Reiner as “the nicest man in Hollywood.”

The Critics Choice Association has introduced three additional categories for its 2026 award ceremony: Best Sound and Best Stunt Design in the film division, as well as Best Variety Series in the television division.

Here are the winners at the 2026 Critics Choice Awards:

Motion Pictures

BEST PICTURE

One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)

BEST ACTOR

Timothée Chalamet – Marty Supreme (A24)

BEST ACTRESS

Jessie Buckley – Hamnet (Focus Features)

BEST DIRECTOR

Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Ryan Coogler – Sinners (Warner Bros.)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein (Netflix)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Madigan – Weapons (Warner Bros.)

BEST CASTING AND ENSEMBLE

Francine Maisler – Sinners (Warner Bros.)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

The Secret Agent (Neon)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

KPop Demon Hunters (Netflix)

BEST COMEDY

The Naked Gun (Paramount)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Tamara Deverell, Shane Vieau – Frankenstein (Netflix)

BEST EDITING

Stephen Mirrione – F1 (Apple Original Films)

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Kate Hawley – Frankenstein (Netflix)

BEST HAIR AND MAKEUP

Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel, Cliona Furey – Frankenstein (Netflix)

Who else enjoys watching the award season leading up to the 2026 Oscars? Overall, the event was well conducted.