31st Critics Choice Awards 2026: Full Winners List and Key Highlights

31st Critics Choice Awards: Early Momentum in Hollywood’s Awards Season

Hollywood’s awards season gathered pace with the 31st Critics Choice Awards , held on Sunday night, as critics spread top honours across prestige cinema, mainstream studio films, animation, and television. The ceremony also introduced new categories recognising casting, ensemble work, sound, stunts, and variety programming, reflecting evolving industry priorities.

One Battle After Another Leads Film Honours

The biggest winner of the night was One Battle After Another , which took Best Picture and Best Director for Paul Thomas Anderson , emerging as an early critical frontrunner.

In acting categories, Timothée Chalamet won Best Actor for Marty Supreme , while Jessie Buckley claimed Best Actress for Hamnet . Supporting acting honours went to Jacob Elordi for Frankenstein and Amy Madigan for Weapons .

Sinners Excels in Creative and Music Categories

Sinners delivered one of the strongest overall performances, winning four awards . It received the newly introduced Best Casting and Ensemble honour for casting director Francine Maisler .

Director Ryan Coogler won Best Original Screenplay , while Ludwig Göransson secured Best Score . Miles Caton won Best Young Actor or Actress .

In technical categories, F1 won Best Editing and Best Sound , while Avatar: Fire and Ash claimed Best Visual Effects .

Television Winners Across Genres

On the television side, Adolescence won Best Limited Series , with acting wins for Stephen Graham , Erin Doherty , and Owen Cooper .

The Pitt won Best Drama Series , while Rhea Seehorn won Best Actress in a Drama Series for Pluribus and Tramell Tillman won Best Supporting Actor for Severance .

Comedy honours went to The Studio , with acting wins for Seth Rogen and Ike Barinholtz . Jean Smart won Best Actress in a Comedy Series for Hacks , while Jimmy Kimmel Live! won Best Talk Show .

Animation, Global Cinema and Comedy Films

Animation and music saw KPop Demon Hunters win Best Animated Feature and Best Song for Golden . International titles also featured strongly, with The Secret Agent winning Best Foreign Language Film and Squid Game winning Best Foreign Language Series .

In film comedy, The Naked Gun took Best Comedy , rounding out a diverse and competitive winners’ list.

Important Facts for Exams 📌

• The Critics Choice Awards are voted by the Critics Choice Association