2025 has been a year unlike any other for Warner Bros. The studio has broken box office records and collected critical praise more consistently than any other, and it’s clear why. Under film heads Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, WB has stabilized its annual output, demonstrated a more selective and methodical marketing strategy, and diversified its theatrical slate across genres.
The studio’s 2025 movies mixed in established franchises and IP plays with bets on original films from exciting filmmakers, and this varied approach has allowed it to land comfortably on its feet after struggling at the box office in the years prior. Along with individual films such as Sinners and The Conjuring: Last Rites setting records, WB is the first studio ever with seven consecutive $40 million domestic opening weekends.
That streak is still alive, and only one more movie is dated for this year. If One Battle After Another reaches that milestone later this month, Abdy and De Luca’s team can ride that wave all the way into 2026.
But Warner Bros.’ remarkable year could get even better. This 2025 hot streak is characterized by critical and artistic success as well as financial, and it’s looking increasingly likely that this dominance will translate to the 2026 Oscars.
Warner Bros. Now Has Three Major Best Picture Contenders
WB is one of the oldest movie studios still in business, rivaled only by companies like Paramount and Disney, so it’s clearly no stranger to success. It has been steadily releasing movies since the birth of Hollywood’s so-called “Golden Age,” and throughout the decades, it’s been awarded Best Picture at the Oscars a total of nine times.
However, much of this AMPAS success was limited to the 20th Century. More recently, the studio has struggled to even get its movies into the Best Picture lineup; its last time taking home the top prize was in 2012, with Ben Affleck’s Argo.
Typically, Warner Bros. finds itself with big-budget, IP-based blockbusters in the running. This has been the case with movies like Dune and Barbie, which were both nominated for Best Picture, but neither were considered major contenders in that category.
But the studio’s luck may be turning around this year – three of its 2025 movies are well-poised for strong Best Picture campaigns.
Despite releasing much earlier in 2025, Ryan Coogler’s Sinners may still have enough momentum to carry itself to a Best Picture nomination at next year’s ceremony. There’s such an intense, devoted passion surrounding this subversive Southern Gothic horror, which was released in April and collected a staggering $48 million domestic on its opening weekend – the best opening for an original movie since 2019.
The Academy Awards don’t typically gravitate toward such genre-driven stories, particularly when that genre is horror, but Sinners’ critical and commercial accomplishments are simply too strong to overlook. This feels like WB’s most reliable route to a Best Picture nom, but certainly not its only path.
If the Oscars are willing to look past their horror biases, Weapons could also make the cut at next year’s ceremony. Zach Cregger’s original script was widely praised upon the film’s release this summer, and its impressive $259 million worldwide gross to date also works strongly in its favor.
The film currently sits at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, which isn’t a definitive way of determining the next Best Picture winner by any means, but it certainly helps clarify where the critics stand. Those same appreciators have been calling on WB to run a dark horse campaign for it, especially given much of the hotly anticipated fall festival premieres failed to drum up as much excitement.
Now, however, a third hopeful has emerged: Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another. The film doesn’t release theatrically until September 26, and it might need to deliver financially to avoid deflating momentum, but the early reactions from critics are overwhelmingly positive. It seems like Leonardo DiCaprio’s new movie is on track to become a new Oscars frontrunner.
Steven Spielberg moderated a Q&A with Anderson over the weekend, where he referred to the director’s latest venture as “really incredible.” Sentiments across social media have been equally conclusive: IndieWire’s David Ehrlich crowned it “the best movie released by a major American studio since [2010].”
Combined with the fact that PTA is notoriously overdue for an Academy Award, this puts One Battle After Another on an undeniable collision course with next year’s ceremony. The film is poised excellently to leave a lasting impression upon release, and all that remains is to see how general audiences respond.
The immense success of Sinners, Weapons, and One Battle After Another puts Warner Bros. in a very strong position at this point in the Best Picture race. While it’s unlikely that all three of these movies will sneak their way into the 2026 Oscars lineup, it’s not impossible – and it’s looking increasingly plausible that more than one will enter with a real shot at glory.
Winning often requires a robust campaign, and the question for Warner Bros. will be which of these three movies to give their full attention. Either way, the possibility of having the top two contenders is a serious flex on the rest of Hollywood. ​
Which Other Studios Does Warner Bros. Need To Watch Out For?
Unfortunately for WB, it isn’t the only major production company with several movies competing for a spot in the Best Picture 10. Netflix has been a massive player at the Oscars in recent years, and 2026 will be no different; the streamer has already debuted three major titles that could be vying for a Best Picture spot.
Jay Kelly, Frankenstein, and A House of Dynamite all had their world premieres at the Venice Film Festival, but Netflix still needs to decide which of these titles is most deserving of the full awards push. Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly seems like the most obvious choice, with George Clooney and Adam Sandler potentially coming along for the ride in Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.
Despite a lukewarm reaction in Venice, it went on to screen much more enthusiastically at Telluride and TIFF, which are typically considered more audience-friendly festivals. Frankenstein also performed strongly in Toronto, where it was named the runner-up for the coveted People’s Choice Award.
There’s also an outside shot that Netflix will push Wake Up Dead Man, the latest entry in Rian Johnson’s acclaimed Knives Out franchise. The first two movies were both nominated for Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay, respectively, and the strong reviews from TIFF mean that this latest venture could go even further.
Outside of Netflix, both Focus Features (a unit of Universal) and Searchlight Pictures (a unit of Disney) have been two of the leading production companies when it comes to the Oscars in recent years, and their lineups this year are as impressive as always. While Searchlight is handling Brendan Fraser’s Rental Family and Bradley Cooper’s Is This Thing On?, Focus is the real leader with Bugonia and Hamnet.
Hamnet has established itself as an early frontrunner for Best Picture, receiving immense praise following its premiere at Telluride and winning TIFF’s Audience Award. It hasn’t been too long since Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland picked up Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress, and her latest film is in a similar position to dominate in major categories.
Although Focus currently has fewer movies in the running for Best Picture than Warner Bros. (pending Anemone’s premiere at the New York Film Festival), it arguably has the best chance of getting multiple movies into the lineup. Bugonia and Hamnet are both very strong players, and it’s hard to imagine either film missing at this stage.
Fairly close on its heels, however, is Neon. The indie distributor is backing some of the year’s most prominent international films, and while Sentimental Value is far and away their biggest contender at this stage, The Secret Agent, No Other Choice, and Palme d’Or winner It Was Just An Accident all remain in play.
This isn’t even taking into consideration some of the major blockbusters that are still coming later this year. Avatar: Fire & Ash seems like a shoo-in for 20th Century Studios (a unit of Disney), while Wicked: For Good is an equally reliable player for Universal. There’s always room for some big-budget blockbusters in the Best Picture lineup, and these slots already seem filled.
So, Warners might not be the only studio with more than one Best Picture nominee. But at this point in the race, it’s the only one with two films, Sinners and One Battle After Another, that are both being predicted as potential winners.
While it will likely finish behind Disney in pure box office gross, there’s no denying that WB is 2025’s big winner. It’s still too early to predict with any certainty which movies will make the cut on nomination day in January, but the studio is better positioned than it has been in years.