Lead
On , Timothée Chalamet and Jessie Buckley won the Critics Choice awards for best actor and best actress, positioning both as leading contenders ahead of the Oscars. Chalamet took best actor for Marty Supreme, defeating heavyweights including Leonardo DiCaprio, while Buckley won for Hamnet against nominees such as Emma Stone. The ceremony also handed Best Picture and directing prizes to One Battle After Another, even as Frankenstein and Sinners collected the most trophies by count. The results have reshaped awards-season momentum and intensified attention on next steps toward Oscar nominations.
Key Takeaways
- Timothée Chalamet won Best Actor for Marty Supreme, prevailing over Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael B. Jordan and Ethan Hawke.
- Jessie Buckley won Best Actress for Hamnet, beating Renate Reinsve, Emma Stone and Amanda Seyfried.
- One Battle After Another won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for Paul Thomas Anderson (three awards total).
- Frankenstein and Sinners led the evening with four wins each; Frankenstein earned Best Supporting Actor for Jacob Elordi and Sinners won Best Original Screenplay for Ryan Coogler.
- Television winners included Adolescence (Best Limited Series and three acting prizes), The Studio (Best Comedy Series) and The Pitt (Best Drama Series).
- South Park won Best Animated Series and Jimmy Kimmel Live! won Best Talk Show — moments noted for their topical jabs at Donald Trump.
- Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy won Best Movie Made for Television because of its U.S. streaming premiere on Peacock despite theatrical runs elsewhere.
- The Critics Choice Awards are voted on by the largest association of broadcast film and TV critics in the U.S. and Canada, the Critics Choice Association.
Background
The Critics Choice Awards, organised by the Critics Choice Association and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association, have become a prominent stop on the awards-season calendar. Held this year on 5 January 2026, they are widely watched as a barometer for Academy attention because the voting body represents a broad cross-section of film and broadcast critics in North America. Historically, winners here sometimes presage Oscar nominations or victories but do not guarantee them — the associations overlap with but differ from Academy voters in composition and priorities.
This season arrived amid intense campaigning: studios and talent have staged concentrated promotional tours and targeted screenings to sway critics and guilds. Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another entered the night with strong awards buzz, while films such as Marty Supreme, Hamnet, Frankenstein and Sinners were positioned by their teams to convert critical acclaim into awards momentum. Television contenders likewise reflected a split between legacy networks, streaming platforms and adult-skewing prestige dramas.
Main Event
The ceremony’s top acting prizes went to two contenders whose seasons have gathered visibility. Timothée Chalamet’s win for Marty Supreme was notable because he beat Oscar-favourite Leonardo DiCaprio; Chalamet has been on a high-profile publicity tour for the role, which finds him portraying an aspiring table-tennis player in the early 1950s. In his acceptance speech Chalamet publicly thanked Kylie Jenner, saying he could not have done it without her support.
Jessie Buckley’s victory for Hamnet confirmed her status among front-runners for best actress this season. Buckley’s role as Agnes, William Shakespeare’s wife opposite Paul Mescal, earned consistent critical praise; on stage she paid warm tribute to Mescal, calling him a “giant of the heart” and noting how the collaboration shaped her performance.
Despite missing the lead actor prize, One Battle After Another secured Best Picture and Best Director along with Best Adapted Screenplay for Paul Thomas Anderson, consolidating its awards push. Meanwhile Frankenstein and Sinners each collected four trophies, including Jacob Elordi’s Best Supporting Actor for Frankenstein and Ryan Coogler’s Best Original Screenplay for Sinners, signaling layered support across technical and acting categories.
On the television side, Adolescence — a teen-violence drama co-created by and starring Stephen Graham — dominated the limited-series acting categories and won Best Limited Series. The Studio swept key comedy categories, while The Pitt led the drama field with Best Drama Series and multiple acting awards. The ceremony also contained political jabs that landed in audience reaction, most notably through South Park’s Best Animated Series win and Jimmy Kimmel’s Best Talk Show award.
Analysis & Implications
These Critics Choice outcomes strengthen both narrative and practical momentum for nominations committees and awards voters. Chalamet’s victory gives studios and campaign teams a tangible credential to cite when courting Academy branch members; beating a name like Leonardo DiCaprio in a critics vote enhances perceived electability. For Buckley, the win confirms consistent critical support that could translate into industry recognition at other contests and eventually the Oscars.
However, Critics Choice results do not map perfectly onto Academy outcomes. The Academy’s membership is larger and more diverse in professional background; its voting patterns can reward different elements such as industry consensus, guild endorsements, and international or branch-specific loyalties. Films that pile up critics’ awards can still falter with Academy voters if they lack strong peer-group support or if campaigning misfires.
Frankenstein and Sinners collecting four awards apiece illustrates another dynamic: breadth across technical, acting and screenplay categories can raise a title’s profile even without a Best Picture win. Studios may use those multiple wins to argue for placement in supporting categories or technical Oscar ballots where branch voting might be more favorable than in high-profile lead races.
The Bridget Jones outcome — winning as a movie made for television due to a U.S. streaming premiere — underlines the ongoing friction between release strategies and award classifications. As distributors stagger theatrical and streaming windows internationally, the North American premiere platform still often governs awards eligibility, creating classification anomalies and differing nomination paths by territory.
Comparison & Data
| Film/Title | Number of Critics Choice Wins | Notable Awards |
|---|---|---|
| Sinners | 4 | Best Original Screenplay; Best Ensemble; Best Young Actor; other |
| Frankenstein | 4 | Best Supporting Actor (Jacob Elordi); Production/Costume/Hair & Makeup |
| One Battle After Another | 3 | Best Picture; Best Director (Paul Thomas Anderson); Best Adapted Screenplay |
| Marty Supreme | 1 | Best Actor (Timothée Chalamet) |
| Hamnet | 1 | Best Actress (Jessie Buckley) |
The table shows Sinners and Frankenstein leading by tally, while One Battle After Another secured the most prominent awards (Best Picture and Best Director). Counts here reflect the ceremony’s announced winners and help explain why studios may pivot messaging: a higher count can be leveraged for technical and ensemble credibility, even if Best Picture remains elsewhere.
Reactions & Quotes
Acceptance speeches and industry statements shaped immediate coverage and expectations.
“Thank you to my partner for three years … I love you. I couldn’t do this without you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
Timothée Chalamet
Chalamet’s remarks were widely reported and were framed by commentators as a personal moment in a high-profile awards speech. Reporters also noted his ongoing promotional tour as context for the win.
“Paul, I bloody love you man. … You’re a giant of the heart and thank you so much for making me a little bit more human.”
Jessie Buckley
Buckley’s tribute to Paul Mescal was presented by critics and industry observers as an acknowledgment of the creative partnership that critics have praised. Observers said the line both highlighted on-screen chemistry and the collaborative nature of awards-season acclaim.
“The Critics Choice Association congratulates all winners and nominees whose work defined the season.”
Critics Choice Association (official statement)
The organisers emphasized the awards’ role in recognizing critical achievement and shaping conversation ahead of other season benchmarks.
Unconfirmed
- Whether Chalamet’s and Buckley’s Critics Choice wins will convert into Oscar victories remains uncertain; critics’ support does not ensure Academy wins.
- Any precise box-office or streaming-audience uplift directly attributable to these wins has not been publicly confirmed and will require studio reporting to verify.
Bottom Line
The Critics Choice Awards have sharpened the awards-season map: Timothée Chalamet and Jessie Buckley now carry renewed momentum into the final stretch before Oscar ballots, while One Battle After Another’s Best Picture and Best Director wins reinforce its campaign. At the same time, multiple wins for Frankenstein and Sinners complicate the narrative by distributing acclaim across several titles rather than consolidating it in a single front-runner.
Observers should watch the next major indicators — guild awards, the Golden Globes and the Academy’s nominee announcements — to see which Critics Choice signals persist. For studios and campaigns, the task is now translating critics’ endorsements into broader industry support and ensuring that category placement, screeners and peer outreach align with these new narratives.