The nominees for the 7th Annual ScreenAge Wasteland Awards have been announced!
Last month, the SAW team submitted nominees for the best films of 2025. A lot of films and performances were submitted, but at the end of the day, there can only be five nominees per category (and 10 for Best Picture, Best Character, and Best Moment).
Any 2025 movie released on streaming, television, or in theaters was eligible as long as the film was widely released by mid-January 2026 (to account for late-December limited releases). That means that we have declared films like Arco and The Testament of Ann Lee as 2026 releases, and they will be eligible for next year’s SAWards.
With all that out of the way, here are your nominees…
Best Picture
- Bring Her Back
- The Brutalist
- F1
- Frankenstein
- Marty Supreme
- One Battle After Another
- Sinners
- Train Dreams
- Wake Up Dead Man
- Weapons
Best Animated Film
- Elio
- KPop Demon Hunters
- Lost in Starlight
- Predator: Killer of Killers
- Zootopia 2
Most Overlooked Film
- Eternity
- Oh, Hi!
- Relay
- Rental Family
- Sorry, Baby
Best Director
- Brady Corbet – The Brutalist
- Josh Safdie – Marty Supreme
- Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another
- Ryan Coogler – Sinners
- Zach Cregger – Weapons
Best Breakout Film Direction
- Ben Leonberg – Good Boy
- Mary Bronstein – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
- RaMell Ross – Nickel Boys
- Eva Victor – Sorry, Baby
- James Sweeney – Twinless
Best Actor
- Jesse Plemons – Bugonia
- Joaquin Phoenix – Eddington
- Timothée Chalamet – Marty Supreme
- Michael B. Jordan – Sinners
- Joel Edgerton – Train Dreams
Best Actress
- Sally Hawkins – Bring Her Back
- Emma Stone – Bugonia
- Jessie Buckley – Hamnet
- Rose Byrne – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
- Eva Victor – Sorry, Baby
Best Supporting Actor
- Ralph Fiennes – 28 Years Later
- Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein
- Sean Penn – One Battle After Another
- Michael Cera – The Phoenician Scheme
- Delroy Lindo – Sinners
Best Supporting Actress
- Odessa A’zion – Marty Supreme
- Wunmi Mosaku – Sinners
- Hailee Steinfeld – Sinners
- Glenn Close – Wake Up Dead Man
- Amy Madigan – Weapons
Best Breakout Film Performance
- Odessa A’zion – Marty Supreme
- Kevin O’Leary – Marty Supreme
- Chase Infiniti – One Battle After Another
- Miles Caton – Sinners
- Eva Victor – Sorry, Baby
Best Onscreen Ensemble
- One Battle After Another
- Sinners
- Thunderbolts*
- Wake Up Dead Man
- Weapons
Best Character
- Laura (Sally Hawkins) – Bring Her Back
- The Creature (Jacob Elordi) – Frankenstein
- Derpy – KPop Demon Hunters
- Chuck Krantz (Tom Hiddleston, Jacob Tremblay, Benjamin Pajak) – The Life of Chuck
- Marty Mauser (Timothée Chalamet) – Marty Supreme
- Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn) – One Battle After Another
- Remmick (Jack O’Connell) – Sinners
- Michael Holt / Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi) – Superman
- Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor) – Wake Up Dead Man
- Gladys (Amy Madigan) – Weapons
Best Adapted Screenplay
- Will Tracy – Bugonia
- JT Mollner – The Long Walk
- Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another
- Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar – Train Dreams
- Rian Johnson – Wake Up Dead Man
Best Original Screenplay
- Ronald Bronstein & Josh Safdie – Marty Supreme
- Sophie Brooks – Oh, Hi!
- Ryan Coogler – Sinners
- Eva Victor – Sorry, Baby
- Zach Cregger – Weapons
Best Cinematography
- Lol Crawley – The Brutalist
- Dan Laustsen – Frankenstein
- Autumn Durald Arkapaw – Sinners
- Adolpho Veloso – Train Dreams
- Larkin Seiple – Weapons
Best Score
- Young Fathers – 28 Years Later
- Daniel Blumberg – The Brutalist
- Daniel Lopatin – Marty Supreme
- Ludwig Göransson – Sinners
- Bryce Dessner – Train Dreams
Best Visual Effects
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps
- Frankenstein
- Sinners
- Superman
- Tron: Ares
Best Moment
- Joshua’s Crash at the Italian Grand Prix – F1
- Opening Scene – Final Destination Bloodlines
- The Play – Hamnet
- Act Two Street Dance – The Life of Chuck
- Submarine Sequence – Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
- Final Car Chase – One Battle After Another
- Juke Joint Time Dance – Sinners
- Airplane Flight – Train Dreams
- Father, Will You Pray for Me? Phone Call – Wake Up Dead Man
- Kids Chase Gladys – Weapons
Sinners has become the most-nominated film in SAWards history, with a record 14 nominations. Marty Supreme earned 9 nominations, followed by One Battle After Another and Weapons with 8 apiece. Train Dreams and Wake Up Dead Man rounded out the top five (or six in this case) with 6 nominations each.
Here’s how the nominations broke down for the rest of the films:
- 5 – Frankenstein and Sorry, Baby
- 4 –The Brutalist
- 3 – Bring Her Back and Bugonia
- 2 – 28 Years Later, F1, Hamnet, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, KPop Demon Hunters, The Life of Chuck, Oh, Hi!, and Superman
- 1 – Eddington, Elio, Eternity, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Final Destination Bloodlines, Goodboy, The Long Walk, Lost in Starlight, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Nickel Boys, The Phoenician Scheme, Predator: Killer of Killers, Relay, Rental Family, Thunderbolts*, Tron: Ares, Twinless, and Zootopia 2
A special shout-out to Eva Victor for being nominated in four categories for Sorry, Baby and Odessa A’zion for landing two acting nominations for Marty Supreme.
Voting is open to everyone until February 28, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. EST.
To access the voting slip for the 2026 SAWards, CLICK HERE.
The winners will be announced on Sunday, March 1, 2025, on our socials, with a post going up on the site shortly thereafter.
Let us know in the comments who you hope wins. Please feel free to share the voting slip with your family and friends, and on social media! Let’s blow this up!
Happy voting, screenagers!
