Netflix has strengthened its awards season presence with six original films securing 18 nominations at the 2026 Academy Awards. Highlights include Best Picture nods for Train Dreams and Frankenstein, alongside recognition for KPop Demon Hunters and The Perfect Neighbor.
The 2026 Academy Award nominations underscore Netflix's growing influence in Hollywood, as announced recently. Six of the streaming service's original productions collectively garnered 18 nods, spanning key categories and showcasing diverse storytelling.
Train Dreams, an Oscar-nominated drama starring Joel Edgerton as logger Robert Grainier in the early 20th-century Pacific Northwest, earned a Best Picture nomination. Adapted from Denis Johnson's novella, the film co-stars Felicity Jones, Kerry Condon, and William H. Macy, and has received near-universal acclaim following festival screenings.
Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein also secured a Best Picture nod, along with eight other nominations including Best Director and Best Supporting Actor for Jacob Elordi. This reimagining of Mary Shelley's classic embodies del Toro's signature dark, fantastical style and picked up five Golden Globe nominations earlier.
In animation, KPop Demon Hunters received nods for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song. The film, which premiered in June 2025, follows a K-pop girl group—voiced by Arden Cho, May Hong, and Ji Young Yoo—who battle a demonic boy band by night. It became Netflix's most-watched original film ever, with its soundtrack achieving Platinum status for tracks like "Golden" and "Soda Pop." The movie also won two Golden Globes.
The Perfect Neighbor, a 2025 documentary directed by Geeta Gandbhir, earned a Best Documentary Feature nomination. It examines the 2023 killing of Florida woman Ajike Owens by her neighbor Susan Louise Lorincz, using police body camera footage and 911 calls to detail escalating neighborhood disputes.
This haul builds on Netflix's strategy of blending originals with licensed content, such as the recent addition of all 25 James Bond films. The nominations affirm the platform's role in delivering award-worthy entertainment amid a crowded field.
