Two Very Different Netflix Movies Got Best Picture Nominations At The 2026 Oscars
by Danielle Ryan · /FilmAcademy Award nominations for 2026 are here, and there are some wildly different genres represented within the Best Picture category. Yorgos Lanthimos' "Bugonia," a bonkers remake of the South Korean black comedy "Save the Green Planet!," is nominated right alongside Ryan Coogler's vampire musical "Sinners" and the Brad Pitt-starring racing flick "F1." It's a pretty unusual race this year, and there are two extremely different Netflix films nominated for Best Picture that highlight not only how diverse the movie slate was this year, but how diverse the streamer's offerings have become.
While Netflix's movie offerings have frustrated some viewers because they tend to have a much shorter theatrical window, it's nice that we are getting such high-quality, varied movies available at home as well. Both Guillermo del Toro's lush gothic horror "Frankenstein" and Clint Bentley's meditative period drama "Train Dreams" are nominated for Best Picture, and that's great because it means even more people are going to discover them through awards hype and Netflix promoting them as nominees on their service. Neither movie is a typical blockbuster or your standard awards contender, so the extra push from awards season and ease of access on streaming mean they're going to be seen by way more people than they might have otherwise.
Train Dreams and Frankenstein are diverse examples of incredible filmmaking — on Netflix!
There really aren't many similarities between "Frankenstein" and "Train Dreams" beyond both films being immaculately made, as the former is a gothic horror story about the overly ambitious Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) giving life to a creature (Jacob Elordi) made up of dead men's bodies and the latter is the story of an unremarkable man named Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton) whose only note in history was helping to build a bridge that would one day be rendered obsolete. Both films feature gorgeous cinematography, excellent costume work, and some phenomenal performances, but they are tonally and narratively as different as can be.
While "Frankenstein" also earned nominations for Best Supporting Actor for Elordi, the excellent Edgerton did not receive a Best Lead nom, and William H. Macy's excellent turn as a grizzled old logger who respects the earth was also snubbed for Best Supporting Actor. Additionally (and unsurprisingly), "Frankenstein" and "Train Dreams" are both nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Adapted Screenplay, which should give them a chance at more awards in case "Sinners" ends up sweeping all of the big ones.
Our reviews for "Frankenstein" and "Train Dreams" were both wildly positive, and either of these films has the potential to be a dark horse in the Best Picture race. Netflix has had Best Picture nominees before with films like "Roma" and "The Irishman," but it's never had a winner in that category, so we will have to wait and see.