Best Director frontrunners
The Best Director frontrunner right now is Christopher Nolan.
Season
99th Academy Awards
In the race
9
contenders tracked
Best predictor
DGA
23 of 27 since 2000
- Oct 12, 202664th New York Film Festival (Sept 25 to Oct 12)
- Nov 12, 2026Oscars final general entry deadlineOscars
- Nov 15, 2026Governors AwardsOscars
- Nov 30, 202636th Gotham AwardsGotham
- Dec 2, 2026Film Independent Spirit Awards nominationsSpirit
- Dec 4, 202632nd Critics Choice Awards nominationsCritics Choice
| # | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christopher Nolan |  The Odyssey | Frontrunner | Universal Pictures |
| 2 | Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo |  La bola negra | Contender | Netflix |
| 3 | Martin McDonagh |  Wild Horse Nine | Contender | Searchlight Pictures |
| 4 | Denis Villeneuve |  Dune: Part Three | Contender | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| 5 | Olivia Wilde |  The Invite | Contender | A24 |
| 6 | Phil Lord and Christopher Miller |  Project Hail Mary | Long shot | Amazon MGM Studios |
| 7 | David Fincher |  The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth | Long shot | Netflix |
| 8 | Cristian Mungiu |  Fjord | Long shot | Neon |
| 9 | Ryusuke Hamaguchi |  All of a Sudden | Long shot | Neon |
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Information courtesy of IMDb (https://www.imdb.com). Used with permission.