The best movies of 2016 will duke-it-out at the 89th Oscars on February 26, 2017. Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, the 2017 Oscars will pay tribute to the best movies and filmmakers of 2016. Last year brought audiences thought-provoking thrillers, laugh-out-loud comedies, high-quality horrors flicks, and even a modern day musical. Out of the 24 categories of the 89th annual Academy Awards, the most popular have acquired the nickname of The Big Five: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Original Screenplay.

Out of all of the 89 Academy Awards, only 43 movies have been nominated in all Big Five Oscar categories (La La Land is the only 2016 movie to be nominated in all five this year). Thus far, only three films have won Oscars in all of the categories: It Happened One Night (1934), One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest(1975), and The Silence of the Lambs(1991). If La La Land wins, it will be the first film to win all five Oscars in over 25 years. But the musical has some stiff competition.

Below is a list of all of the nominees for The Big Five Academy Awards. The Opening Ceremony starts at 7:00 p.m. EST on ABC, and the Oscars start at 8:30 p.m. EST.

Oscars 2017: Best Original Screenplay

• Taylor Sheridan: Hell or High Water
• Damien Chazelle: La La Land
• Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou: The Lobster
• Kenneth Lonergan: Manchester by the Sea
• Mike Mills: 20th Century Women

Oscars 2017: Best Director

• Denis Villeneuve: Arrival
• Mel Gibson: Hacksaw Ridge
• Damien Chazelle: La La Land
• Kenneth Lonergan: Manchester by the Sea
• Barry Jenkins: Moonlight

Oscars 2017: Best Actor

• Casey Affleck as Lee Chandler in Manchester by the Sea
• Andrew Garfield as Desmond T. Doss in Hacksaw Ridge
• Ryan Gosling as Sebastian Wilder in La La Land
• Viggo Mortensen as Ben Cash in Captain Fantastic
• Denzel Washington as Troy Maxson in Fences

Oscars 2017: Best Actress

• Isabelle Huppert as Michele Leblanc in Elle
• Ruth Negga as Mildred Loving in Loving
• Natalie Portman as Jackie Kennedy in Jackie
• Emma Stone as Mia Dolan in La La Land
• Meryl Streep as Florence in Florence Foster Jenkins

Oscars 2017: Best Picture

While many industry professionals are predicting that La La Land will take home virtually all of the gold, others feel that Fences will win Best Picture and that Denzel Washington will take home the Oscar for Best Actor. RogertEbert.com describes why Fences is one of the best movies of 2016.

“As Troy, Washington has a role tailor-made for all his ‘Denzel’-isms. Whereas Troy’s brilliant originator, James Earl Jones, kept an open vein of terror flowing through his performance, Washington smothers his dark side with a charm that’s as sticky as flypaper…Not to be outdone, Viola Davis brings her own arsenal of tricks.

“[This] is a film about how our environment shapes us, and how, no matter how noble their intentions, our parents can’t help but mess us up in some fashion, just as their parents had done for them. This is our legacy as humans. Either we indoctrinate ourselves against that which we saw as wrong with our parents, or we catch their disease and we pass it on.”

Though La La Land and Fences are heavily favored in this category, any of the movies from 2016 listed below could take home Best Picture.

• Arrival
• Fences
• Hacksaw Ridge
• Hell or High Water
• Hidden Figures
• La La Land
• Lion
• Manchester by the Sea
• Moonlight

OTHER MOVIE ARTICLES FROM THE INQUISITR

Happy 85 Birthday John Williams, Composer Of The Best Movies Of All Time

Four Of The Best Horror Movies Of 2016 Are Now On Amazon Prime

The 20 Best Netflix Movies Arriving In March 2017

The Top 10 Best Action Movies Of 2016

The Top 10 Best Movies Of 2016

As we await the 2017 Oscars, there’s still time to watch a few of the best movies from 2016 before the ceremony starts.

[Featured Image by Paramount Pictures]