Hollywood may be a youth-obsessed industry when it comes to turning out movies, but with one of the first groups to nominate the year’s best films the opposite is the rule of the day.
AARP on Wednesday announced nominees for its annual Movies for Grownups Awards aimed at championing films and TV achievements that appeal to the age 50-plus readers and membership of their organization. Hamnet, A House of Dynamite, One Battle After Another, Sinners and Train Dreams received Best Picture/Best Movie for Grownups nominations; that they all are also prime contenders for Best Picture Oscar nominations might also tell us something about the average age of voters for Academy Awards as well.
Don’t look for Timothée Chalamet, Sydney Sweeney, Emma Stone, Michael B. Jordan or other major acting contenders on this list. You gotta be 50 or older to make this cut. Welcome Leonardo DiCaprio, though — he just turned 51.
“These nominees prove that powerful storytelling transcends age. At AARP, we believe representation matters — not just for audiences, but for the industry itself,” said Myechia Minter-Jordan, CEO of AARP. “By honoring these actors and creators, we’re shining a light on the richness, depth, and diversity of experience that deserves to be seen and celebrated.”
The annual MFG Awards ceremony will take place January 10, 2026, at the Beverly Wilshire. Alan Cumming, the Tony- and Emmy-winning host of the The Traitors, will return to host. The ceremony, which also will include Adam Sandler receiving the organization’s Career Achievement Award, will be broadcast by PBS’ Great Performances on February 22.
Chloé Zhao’s ‘Hamnet’
Focus Features
Here is the full list of nominees:
Best Picture/Best Movie for Grownups
Hamnet
A House of Dynamite
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Train Dreams
Best Actress
Laura Dern
Is This Thing On?
Jodie Foster
A Private Life
Lucy Liu
Rosemead
Julia Roberts
After the Hunt
June Squibb
Eleanor the Great
Best Actor
George Clooney
Jay Kelly
Leonardo DiCaprio
One Battle After Another
Joel Edgerton
Train Dreams
Ethan Hawke
Blue Moon
Dwayne Johnson
The Smashing Machine
Best Supporting Actress
Regina Hall
One Battle After Another
Amy Madigan
Weapons
Helen Mirren
Goodbye June
Gwyneth Paltrow
Marty Supreme
Sigourney Weaver
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Best Supporting Actor
Benicio Del Toro
One Battle After Another
Delroy Lindo
Sinners
Sean Penn
One Battle After Another
Michael Shannon
Nuremberg
Stellan Skarsgård
Sentimental Value
Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson
One Battle After Another
Kathryn Bigelow
A House of Dynamite
Scott Cooper
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Guillermo del Toro
Frankenstein
Spike Lee
Highest 2 Lowest
Best Screenwriter
Paul Thomas Anderson
One Battle After Another
Noah Baumbach and Emily Mortimer
Jay Kelly
Bradley Cooper, Will Arnett, and Mark Chappell
Is This Thing On?
Julian Fellowes
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
James Vanderbilt
Nuremberg
AARP
Best Ensemble
A House of Dynamite
Jay Kelly
Nuremberg
One Battle After Another
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.
Best Intergenerational Film
Eleanor the Great
The Lost Bus
Rental Family
Rosemead
Sentimental Value
Best Period Film
Dead Man’s Wire
Marty Supreme
Nuremberg
Sinners
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere.
Best Documentary
Becoming Led Zeppelin
Cover Up
My Mom Jayne
Riefenstahl
Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost
Best Foreign-Language Film
It Was Just an Accident
No Other Choice
Nouvelle Vague
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
Best TV Series or Limited Series
Adolescence
Hacks
The Pitt
The Studio
The White Lotus
Best Actor (TV)
Walton Goggins
The White Lotus
Stephen Graham
Adolescence
Gary Oldman
Slow Horses
Pedro Pascal
The Last of Us
Noah Wyle
The Pitt
Best Actress (TV)
Kathy Bates
Matlock
Kathryn Hahn
The Studio
Catherine O’Hara
The Studio
Parker Posey
The White Lotus
Jean Smart
Hacks
