“F1” has the highest cost and the Brazilian “The Secret Agent” the lowest; list brings together productions from blockbuster to independent
A perform this Sunday (15.mar.2026) the 98th edition of . Ten feature films compete in the award’s main category, Best Film, which brings together productions ranging from blockbusters to independent titles. Read the .
“F1”, produced by Apple and directed by Joseph Kosinski, is the nominee with the most expensive budget of 2026, estimated at US$200 million. “The Secret Agent”, a Brazilian film, in turn, is the lowest-cost production among those nominated, with US$5.4 million. The amounts do not involve marketing expenses.
Here is the order:
In recent years, major productions have stopped dictating the profile of the winner of the main Oscar category. Of the last 10 award-winning films, only “Oppenheimer”by Christopher Nolan, winner in 2024, had a budget in the hundreds of millions of dollars ($180 million).
In 2025, the winning “Anora”, by Sean Baker, cost just US$6 million — a value considered low by North American standards. Productions of this profile usually gain visibility first at film festivals, especially Cannes, Venice and Berlin, before reaching the Oscars.
This year, 2 of the highest budget films, “One Battle After Another” e “Sinners“, focus a significant part of the attention on the awards. The last one, directed by Ryan Coogler, became the most nominated feature in the history of the Oscar — also due to the inclusion of a new category: Best Cast Director. The film is set in the 1930s, in the Mississippi Delta, and addresses black memory and culture in a surprising horror plot.
“One Battle After Another” is the favorite for the Best Film award. The film by Paul Thomas Anderson, one of the most important filmmakers of his generation, deals with a former revolutionary looking for his daughter, captured by an enemy from the past. The work, the most expensive of PTA’s career ($130 million), touches on sensitive themes in today’s United States: immigration and police action.
“THE SECRET AGENT”
Kleber Mendonça Filho’s film had a production cost of around R$28 million, of which R$13.5 million came from Brazil — R$7.5 million of which was invested from the Audiovisual Sector Fund, which facilitates government notices for the production of works in the country, and the rest from private contributions.
The film was made under an international co-production regime with France, Germany and the Netherlands, which participated in the financing. The data is from Ancine (National Cinema Agency).
Netflix, the streaming giant, acted as co-producer of the Brazilian film. Furthermore, it pre-licensed the film: a system that guarantees distribution rights for a work during its development. “The Secret Agent” eis available on the platform in Brazil.
The production is set in 1977 and has the military dictatorship (1964-1985) as its backdrop. Wagner Moura plays Marcelo (or Armando), a former university professor who tries to start his life over after getting involved in a dangerous conflict with a businessman linked to the government. He returns to his hometown, Recife, in search of peace, but soon realizes that the city is far from being the refuge he was looking for.
The film, full of twists, humor and references to Pernambuco culture, premiered in Brazilian cinemas in November.
Director of “Bacurau” e “Aquarius”Kleber Mendonça Filho, said,which “The Secret Agent” makes a “painful realization” of Brazil’s relationship with history.
“I wrote ‘The Secret Agent’ for Wagner, thinking about all the great roles he had played in theater, television and cinema. For having known him as a person too. And I wrote it specifically for him. I think he has an extremely cinematic charisma that is very good for this film, and that’s what I wanted to work with him”, stated the director.
