Strict rule Oscar winners must follow after receiving award

The pinnacle of the movie awards season is finally here, with the good, the bad, and the unlikely to win of Hollywood donning their best couture and taking to the red carpet in the hopes of bagging that all-important Oscar.

Many will be hoping to stop Ryan Coogler's vampire horror flick Sinners from capitalizing on its record-breaking 16 Academy Award nominations, as well as Paul Thomas Anderson's black comedy One Battle After Another which has received nods in 13 categories.

But when the roughly 50 Oscar statuettes are handed out across the 24 categories, recognizing filmmaking excellence from makeup to the highly-anticipated award for best picture, many are people unaware that they come with strings attached.

There are actually a number of 'regulations' passed down by the Academy that have even been tested, and reinforced, in court that stipulate exactly what each winner is allowed to do with their gold-coated statuette - and one of these rules is particularly strict.

You can buy knock-off Oscars in any Hollywood souvenir shop, but the only way to get your hands on a real one is to win it (Getty Stock Image)

Under basically no circumstances are any of the Oscar winners allowed to sell, or in any other way dispose of, their Academy Award. This has been in place since 1951, although, there is one exception to this rule.

It might seem surprising that there would even need to be a rule regarding selling these highly coveted 'Awards of Merit', some of which have been awarded every year since the Academy Awards began in 1929.

But there are a number of reasons that an Oscar might change hands, though legally the main one is if it is bequeathed to someone else after death. Which the Academy is perfectly fine with, so long as they don't then try to sell it.

Or, they might just be particularly strapped for cash. Yet either way, the regulations state that selling it is simply not allowed, unless they let the Academy purchase it back for just a dollar.

Sinners has received a record-breaking 16 Oscar nominations (Nick Agro/Academy Museum Foundation via Getty Images)

The rules say: "Award winners shall not sell or otherwise dispose of the Oscar statuette, nor permit it to be sold or disposed of by operation of law, without first offering to sell it to the Academy for the sum of $1.00."

This has even been taken to court, after Joseph Tutalo sold the Oscar that his uncle, Joseph Wright, had won in 1943 for $79,200, but the Academy sued Tutalo and the auction house for breach of contract.

A California judge ruled in their favor and forcined the person who won the auction to return the statue.

The website adds: "This provision shall apply also to the heirs and assigns of Academy Award winners who may acquire a statuette by gift or bequest."

But in a sign that this rule is very much at the discretion of the organizers, in 1999 pop legend Michael Jackson was allowed to purchase the best picture Oscar awarded to David Selznick in 1939 - for a staggering $1.5 million.

2026 Oscars nominations

Best Director

• Paul Thomas Anderson - One Battle After Another
• Ryan Coogler - Sinners
• Josh Safdie - Marty Supreme
• Joachim Trier - Sentimental Value
• Chloé Zhao - Hamnet

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Bugonia
• Frankenstein
• Hamnet
• One Battle After Another
• Train Dreams

Best Original Screenplay

• Blue Moon
• It Was Just an Accident
• Marty Supreme
• Sentimental Value
• Sinners

Best Original Song

• 'Dear Me' - Diane Warren: Relentless
• 'Golden' - KPop Demon Hunters
• 'I Lied to You' - Sinners
• 'Sweet Dreams of Joy' - Viva Verdi!
• 'Train Dreams' - Train Dreams

Best Original Score

• Bugonia
• Frankenstein
• Hamnet
• One Battle After Another
• Sinners

Best International Feature

• It Was Just an Accident
• Sentimental Value
• Sirât
• The Secret Agent
• The Voice of Hind Rajab

Best Animated Feature

• Arco
• Elio
• KPop Demon Hunters
• Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
• Zootopia 2

Best Documentary Feature

• Come See Me in the Good Light
• Cutting Through the Rocks
• Mr. Nobody Against Putin
• The Alabama Solution
• The Perfect Neighbor

Best Costume Design

• Avatar: Fire and Ash
• Frankenstein
• Hamnet
• Marty Supreme
• Sinners

Best Make-up and Hairstyling

• Frankenstein
• Kokuho
• Sinners
• The Smashing Machine
• The Ugly Stepsister

Best Production Design

• Frankenstein
• Hamnet
• Marty Supreme
• One Battle After Another
• Sinners

Best Sound

• Frankenstein
• F1
• One Battle After Another
• Sinners
• Sirât

Best Film Editing

• F1
• Marty Supreme
• One Battle After Another
• Sentimental Value
• Sinners

Best Cinematography

• Frankenstein
• Marty Supreme
• One Battle After Another
• Sinners
• Train Dreams

Best Visual Effects

• Avatar: Fire and Ash
• F1
• Jurassic World Rebirth
• Sinners
• The Lost Bus

Best Live Action Short

• A Friend of Dorothy
• Butcher's Stain
• Jane Austen's Period Drama
• The Singers
• Two People Exchanging Saliva

Best Animated Short

• Butterfly
• Forevergreen
• Retirement Plan
• The Girl Who Cried Pearls
• The Three Sisters

Best Documentary Short

• All the Empty Rooms
• Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud
• Children No More: Were and Are Gone
• The Devil Is Busy
• Perfectly a Strangeness

Best Casting

• Hamnet
• Marty Supreme
• One Battle After Another
• Sinners
• The Secret Agent

Best Picture

• Bugonia
• Frankenstein
• F1
• Hamnet
• Marty Supreme
• One Battle After Another
• The Secret Agent
• Sentimental Value
• Sinners
• Train Dreams

Best Actor

• Timothée Chalamet - Marty Supreme
• Leonardo DiCaprio - One Battle After Another
• Ethan Hawke - Blue Moon
• Michael B Jordan - Sinners
• Wagner Moura - The Secret Agent

Best Actress

• Jessie Buckley - Hamnet
• Rose Byrne - If I Had Legs I'd Kick You
• Kate Hudson - Song Sung Blue
• Renate Reinsve - Sentimental Value
• Emma Stone - Bugonia

Best Supporting Actress

• Elle Fanning - Sentimental Value
• Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas - Sentimental Value
• Amy Madigan - Weapons
• Wunmi Mosaku - Sinners
• Teyana Taylor - One Battle After Another

Best Supporting Actor

• Benicio del Toro - One Battle After Another
• Jacob Elordi - Frankenstein
• Delroy Lindo - Sinners
• Sean Penn - One Battle After Another
• Stellan Skarsgård - Sentimental Value