The 98th Academy Awards unfolded at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles with a fairly middling sense of competitive tension that had defined the entire awards season, as the Warner Bros’ champions — Paul Thomas Anderson’s sprawling political thriller One Battle After Another and Ryan Coogler’s genre-bending Southern gothic Sinners— arrived as the ceremony as the two dominant forces and turned the Oscars into a head-to-head contest that ultimately shaped nearly every major headline of the night.
By the end of the evening, Anderson’s One Battle After Another emerged as the night’s largest winner with six Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Casting, and Best Supporting Actor, in a sweep that reflected the film’s steady accumulation of industry support through the precursor circuit and confirmed Anderson’s long-awaited coronation after decades of nominations without a directing win.
Also read | Oscars 2026: Winners, surprises and full results from the 98th Academy Awards
Producer Sara Murphy and Paul Thomas Anderson, winner of the Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director for ‘One Battle After Another’, which won the Oscar for Best Picture, pose together in the Oscars photo room at the 98th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles
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REUTERS
The Oscars race that led to this victory unfolded over months of industry awards that largely favored Anderson’s film, especially after it secured key precursors such as the Producers Guild Award, Directors Guild Award and BAFTA victories that historically correlate with the Best Picture outcome, though the momentum never hardened into inevitability because Coogler’s Sinners remained the season’s most visible cultural phenomenon and arrived with a record-breaking 16 nominations, the largest tally ever achieved by a single film in Academy history.
Though Sinners did not take home the top prize, its presence shaped the ceremony in another way through Michael B. Jordan’s Best Actor victory, which capped a late-season surge that began when he won a major industry acting prize weeks before the Oscars and turned what had looked like a Timothée Chalamet-favoured race into a glorious upset. Jordan’s win formed the centerpiece of the film’s four-Oscar haul, which also included Best Original Screenplay for Coogler, Best Original Score for Ludwig Göransson, and a historic Best Cinematography win for Autumn Durald Arkapaw.
Warner Bros., which backed both One Battle After Another and Sinners, tied the record for most Oscars won by a single studio in one ceremony with eleven total victories, a milestone that a has arrived during period of financial uncertainty and corporate restructuring for the studio.
(L-R) Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Misty Copeland, Miles Caton, Brittany Howard, Raphael Saadiq and Raphael Thomas perform the song “I Lied To You” from ‘Sinners’ onstage during the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles
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Another major acting milestone came when Jessie Buckley won Best Actress for Hamnet, Chloé Zhao’s adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel about the death of Shakespeare’s young son. And in the supporting categories, the Academy awarded Sean Penn for Anderson’s film and Amy Madigan for Zach Creggers’ Weapons, the latter performance marking a huge stride forward for horror being represented at the Academy Awards. Buckley’s win made her the first Irish performer to capture the category, while Madigan’s victory arrived four decades after her first nomination, one of the longest waits between nomination and win in the Academy’s acting history.
The ceremony also produced several technical and craft-category storylines that broadened the night beyond the two dominant contenders, including three design wins for Guillermo del Toro’s gothic spectacle Frankenstein, as well as a sole wins for Joseph Kosinski’s F1and James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire & Ash. Animation delivered one of the evening’s most culturally resonant moments when the Netflix-backed KPop Demon Hunters won Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for the track “Golden,” which became the first K-pop song ever to receive the Academy Award.
Rei Ami, EJAE, and Audrey Nuna from ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ perform on stage during the Oscars show at the 98th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles
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REUTERS
Joachim Trier finally claimed the long-awaited International Feature prize for Sentimental Value, while the night left several admired Best Picture nominees — including the brilliant The Secret Agent, along with Train Dreams, Bugonia, and Marty Supreme — to slip out of the Dolby Theatre empty-handed.
Elsewhere on the winners list, Mr. Nobody Against Putin captured Best Documentary Feature, and the Live-Action Short category produced an unusual tie between The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva.
One of the evening’s most talked-about stretches arrived before the first envelope had even been opened, when host Conan O’Brien launched the ceremony with a pre-recorded introduction that folded several nominees into a roaming parody sequence anchored around Amy Madigan’s feral matriarch from the thriller Weapons, with O’Brien appearing in drag as the character Aunt Gladys and sprinting through a series of film worlds before bursting onto the Dolby Theatre stage while pursued by a swarm of children, a sketch that moved through the demon-hunting pop fantasia of KPop Demon Hunters and the juke-joint blues world of Sinners before resolving with the host breathlessly addressing the crowd.
Host Conan O’Brien, dressed as the character Gladys Lilly from ‘Weapons’ is chased by children during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles
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AP
O’Brien then settled into a monologue that mixed deadpan absurdity with topical satire, declaring himself the “last human host” of the ceremony as he riffed on the encroaching presence of artificial intelligence in film production while turning repeatedly toward Timothée Chalamet, whose recent comments dismissing ballet and opera as fading art forms had already sparked a mini-culture war across performing-arts circles; the comedian suggested heightened security in the theater might have something to do with angry opera singers before delivering the punch line that “they’re just mad you left out jazz,” a jab that the camera caught Chalamet laughing through while seated in the audience beside Kylie Jenner.
Beyond the scripted comedy, the ceremony produced a series of spontaneous viral moments that spread across social media feeds in real time, including the appearance of Brazilian actor Wagner Moura, nominated for Best Actor for The Secret Agent, whose smoldering close-ups during the broadcast became a minor internet event as fans clipped and circulated reaction shots despite the category ultimately going to Michael B. Jordan.
A fan holds a mask of Brazilian actor Wagner Moura, nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor for his role in ‘The Secret Agent,’ during a gathering at a bar to watch the awards show, in Rio de Janeiro
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AP
Political barbs threaded through the routine as well, with O’Brien and former-host Jimmy Kimmel taking aim at the uneasy cultural moment surrounding the current U.S. political climate and the Trump administration while framing the night as a reminder of cinema’s collective spirit during “chaotic, frightening times,”. Though, Javier Bardem used the brief sliver of stage time the orchestra had not yet claimed to slip in a call for no war and a free Palestine, which made him the only person across three hours of cinema’s biggest night willing to say the quiet part out loud.
However, it seems the 98th Academy Awards’ finest moment unfolded on the red carpet when Iranian veteran Jafar Panahi noticed David O. Leary beside him and produced a split-second double take so perfectly legible that Twitter immediately crowned it the best that the night had produced.
Here is a full list of the Oscars 2026 nominees:
BEST PICTURE
One Battle After Another (WINNER)
Hamnet
Sinners
Sentimental Value
Marty Supreme
Frankenstein
Bugonia
The Secret Agent
Train Dreams
F1
BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson — One Battle After Another (WINNER)
Joachim Trier — Sentimental Value
Ryan Coogler — Sinners
Chloé Zhao — Hamnet
Josh Safdie — Marty Supreme
BEST ACTRESS
Jessie Buckley — Hamnet (WINNER)
Renate Reinsve — Sentimental Value
Rose Byrne — If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Emma Stone — Bugonia
Kate Hudson — Song Sung Blue
BEST ACTOR
Timothée Chalamet — Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio — One Battle After Another
Michael B. Jordan — Sinners (WINNER)
Wagner Moura — The Secret Agent
Ethan Hawke — Blue Moon
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Teyana Taylor — One Battle After Another
Amy Madigan — Weapons (WINNER)
Wunmi Mosaku — Sinners
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas — Sentimental Value
Elle Fanning — Sentimental Value
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Stellan Skarsgård — Sentimental Value
Benicio Del Toro — One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi — Frankenstein
Delroy Lindo — Sinners
Sean Penn — One Battle After Another (WINNER)
BEST CASTING
Sinners — Francine Maisler
One Battle After Another — Cassandra Kulukundis (WINNER)
Hamnet — Nina Gold
Marty Supreme — Jennifer Venditti
The Secret Agent — Gabriel Domingues
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
One Battle After Another — Paul Thomas Anderson (WINNER)
Hamnet — Chloé Zhao & Maggie O’Farrell
Bugonia — Will Tracy
Train Dreams — Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar
Frankenstein — Guillermo del Toro
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Sinners — Ryan Coogler (WINNER)
Sentimental Value — Joachim Trier & Eskil Vogt
It Was Just an Accident — Jafar Panahi
Marty Supreme — Ronald Bronstein & Josh Safdie
Blue Moon — Robert Kaplow
BEST FILM EDITING
One Battle After Another — Andy Jurgensen (WINNER)
Sinners — Michael P. Shawver
F1 — Stephen Mirrione
Marty Supreme — Ronald Bronstein
Sentimental Value — Olivier Bugge Coutté
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Sinners — Autumn Durald Arkapaw (WINNER)
One Battle After Another — Michael Bauman
Frankenstein — Dan Laustsen
Marty Supreme — Darius Khondji
Train Dreams — Adolpho Veloso
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Frankenstein — Tamara Deverell (sets: Shane Vieau) (WINNER)
One Battle after Another — Florencia Martin ( sets: Anthony Carlino)
Sinners — Hannah Beachler (sets: Monique Champagne)
Hamnet — Fiona Crombie (sets: Alice Felton)
Marty Supreme — Jack Fisk (sets: Adam Willis)
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Frankenstein — Kate Hawley (WINNER)
Avatar: Fire & Ash — Deborah L. Scott
Hamnet — Małgosia Turzańska
Sinners — Ruth E. Carter
Marty Supreme — Miyako Bellizzi
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Sinners — Ludwig Göransson (WINNER)
One Battle After Another — Jonny Greenwood
Hamnet — Max Richter
Frankenstein — Alexandre Desplat
Bugonia — Jerskin Fendrix
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Golden” — KPop Demon Hunters (WINNER)
“I Lied to You” — Sinners
“Dear Me” — Diane Warren: Relentless
“Train Dreams” — Train Dreams
“Sweet Dreams Of Joy” — Viva Verdi!
BEST SOUND
F1 (Apple/Warner Bros) (WINNER)
Sinners (Warner Bros)
One Battle After Another (Warner Bros)
Frankenstein (Netflix)
Sirāt (NEON)
BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
Kokuho (Kyoko Toyokawa, Naomi Hibino and Tadashi Nishimatsu)
Frankenstein (Mike Hill, Cliona Furey, Jordan Samuel) (WINNER)
Sinners (Ken Diaz, Mike Fontaine, Shunika Terry)
The Smashing Machine (Kazu Hiro, Glen Griffin, Bjoern Rehbein)
The Ugly Stepsister (Thomas Foldberg and Anne Cathrine Sauerberg)
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar: Fire and Ash (WINNER)
F1
Sinners
The Lost Bus
Jurassic World Rebirth
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
KPop Demon Hunters (WINNER)
Zootopia 2
Arco
Little Amélie or the Character of the Rain
Elio
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
The Alabama Solution — Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman
Come See Me in the Good Light — Ryan White, Jessica Hargrave, Tig Notaro and Stef Willen
Cutting through Rocks — Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni
Mr. Nobody Against Putin — David Borenstein, Pavel Talankin, Helle Faber and Alžběta Karásková (WINNER)
The Perfect Neighbor — Geeta Gandbhir, Alisa Payne, Nikon Kwantu and Sam Bisbee
BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE
Norway — Sentimental Value (WINNER)
Brazil — The Secret Agent
France — It Was Just an Accident
Spain — Sirāt
Tunisia — The Voice of Hind Rajab
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
Butcher’s Stain — Meyer Levinson-Blount and Oron Caspi
A Friend of Dorothy — Lee Knight and James Dean
Jane Austen’s Period Drama — Julia Aks and Steve Pinder
The Singers — Sam A. Davis and Jack Piatt (TIED WINNER)
Two People Exchanging Saliva — Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata(TIED WINNER)
BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Butterfly — Florence Miailhe and Ron Dyens
Forevergreen — Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears
The Girl Who Cried Pearls — Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski (WINNER)
Retirement Plan — John Kelly and Andrew Freedman
The Three Sisters — Konstantin Bronzit
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
All the Empty Rooms — Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones(WINNER)
Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud — Craig Renaud and Juan Arredondo
Children No More: “Were and Are Gone”— Hilla Medalia and Sheila Nevins
The Devil Is Busy — Christalyn Hampton and Geeta Gandbhir
Perfectly a Strangeness — Alison McAlpine
