Oscars 2026: Winners, Highlights and Biggest Surprises from the 98th Academy Awards
With the 98th Academy Awards from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood last night, awards season has come and officially gone. The Oscars this year delivered, as usual, the most talked-about night of the filmic calendar. With a comedic opening monologue by host Conan O’Brien for the second straight year who took jabs at Trump, Netflix, YouTube, Amazon, and we’re sure a reluctant Timothée Chalamet, plus surprise acting wins and a dominant showing from two major films.
Winners, Highlights and Biggest Moments
The biggest prize of the night-Best Picture-went to One Battle After Another in what was a surprise to nobody. The political action-satire from director Paul Thomas Anderson finished the night with six Oscars in total. Anderson picked up Best Director, marking his first Academy Award after years of acclaimed nominations; as well as Best Supporting Actor for Seann Penn- his third Oscar- plus Editing, Casting, and Adapted Screenplay.
Speaking of the acting categories, the race for Best Actor ended with Michael B. Jordan taking the trophy for his performance in Sinners. It was a particularly competitive field this year that included multi-time nominees Leonardo DiCaprio, Ethan Hawke and Timothée Chalamet, as well as first-time nominee Wagner Moura. Chalamet was touted as the likely winner for most of the build-up, and whether or not his recent controversial comments about the ballet and the opera that riled up theatre kids was a factor, it was a much-welcomed win for Jordan.
Best Actress went to Jessie Buckley in a somewhat expected but also much-welcomed win for her emotionally charged performance in Hamnet. This continued the film’s strong showing across this year’s awards season, following her win at the Actor Awards, and Outstanding British Film at the BAFTAs.
As previously mentioned, the Best Supporting Actor was awarded to Sean Penn for his wonderfully cartoonish but equally despicable villainous performance in One Battle After Another- adding a third Oscar to his career tally.
Meanwhile, Best Supporting Actress went to Amy Madigan for her performance in the genre-bending thriller Weapons, one of the evening’s more unexpected wins and a major turning point for horror- a genre long-ignored by the Academy. With Weapons and Sinners winning big this year, we’re hopeful for continuing variety for awards season going forward!
Overall, One Battle After Another was the night’s biggest winner, taking home six awards, with Sinners close behind with four Oscars. The historical vampire action-thriller won Best Original Screenplay for Ryan Coogler, as well as much-deserved technical categories- Best Original Score for Ludwig Göransson, picking up his third Oscar; and Best Cinematography, with Autumn Durald Arkapaw becoming the first woman ever to win an Oscar in this category. Sinners entered the ceremony with 16 nominations- the most of the year, and the most for a single film ever.
Also, for only the seventh time in Oscars history, a category ended tied winners- both The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva nabbed the Academy Award for live-action short film. This marks the first tie since 2013- when Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty both won in the category of Best Sound Editing.
Other Notable Wins
Elsewhere, several other films picked up key awards across other technical and specialty categories. KPop Demon Hunters won Best Animated Feature as well as Best Original Song for “Golden,” while Norway’s Sentimental Value took home Best International Feature. The documentary prize went to Mr. Nobody Against Putin, and Avatar: Fire and Ash won Best Visual Effects.
With major wins, a few surprises and a handful of memorable jokes, the 2026 Oscars cemented the dominance of One Battle After Another and confirmed Sinners as one of the defining films of 2026, closing one of the most exciting Oscar seasons of recent years.
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