The 98th Academy Awards gave the world a ceremony unlike any in recent memory, and the full roster of Winners & Nominees (2026) tells the story of a genuinely extraordinary year for American and international cinema. From record-shattering nominations to history-making wins and one of the rarest moments the Oscars stage has ever produced, Sunday night at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles delivered surprise after surprise from the opening monologue to the final envelope.
Conan O’Brien returned as host for a second consecutive year, and the ceremony aired live on ABC and Hulu. Two films dominated the conversation heading into the night — Ryan Coogler’s supernatural vampire epic Sinners and Paul Thomas Anderson’s dark political thriller One Battle After Another — and by the time the last award was handed out, Hollywood had a new chapter written into its history books.
Want every winner, every upset, and every unforgettable moment from Oscar night? You’re in the right place — keep reading.
The Race That Had Everyone Talking
Going into the ceremony, Sinners held a claim no film in Oscar history had ever held before. With 16 total nominations, it broke the all-time record previously shared by All About Eve, Titanic, and La La Land, each of which had received 14. The film also set a separate record for the most Black individuals nominated for a single production, with 10 people earning nods across various categories.
One Battle After Another entered the night with 13 nominations, and the tension between these two Warner Bros. films made for one of the tightest Best Picture races the Academy has ever staged. Joining them on the Best Picture ballot were Frankenstein, Bugonia, F1, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, The Secret Agent, Sentimental Value, and Train Dreams — a diverse and daring collection of films that reflected just how ambitious 2025 was as a year for cinema.
Best Picture and the Night’s Big Sweep
When the final envelope opened, One Battle After Another was named Best Picture at the 98th Academy Awards. Paul Thomas Anderson’s portrait of faded leftist revolutionaries pursued by a ruthless military officer beat out the record-setting Sinners and eight other competitors to claim Hollywood’s top prize. The film finished the night with six total Oscar wins, making it the evening’s overall leader by that measure.
Sinners ended the night with four wins — fewer statuettes than its nomination total suggested, but each win carried enormous cultural significance, as the categories it claimed were among the most meaningful of the evening.
Acting Honors That Made the Crowd Roar
Michael B. Jordan won Best Actor for his performance in Sinners, a result that drew one of the night’s loudest ovations. Jordan paid tribute to director Ryan Coogler during his acceptance speech, calling him an extraordinary person and expressing deep gratitude for being given the opportunity to be seen fully on screen. The win was the culmination of a remarkable awards season run and a career-defining moment for an actor who has been building toward this kind of recognition for years.
Jessie Buckley took home Best Actress for her role in Hamnet, Chloé Zhao’s adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s celebrated novel. Buckley beat a strong field that included Rose Byrne, Kate Hudson, Renate Reinsve, and Emma Stone. She reportedly began crying the moment her name was announced, before she even reached the stage.
Sean Penn won Best Supporting Actor for One Battle After Another, becoming only the eighth actor in history to hold three performance Oscars. He was not present at the ceremony to accept the award. His win stood as one of the most quietly dramatic moments of the evening.
Amy Madigan won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Aunt Gladys in Weapons. Her previous Oscar nomination had come nearly four decades earlier, in 1986. Accepting the award, she reflected on the people who meant something to her throughout her career — a speech that felt personal, unrushed, and entirely her own.
Direction and the Written Word
Paul Thomas Anderson won Best Director for One Battle After Another, adding the directing prize to his adapted screenplay win and his film’s Best Picture victory. Anderson drew inspiration for the script from Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland, and his win in the writing category marked his first-ever Oscar.
Ryan Coogler won Best Original Screenplay for Sinners, a deeply personal project he had described as one of the most ambitious of his life. It was Coogler’s first Oscar win, a milestone the entire industry celebrated with genuine warmth. In a memorable presentation, Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans — reuniting from the Marvel film universe — handed out the writing prizes together, drawing excited reactions from the audience.
History Made Behind the Camera
The cinematography award produced the single most talked-about acceptance moment of the night. Autumn Durald Arkapaw won Best Cinematography for Sinners, becoming the first woman and the first Black cinematographer ever to win this award in Oscar history. After thanking Coogler, with whom she had previously collaborated on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, she asked all the women in the room to stand up, saying she felt the win belonged to all of them. The room rose.
Sinners also won Best Original Score, with Ludwig Göransson taking home the award for his work on the film.
One Battle After Another won Best Film Editing, a category that has historically correlated strongly with Best Picture — 36 of the previous 97 Best Picture winners had also won editing. The pattern held again this year.
Frankenstein Dominates the Craft Categories
Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, a Netflix production that earned nine nominations despite del Toro not receiving a directing nod, emerged as the craft categories’ dominant force. The film won Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Production Design — three wins that made it the third-highest decorated film of the evening.
Dan Laustsen’s cinematography work on Frankenstein did not win, but the film’s visual and technical team walked away with the night’s most consistent craft haul, a quiet triumph for a project that many felt had been underestimated heading into the ceremony.
A Brand-New Category Makes Oscar History
For the first time since Best Animated Feature was introduced in 2001, the Academy added a new competitive category to the ceremony. Best Casting made its debut at the 98th Awards, and the first-ever winner was Cassandra Kulukundis for One Battle After Another. The five inaugural nominees — representing Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, The Secret Agent, and Sinners — were introduced by actors from each respective film in what the production team called a “Fab Five” presentation format.
Kulukundis had spoken earlier in the season about how casting directors’ work is often misunderstood, noting that they spend hours studying their craft and history, just like any other major film discipline. Her win validated a profession the industry has long overlooked at the formal awards level.
Animation, Music, and a K-Pop First
KPop Demon Hunters won Best Animated Feature, with co-director Maggie Kang dedicating the award to Korea and to Koreans everywhere. Co-director Chris Appelhans followed with a message to aspiring storytellers everywhere, urging them to tell their own stories in their own voices, with a promise that the world is waiting for them.
The film also won Best Original Song for “Golden,” making it the first K-pop song in history to win an Oscar. The acceptance moment turned chaotic when the orchestra began playing the winners off before they finished speaking — singer EJAE visibly asked the musicians to stop, but the music continued and the broadcast cut to commercial with two winners still at the microphone, leaving the audience visibly frustrated.
International Film, Documentary, and a Rare Tie
Norway’s Sentimental Value, directed by Joachim Trier, won Best International Feature Film. It had entered the night with nine nominations, the most ever for a Norwegian production. The film competed against entries from Brazil, France, Spain, and Tunisia.
Mr. Nobody Against Putin won Best Documentary Feature. Host Conan O’Brien acknowledged the film’s politically charged subject matter with a pointed monologue reference that drew one of the night’s biggest laughs.
All the Empty Rooms, a documentary examining the aftermath of school shootings in America, won Best Documentary Short Film.
The live-action short category produced only the seventh tie in the entire history of the Oscars. Both The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva were named winners. Presenter Kumail Nanjiani paused after the announcement to assure the audience he was not joking — a moment that generated genuine laughter and confusion in equal measure.
The Girl Who Cried Pearls won Best Animated Short.
F1 took home Best Sound, giving Brad Pitt’s racing drama its lone win of the evening.
Avatar: Fire and Ash won Best Visual Effects, continuing James Cameron’s franchise record in the category. The original Avatar won in 2010, The Way of Water won in 2023, and Fire and Ash claimed the prize in 2026.
The Ceremony Itself
O’Brien opened the show dressed as Amy Madigan’s character from Weapons, complete with a red wig and white makeup, before working his way through bits involving several other nominated films. His monologue warned the audience that the evening could get political, and offered an alternate Oscars hosted by Kid Rock at a nearby Dave & Busters as a tongue-in-cheek alternative — a nod to a recent cultural moment involving the Super Bowl halftime show.
The night included a Bridesmaids reunion with Rose Byrne, Kristen Wiig, Ellie Kemper, and Melissa McCarthy presenting together in honor of the film’s 15th anniversary. A Marvel reunion saw Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans back on stage side by side. Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, co-stars of the upcoming film The Drama, presented Best Director.
Sigourney Weaver and Pedro Pascal appeared alongside Grogu — better known as Baby Yoda from the Star Wars universe — in a preview of their upcoming film The Mandalorian & Grogu. When Kate Hudson was spotted sitting next to the puppet in the audience, Weaver delivered a deadpan callback to her Alien franchise in what became one of the night’s most quoted moments.
An extended In Memoriam segment paid tribute to Rob Reiner, Robert Redford, and others lost in the past year. Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan appeared together to honor Reiner, who passed away in December 2025 alongside his wife.
The Full 2026 Oscar Winners at a Glance
Best Picture: One Battle After Another Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another Best Actor: Michael B. Jordan, Sinners Best Actress: Jessie Buckley, Hamnet Best Supporting Actor: Sean Penn, One Battle After Another Best Supporting Actress: Amy Madigan, Weapons Best Original Screenplay: Ryan Coogler, Sinners Best Adapted Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another Best Animated Feature: KPop Demon Hunters Best International Feature: Sentimental Value (Norway) Best Documentary Feature: Mr. Nobody Against Putin Best Documentary Short: All the Empty Rooms Best Animated Short: The Girl Who Cried Pearls Best Live Action Short: Tie — The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva Best Casting (inaugural): Cassandra Kulukundis, One Battle After Another Best Cinematography: Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Sinners Best Original Score: Ludwig Göransson, Sinners Best Original Song: “Golden,” KPop Demon Hunters Best Film Editing: One Battle After Another Best Production Design: Frankenstein Best Costume Design: Frankenstein Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Frankenstein Best Visual Effects: Avatar: Fire and Ash Best Sound: F1
What This Night Means Going Forward
The 2026 Oscars did not just hand out awards. They delivered a statement about what kind of cinema the Academy wants to celebrate. A record-breaking genre film rooted in Black American history and supernatural storytelling earned more nominations than any film ever had. A first-time Oscar winner in the cinematography category made history while the entire room stood on its feet. A brand-new award category recognized a profession that has shaped every great film ever made but rarely received formal credit for doing so.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another took the top prize, but the broader story of the night belonged to an industry that seemed genuinely energized by the films it was honoring. Whether it was the K-pop celebration, the Norwegian drama, the rare tie in the shorts, or the 40-year gap between Amy Madigan’s first nomination and her win, the 98th Academy Awards gave audiences — in theaters all year long and watching from home Sunday night — reasons to feel that movies still matter deeply.
Which win from the 2026 Oscars surprised you the most — and which film do you think deserved even more recognition? Share your thoughts in the comments below.