Sunday night in Los Angeles belonged to Paul Thomas Anderson. His political thriller “One Battle After Another,” a dark, unsettling portrait of a police-state America, walked into the 98th Academy Awards as the season’s frontrunner and walked out with six Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It was an Oscar battle between “One Battle After Another” and “Sinners” until the very end, but only one came out on top. For a film that Anderson described as his apology letter to his children for the world their generation is inheriting, the recognition is fitting.

But the night didn’t belong entirely to one film. Ryan Coogler’s vampire horror Sinners, the most Oscar-nominated film in Academy history with 16 nominations, claimed four awards of its own, including Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan and Best Original Screenplay for Coogler himself. Both films were released by Warner Bros., capping a remarkable awards season for the studio whose future now hangs on a $111 billion merger with Paramount. Hollywood handed out its highest honours while quietly watching its own industry reshape itself around it.

The Big Wins and the Moments That Mattered

Michael B. Jordan receives thunderous applause as he wins the #Oscar for Best Actor. pic.twitter.com/jlHKTZjkdx

— Pop Base (@PopBase) March 16, 2026

Sean Penn won Best Supporting Actor for his terrifying yet darkly comedic performance as Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw in “One Battle After Another,” becoming only the fourth male actor in history to win three acting Oscars, joining Daniel Day-Lewis, Jack Nicholson, and Walter Brennan. In a curious turn, Penn was a no-show to collect the award, continuing a recent pattern of skipping the ceremonies that have honoured him.

Jessie Buckley completed her award season sweep, winning Best Actress for her role in Hamnet. It was a victory that felt inevitable by the time the envelope was opened, but no less deserved for it. On the other side of the acting categories, Michael B. Jordan’s Best Actor win for playing twins Smoke and Stack in Sinners was one of the most celebrated moments of the night, coming in what was arguably the most competitive Best Actor race in years. This field included Timothée Chalamet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Wagner Moura, and Ethan Hawke.

Autumn Durald became the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Cinematography for her work on Sinners, a historic moment that the room received with sustained applause. Amy Madigan won Best Supporting Actress for her instantly iconic performance as Aunt Gladys in “Weapons.” In contrast, Cassandra Kulukundis won the Academy’s first-ever award for achievement in casting for “One Battle After Another.”

A Warner Bros. Night, and a Complicated One

“One Battle After Another” wins Best Picture at the #Oscars pic.twitter.com/UcFl7fr6yu

— Deadline (@DEADLINE) March 16, 2026

The quiet subplot running through the Oscars 2026 was the Warner Bros. story. Two of the night’s biggest films, “One Battle After Another” and “Sinners,” both came from the same studio, delivering a remarkable double at the industry’s most-watched event. The victories come at a tumultuous moment in the studio’s history, with Warner Bros. Discovery agreeing to be acquired by Paramount for nearly $111 billion. If the deal receives regulatory approval, it is expected to lead to thousands of layoffs and could trigger further consolidation across an already battered industry. The trophies were real. So was the uncertainty surrounding the people who made the films possible.

Host Conan O’Brien drew some of the night’s biggest laughs and its most pointed political commentary, while an In Memoriam segment paid tribute to those the industry lost over the past year. It was a ceremony that felt alive in the moment—not just celebrating what cinema has been, but wrestling with what it’s becoming.

Full Oscars Winners List 2026 — 98th Academy Awards

Best Picture

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

Best Actress

• (WINNER) 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 Actor

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

Best Supporting Actress

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

Best Supporting Actor

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

Best Director

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

Best Animated Feature

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

Best International Feature

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

Best Documentary Feature

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

Best Original Screenplay

• (WINNER) Ryan Coogler — Sinners
• Robert Kaplow — Blue Moon
• Jafar Panahi — It Was Just an Accident
• Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie — Marty Supreme
• Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier — Sentimental Value

Best Adapted Screenplay

• (WINNER) Paul Thomas Anderson — One Battle After Another
• Will Tracy — Bugonia
• Guillermo del Toro — Frankenstein
• Chloé Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell — Hamnet
• Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar — Train Dreams

Best Original Song

• (WINNER) “Golden” — KPop Demon Hunters
• “Dear Me” — Diane Warren: Relentless
• “I Lied to You” — Sinners
• “Sweet Dreams of Joy” — Viva Verdi!
• “Train Dreams” — Train Dreams

Best Original Score

• (WINNER) Ludwig Göransson — Sinners
• Jerskin Fendrix — Bugonia
• Alexandre Desplat — Frankenstein
• Max Richter — Hamnet
• Jonny Greenwood — One Battle After Another

Best Cinematography

• (WINNER) Autumn Durald Arkapaw — Sinners
• Dan Laustsen — Frankenstein
• Darius Khondji — Marty Supreme
• Michael Bauman — One Battle After Another
• Adolpho Veloso — Train Dreams

Best Film Editing

• (WINNER) Andy Jurgensen — One Battle After Another
• Stephen Mirrione — F1
• Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie — Marty Supreme
• Olivier Bugge Coutté — Sentimental Value
• Michael P. Shawver — Sinners

Best Sound

• (WINNER) F1 — Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A. Rizzo and Juan Peralta
• Frankenstein
• One Battle After Another
• Sinners
• Sirât

Best Visual Effects

• (WINNER) Avatar: Fire and Ash — Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett
• F1
• Jurassic World Rebirth
• Sinners
• The Lost Bus

Best Production Design

• (WINNER) Frankenstein — Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau
• Hamnet
• Marty Supreme
• One Battle After Another
• Sinners

Best Casting

• (WINNER) Cassandra Kulukundis — One Battle After Another
• Nina Gold — Hamnet
• Jennifer Venditti — Marty Supreme
• Francine Maisler — Sinners
• Gabriel Domingues — The Secret Agent

Best Make-Up and Hairstyling

• (WINNER) Frankenstein — Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel and Cliona Furey
• Kokuho
• Sinners
• The Smashing Machine
• The Ugly Stepsister

Best Costume Design

• (WINNER) Frankenstein — Kate Hawley
• Avatar: Fire and Ash
• Hamnet
• Marty Supreme
• Sinners

Best Animated Short

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

Best Live Action Short

• (WINNER) The Singers (Tied)
• (WINNER) Two People Exchanging Saliva (Tied)
• A Friend of Dorothy
• Butcher’s Stain
• Jane Austen’s Period Drama

Best Documentary Short

• (WINNER) All the Empty Rooms – Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones 
• 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

Featured image: Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times

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