Command Palette

Search for a command to run...

Discover

Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another Wins 6 Oscars at 2026 Show

Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another Wins 6 Oscars at 2026 Show
View gallery

A historic night at the 98th Academy Awards saw Paul Thomas Anderson’s political thriller One Battle After Another take Best Picture and lead the field with six Oscars, while Korean hit Sinners shattered records and barriers with four wins, including a groundbreaking cinematography award. cnn +1 The ceremony in Los Angeles also introduced the first-ever Oscar for Casting and delivered a rare voting tie, alongside flashpoints over curtailed speeches and pointed political statements. hollywoodreporter +2

Held on March 15 at the Dolby Theatre and hosted by Conan O’Brien, the show centered on a season-long duel between Warner Bros. stablemates One Battle After Another and Sinners, which together helped the studio tie an all-time record with 11 wins in one night. cnn +1 Jessie Buckley and Michael B. Jordan claimed the lead acting prizes, each winning an Oscar for the first time. cnn +1

Awards Race Decided: One Battle After Another vs. Sinners

One Battle After Another converted its momentum into six trophies, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for Anderson, plus Supporting Actor for Sean Penn, Film Editing and the inaugural Casting award for Cassandra Kulukundis. cnn +2 Anderson’s wins were widely framed as a career-crowning breakthrough after decades of nominations without victory. latimes

Sinners, the season’s most-nominated film with a record 16 nods, left with four Oscars: Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan, Original Screenplay for Ryan Coogler, Original Score for Ludwig Göransson and a landmark Cinematography win for Autumn Durald Arkapaw. cnn +1 Arkapaw became the first woman — and, as some outlets noted, the first woman of color — to win the cinematography Oscar, telling the audience that “a lot of little girls that look like me will sleep really well tonight because they want to become cinematographers.” latimes +1 Buckley’s Best Actress win for Hamnet was reported as the first for an Irish lead actress and capped what observers described as an awards-season sweep. latimes

New Categories, Rare Tie and a Song Cut Short

The Academy handed out its first Oscar for Achievement in Casting, the body’s first new competitive category since Best Animated Feature was added in 2002. latimes Kulukundis’ win for One Battle After Another followed years of lobbying by casting directors for recognition of their role in shaping performances and ensembles. latimes Another statistical rarity came when Kumail Nanjiani opened the envelope for Best Live-Action Short and announced “It’s a tie,” with The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva sharing the prize — only the seventh tie in Oscars history. hollywoodreporter +1

The night’s most contentious moment involved K‑pop. Animated feature winner KPop Demon Hunters made history with Best Original Song for “Golden,” the first K‑pop track to claim the category, but celebration turned sour when the orchestra played off the seven-person songwriting team mid-acceptance. hollywoodreporter +1 EJAE, who had just told viewers the award was “about resilience,” finished speaking, but co-writer Yu‑Han Lee was cut short as the show went to commercial, prompting accusations of disrespect from fans and renewed criticism of the telecast’s time management. billboard Earlier, political remarks from presenters and documentary winners — including Javier Bardem’s “No to war, and free Palestine” — underscored the ceremony’s engagement with global conflicts. cnn +1

The Bigger Picture

With historic wins for women and international artists, a long-campaigned-for casting prize and a record studio haul, the 2026 Oscars marked both continuity and change in Hollywood’s awards landscape. The backlash over interrupted speeches and the optics of who gets silenced, however, suggested that even as the Academy modernized its categories and celebrated broader representation, debates over whose voices are heard — and for how long — remained as central to the show as the golden statuettes themselves. latimes +1