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Oscars 2026 as it happened: One Battle After Another wins best picture, Michael B. Jordan is best actor

The 98th Academy Awards saw One Battle After Another win big with six awards, Sinners followed with four, including best actor for Michael B. Jordan. Jessie Buckley took home best actress for Hamnet

Paul Thomas Anderson (centre) and producer Sara Murphy (centre right) celebrate with the cast and crew onstage after winning the Oscar for best picture for One Battle After Another during the 98th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on 15 March, 2026. Photo: EPA

Published: 7:02am, 16 Mar 2026Updated: 3:43pm, 16 Mar 2026

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Introduction

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Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another was crowned best picture at the 98th Academy Awards, handing Hollywood’s top honour to a comic, multi-generational American saga of political resistance.

The ceremony on March 15, which also saw Michael B. Jordan win best actor and Sinners cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw make Oscar history as the first female director of photography to win the award, was a long-in-coming coronation for Anderson, a San Fernando Valley native who made his first short at age 18 and has been one of America’s most lionised filmmakers for decades. Before Sunday, Anderson had never won an Oscar.

But One Battle After Another, the favourite coming in, won six Oscars, including best director and best adapted screenplay for Anderson, the Oscars’ first trophy for best casting and best supporting actor for an absent Sean Penn.

Sinners, which came in with a record 16 nominations, also landed some big and even historic wins. Coogler, the widely loved filmmaker, won the first Oscar in an unblemished career that started out with Jordan in 2013’s Fruitvale Station.

Arkapow, only the fourth female cinematographer ever nominated, won the award in a long-awaited triumph for women behind the camera.

“I really want all the women in the room to stand up,” said Arkapaw. “Because I don’t feel like I get here without you guys.”

Michael B. Jordan wins the Oscar for actor in a leading role for Sinners during the 98th Academy Awards. Photo: EPA

And Jordan, one of Hollywood’s most liked leading men, won best actor in one of the night’s closest races. The Dolby Theatre rose to its feet in the most thunderous applause of the night.

Jessie Buckley won best actress for her performance as Agnes Shakespeare in Hamnet, making her the first Irish performer to ever win in the category. At an Oscars where no other acting award seemed a sure thing, Buckley cruised into Sunday’s Oscars at the Dolby Theatre as the overwhelming favourite.

“It’s Mother’s Day in the UK,” said Buckley on the stage. “I would like to dedicate this to the beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart.”

Jessie Buckley poses in the press room with her Oscar for best actress in a leading role for Hamnet. Photo: AFP

KPop and Frankenstein win for Netflix

From the start, when host Conan O’Brien sprinted through the year’s nominees as Amy Madigan’s character in the horror thriller Weapons in a pre-taped bit, Sunday’s ceremony was quirky, a little clunky and preoccupied with the shifting place of movies in culture. There was, of all things, a tie for best live-action short film.

As expected, the Netflix sensation KPop Demon Hunters, 2025’s most-watched film, won best animated feature, as well as best song for “Golden”. It was a big win for Netflix but a more qualified victory for the movie’s producer, Sony Pictures. Though it developed and produced the film, Sony sold KPop Demon Hunters to the streaming giant instead of giving it a theatrical release.

On Netflix, KPop Demon Hunters became a cultural phenomenon and the streaming platform’s biggest hit. It has more than 325 million views and counting.

“This is for Korea and Koreans everywhere,” said co-director Maggie Kang.

Ejae and Mark Sonnenblick, winners of the best original song award for “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters, pose during the 98th Oscars. Photo: Getty Images via AFP

Another Netflix release, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, picked up three awards for its lavish craft, for costume design, make-up and hairstyling and for production design.

Amy Madigan won best supporting actress for her performance in the horror thriller Weapons, a win that came 40 years after the 75-year-old actress was first nominated, in 1986, for Twice in a Lifetime. Letting out a giant laugh as she hit the stage, Madigan exclaimed, “This is great!”

O’Brien presides over a ceremony shadowed by politics

Hosting for the second time, O’Brien began the Dolby Theatre show, alluding to “chaotic and frightening times”. But he argued that the current geopolitical climate made the Oscars all the more resonant as a globally unifying force.

“We pay tribute tonight, not just to film, but to the ideals of global artistry, collaboration, patience, resilience and that rarest of qualities today – optimism,” O’Brien said. “We’re going to celebrate. Not because we think all is well, but because we work, and hope, for better.”

Throughout the show, O’Brien hit several targets, like Timothée Chalamet for his diss of opera and ballet. But the ceremony seldom was not shadowed by politics, whether in references to changes under US President Donald Trump or the recently launched war in Iran.

Conan O’Brien hosts the 98th Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, California. Photo: EPA

Joachim Trier, whose Norwegian family drama Sentimental Value won best international film, quoted James Baldwin in his acceptance speech.

“All adults are responsible for all children,” he said. “Let’s not vote for politicians that don’t take this seriously into account.”

Presenter Jimmy Kimmel, whose late-night show last year was suspended after comments he made about Charlie Kirk’s killing, was among the most blunt.

“There are some countries that don’t support free speech,” said Kimmel. “I’m not at liberty to say which. Let’s just leave it at North Korea and CBS.”

Shortly after, Mr. Nobody Against Putin, a film about a Russian primary school teacher who documents his students’ indoctrination to support Russia’s war with Ukraine, won best documentary.

Theatrical looks to best streaming, again

The night’s final award again did not go to a streaming release; Apple’s Coda remains the only streaming film to achieve that distinction.

Some of O’Brien’s best digs came at the expense of the streamers. Netflix chief Ted Sarandos, he joked, was in a theatre for the first time. The host also lamented the lack of nominees for Amazon MGM: “Why isn’t the website I order toilet paper from winning more Oscars?”

“I’m honoured to be the last human host of the Academy Awards,” said O’Brien. “Next year it’s going to be a Waymo in a tux.”

2. Why Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value is the most acclaimed European film of the year

Reporting by Agence-France Presse, Associated Press, Reuters and other agencies