And the winner is … cinema! On March 15, 2026, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hosted its 98th annual awards ceremony, with Conan O’Brien hosting for the second year in a row. Expectations were high for this year’s show: Sinners went in having broken the record for the most Oscar nominations in history, the ceremony would see the debut of the highly anticipated Best Casting award and legendary filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson seemed slated to win the first Oscar of his career. And — apart from a few painfully awkward moments — the 2026 Oscars did not disappoint. The ceremony featured historic wins, solid comic relief and touching tributes to legends of film history.
First, let’s start by acknowledging the many positives the night had to offer. Paul Thomas Anderson received long overdue Oscar recognition for his work on One Battle After Another, winning Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture. The film ultimately stood as the biggest winner of the night, taking home six awards in total. Sean Penn won his third Oscar for his incredible supporting performance as Steven J. Lockjaw, Andy Jurgensen won for Best Editing and Cassandra Kulukundis won the inaugural award for Best Casting. Though One Battle After Another’s cast and crew faced tough competition (particularly in the Best Supporting Actor, Best Casting and Best Picture categories), none of these award wins surprised or disappointed me. Penn’s performance easily stood out to me as the strongest of the nominees, even though it would’ve been nice to see it go to Stellan Skarsgård or Delroy Lindo, each of whom have had legendary careers in Hollywood. Sinners and Marty Supreme both had incredible ensemble casts, and though I personally most appreciated the unorthodox casting choices made in Marty Supreme, I felt perfectly content with the award going to Kulukundis.
Winning four awards throughout the evening, Sinners also shined bright alongside One Battle After Another. Writer and director Ryan Coogler won the first Oscar of his career for Best Original Screenplay, one of the most easily deserved wins of the evening. Michael B. Jordan also won his first Oscar for Best Actor. Jordan masterfully played twin brothers Smoke and Stack in Sinners, managing to embody two distinct personalities in a single film. Though Timothée Chalamet demonstrated extreme dedication and transformation in his performance as Marty Supreme, Jordan’s performance arguably required a greater degree of range throughout his dual role. Overall, I’m happy to see Jordan win — even if I’d still argue that the unnominated Jesse Plemons deserved the award for his role in Bugonia. Autumn Durald Arkapaw’s highly deserved win for her work on Sinners marked the first time a woman ever won for Best Cinematography, and Ludwig Göransson predictably received his third win for Best Score in recognition of the incredible blues-infused sound he crafted.
The Lead Actress and Supporting Actress categories also saw two first-timers take home the award. Jessie Buckley won Best Actress for her moving performance in Hamnet, and longtime star Amy Madigan won Best Supporting Actress for her role as the bizarre and terrifying Gladys in Weapons. Though Madigan faced tough competition from Teyana Taylor and Wunmi Mosaku, it was heartwarming to see the 75-year-old actress take home her first Oscar after over 40 years of acting. Frankenstein understandably swept the Best Production Design, Best Makeup & Hairstyling and Best Costume Design categories. KPop Demon Hunters won for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song, the song making history as the first of the K-pop genre to win at the Oscars. Finally, the night saw a remarkable tie between Two People Exchanging Saliva and The Singers for Best Live Action Short.
Apart from the awards, the ceremony featured hilarious skits and a heart-wrenching In Memoriam segment. The ceremony’s cold open featured O’Brien dressed up as Gladys from Weapons, which proved hilarious despite being predicted by many online. O’Brien successfully incorporated political commentary and bizarre humor (such as staging his own fake lifetime achievement award win) throughout the night, never letting any one topic take the spotlight for too long. The In Memoriam segment was perhaps the most tasteful one I have seen from the Oscars in recent memory. Billy Crystal, Barbra Streisand and Rachel McAdams delivered moving tributes to Rob Reiner, Robert Redford and Diane Keaton respectively, honoring their work as actors and activists in a refreshing way.
However, not everything from the night proved so successful. For one, the team cut off a number of speakers, most notably in a heart-breaking fashion during the Best Song acceptance speech. At multiple points, the microphone would begin to descend down into the floor, leaving the award recipients standing awkwardly without a chance to speak. The Academy’s decision to cut off speakers could be forgiven if not for the fact that so many of the presenters delivered introductions that lasted way too long. The gift jokes from Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans and the note card sketch from the Bridesmaids cast were both funny, but they dragged on to the point of excruciating awkwardness and would have benefited from a good bit of cutting down. O’Brien’s jokes also dragged on at points, with cringy jokes outstaying their welcome at points and interrupting the flow of the show.
Another awkward award moment came when presenter Kieran Culkin accepted the Best Supporting Actor award on Sean Penn’s behalf. Culkin appeared very judgmental of Penn’s decision not to attend, seeming to slight the actor’s absence. Though Penn has done many bizarre/unsavory things throughout his career, Culkin’s delivery seemed overly flippant.
In all, the 98th Academy Awards ceremony recognized many of 2025’s most important films and moments in an enjoyable fashion. I hope to continue to see O’Brien as host over the coming years, even if his performance this year was slightly worse than last year.
Matthew Rentezelas is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is an assistant Arts & Culture editor on the 144th Editorial Board and can be reached at mrentezelas@cornellsun.com.
