98th Academy Awards

11 Apr - 17 Apr, 2026
Mag The Weekly
Awards

There were few upsets at the Oscars 2026, but the night still held a couple of surprises. For much of the evening, the awards were a two-horse race between Ryan Coogler’s vampire epic, Sinners, which hit a new high-water mark for nominations with a record-breaking 16, and Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, whose 13 nominations made it the ceremony’s second-most-recognised film.

In the end, Anderson took home some of the night’s most coveted awards after going years without winning a single Oscar. The longtime director won best picture, best adapted screenplay, and best director, while his colleagues Andy Jurgensen and Cassandra Kulukundis also won (for best editing and the new best-casting category, respectively). Cast member Sean Penn, who did not attend the ceremony, also won best supporting actor – his third career Oscar.

Meanwhile, Coogler was awarded best original screenplay, and Sinners director of photography Autumn Durald Arkapaw made even more Oscar history as the first woman to win in the cinematography category. Ludwig Göransson, who had been doing well all awards season, continued to clean up with a win for best score. And in one of the most invigorating moments of the evening, star Michael B. Jordan won the best-actor trophy for his dual roles as brothers Smoke and Stack.

Joachim Trier’s Norwegian family drama, Sentimental Value, and Josh Safdie’s table tennis period piece, Marty Supreme, both had nine nominations going into the show. While Marty Supreme was completely shut out of the Oscars 2026, a visibly emotional Trier did get behind the podium when his film won best international feature, beating out hot Brazilian contender The Secret Agent.

While Guillermo del Toro’s gothic and gory Frankenstein didn’t prevail in the biggest categories, it was a hit in the craft brackets. Production design, makeup and hair, and costume design all went to this lush adaptation of Mary Shelley’s 208-year-old tale.

Was 2025 the year of the monster? In addition to Frankenstein’s creature and Sinners’ vampires, there were the demons of KPop Demon Hunters, a film that won best animated feature as well as best original song for “Golden,” its earworm of a single. And don’t forget Weapons, which enjoyed a perfect one-to-one ratio of nominations to wins, as Amy Madigan was awarded best supporting actress for her work as the iconically witchy Gladys.

Madigan’s win was a surprise to some, as a number of supporting actresses had taken home trophies this season. Jessie Buckley’s victory was the opposite of that. The Hamnet star had won pretty much every award she was eligible for this cycle, with her best-actress triumph making for an awards season sweep.