Tears, applause and a wave of shock and surprise hung in the air at the 98th Academy Awards as One Battle After Another won the award for Best Picture.
This bringing an end to an emotional night in Hollywood, with Paul Thomas Anderson winning the biggest award of his career for the film, which won six awards, the most awards of the night, at the ceremony held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles last night.
Sinners, directed by Ryan Coogler who entered the ceremony with a record 16 nominations, the most nominations for a film and was one of the hot topics of the night.
But it was One Battle After Another that won the top awards, with the dark comedy thriller also winning awards for direction, adapted screenplay, supporting actor, film editing and casting which was one of the new categories at the Academy Awards this year.
As the film crew hurried to the stage in the final moments, the room erupted in celebration.
Anderson humbly declared, “There is no best” while accepting the prize on stage. He used the occasion to express gratitude to his cast after earlier successes had placed more emphasis on the film’s creative team.
Even as Best Picture remained out of reach, Sinners still had plenty of triumphs.
Michael B. Jordan won Best Actor for his performance in the film, as did Ryan Coogler for original screenplay and Ludwig Göransson and Autumn Durald Arkapaw took home prizes for score and cinematography.
Arkapaw’s win was historic, as she is the first woman and the first Black woman to take home the Oscar in that category.
The evening was filled with emotional moments beyond the best picture win.
Jessie Buckley won Best Actress for Hamnet, giving a tearful acceptance speech that capped off the evening’s feeling of release and reflection.
Amy Madigan won supporting actress for Weapons, while Norway’s Sentimental Value won international feature and KPop Demon Hunters won animated feature and original song.
Conan O’Brien hosted the 2026 Oscars, which concluded with a sense of emotion, stardom and one final message from the Academy about the films it wanted to be remembered.
