[An image resembling films. Photo Credit: Pixabay]

The 98th annual Academy Awards, otherwise known as the Oscars, were held on March 15th, 2026, with One Battle After Another winning the Best Picture award and becoming the most awarded film with six awards.

The major winners of the night included Paul Thomas Anderson winning the Best Director award for the film, One Battle After Another.

Similarly, the Best Actor award went to Michael B. Jordan for the film, Sinners, along with the Best Actress award for Jessie Buckley from Hamnet, Best Supporting Actor to Sean Penn from One Battle After Another, and finally, the Best Supporting Actress to Amy Madigan for the film, Weapons.

Additionally, with six awards, One Battle After Another was the most awarded film, followed by Sinners with 4 awards, then Frankenstein with 3, and finally, K-Pop Demon Hunters with two awards.

The film with the most nominations was Sinners, with 16 nominations, then 13 nominations for One Battle After Another, Frankenstein for 9, and finally, Hamnet for 8.

More than 10 films received multiple nominations, although the films One Battle After Another and Sinners had dominated the awards season.

The film,  “One Battle After Another” was recognized with other major categories including Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Casting.

This recognition was significant, as the Best Picture is considered as the Academy’s highest honor, as it recognizes the overall excellence of a film. 

Similarly, the Best Director award honors the creative vision and leadership behind the movie, together showing that the Academy viewed the film outstanding both technically and artistically. 

Sinners took home a total of four Oscars for Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Cinematography.

Frankenstein secured three awards in Costume Design, Makeup & Hairstyling, and Production Design, showing strength in the technical categories.

The ceremony not only honored films from within the United States, but also films from various other countries.

Norway won the Best International Feature with “Sentimental Value.”

For the first time in this award ceremony, they had honored and included a first-ever Casting category award.

This award specifically focused on how there is an increased diversity in production companies and countries represented, with a strong presence of streaming films in the nominations.

The awards ceremony was held in the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, and was broadcasted across media channels such as ABC and Hulu.

By broadcasting across these platforms, the event reached a large international audience, especially through global streaming.

This was significant as it allowed global audiences to be exposed to different cultures, languages, and traditions of storytelling. 

Conan O’Brien took on the role of the host, with awards given in 24 various categories, honoring the films that were released in the previous year, 2025.

The ceremony ran for about 3 hours and 44 minutes, along with various live presentations, speeches, and performances throughout the event.

The director of the event was Hamish Hamilton, along with the producer team being Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan.