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Oscars 2026: One Battle After Another sweeps, Michael B Jordan, Jessie Buckley win big
By Shivani Dubey | 16 March 2026 | Culture
The 2026 Oscars saw some historic firsts, a One Battle After Another sweep and winners in Michael B Jordan, Jessie Buckley and Ryan Coogler
The 98th Academy Awards brought awards season to a spectacular finish on Sunday, 15 March, as Hollywood’s biggest stars gathered in the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles for the 2026 edition of the Oscars. The night was a celebration of some of the biggest films of 2025, including Sinners, which made history as the most nominated film of all time.
Michael B Jordan and director Ryan Coogler became first-time winners for acting and original screenplay respectively, while the film’s cinematographer, Autumn Durald Arkapaw, made history as the first woman and woman of colour to win the award for cinematography in the Academy’s 98-year history.
Michael B Jordan became only the sixth black actor to win in a lead acting category – a fact he acknowledged in his speech as he thanked the five winners that came before him.
“Sydney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jamie Fox, Forest Whittaker, Will Smith,” he said. “To be amongst those giants, amongst those greats… thank you everybody… I feel it.”
And while Sinners won four of its 16 nominations, it was Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another that dominated the night, taking home six awards – including director, supporting actor, the newly added award for casting and the coveted best picture.
“I wrote this movie for my kids to say sorry for the housekeeping mess we left in this world we’re handing off to them. But also with the encouragement that they will be the generation that hopefully brings us some common sense and decency.” Anderson said as he accepted his award for best adapted screenplay. This was his first win after 14 nominations, and he won two more awards through the course of the night.
Meanwhile, Irish actress Jessie Buckley completed her awards sweep by winning for her leading role as Agnes Shakespeare in Hamnet, and Amy Madigan won supporting actress for the horror film Weapons.
Joachim Trier’s family drama Sentimental Value took home best international feature, giving Norway its first win in this category. Meanwhile, KPop Demon Hunters won two awards, including original song, and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein earned awards for production design, costume design and makeup and hairstyling.
There was also a tie in the category for live action short, making it only the seventh time this has happened in Oscars history. The last time was in 2012 for sound editing.
The 2026 Oscars also took a moment to honour the creatives we lost this past year with a heartfelt tribute, with actors delivering emotional speeches in memory of acting legends like Robert Redford, Rob Reiner, Catherine O’Hara and Diane Keaton.
Other winners for the night included F1 for best sound and Avatar: Fire and Ash for visual effects.
Images: Valerie Macon/AFP, Mike Coppola/Getty Images