Matt O’Connor: Editor-In-Chief
The 2026 Oscars took place on Sunday, March 15th at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Once again hosted by Conan O’Brien, the 98th Academy Awards featured big wins, stunning performances, and unexpected moments all throughout the over three hour show. This is a recap of everything that went down during the biggest night in Hollywood.
Double Dose Of Conan
Conan O’Brien returned to host the ceremony this year after headlining last year’s Oscars, and much of his over the top comedy carried over into his extravagant monologues. He opened the show dressed as Aunt Gladys from Weapons and was comedically edited into some of the films up for nomination. Conan’s offbeat style of humor was on full display with him making a jab at Timothee Chalamet by quipping about the tight security for the event. He said “I hear there are concerns about attacks from both the opera and ballet communities.” Conan also took jabs at the failed merger between Netflix and Warner Brothers as well as the dangers posed by AI. Compared to last year, responses have been much more divided on Conan as host. While some feel that he went two for two, others are of the opinion that he took up too much screen time and failed to stick the landing with his comedy.
Sinners and One Battle After Another
Going into this year’s ceremony, both One Battle After Another and Sinners had a nomination domination, with Sinners breaking the record for the most nominations in Oscars history with a grand total of 16. In the end, One Battle After Another walked away with six awards and Sinners took home four. After more than a dozen nominations, Paul Thomas Anderson finally got his flowers when he won the Oscar for Best Director. During his acceptance speech, he said “I wrote this movie for my kids, to say sorry for the housekeeping mess that 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.” One Battle After Another’s biggest triumph was when it won the coveted award for Best Picture, with the entire cast and crew delivering a powerful speech to celebrate their momentous win.
But the award for Best Actor was arguably the most anticipated award of the night. The two frontrunners were Timothée Chalamet for Marty Supreme and Michael B. Jordan for Sinners. Michael B. Jordan ended up taking home the award to thunderous applause. The actor who portrayed both Smoke and Stack said “I know you guys want me to do well, and I want to do that because you guys bet on me, so thank you for keep betting on me. I’m gonna keep stepping up, and I’m gonna keep being the best version of myself I can be.”
The Many Big Wins
This year’s Academy Awards featured the cementing of many milestones and important accomplishments for some of the 2026 winners. For Best Actress, Jessie Buckley was the fan favorite and was given the award for her emotional performance in Hamnet. Amy Madigan took home the award for Best Supporting Actress with her chilling portrayal of Aunt Gladys in Weapons. Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein ended the night with the Oscars for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Costume Design and Best Production Design. Unsurprisingly, K-Pop Demon Hunters ended up winning the award for both Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song. However, the Academy received backlash for abruptly cutting off their acceptance speech for the latter award. Many took issue with how the talent behind the animated smash hit didn’t get enough time for their speech while other winners got much more time to go through their remarks.
Performances and Tributes
“Golden” didn’t just take home the award for Best Original Song, it was also performed once again on the Dolby Theatre stage by EJAE, Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna as one of the live performances during this year’s Oscars. The newest performance of the beloved song also featured the members of the audience cheering the trio on by holding up glowing lightbulbs. The other big vocal performance of the night was done by Miles Canton and Raphael Saadiq with their rendition of “I Lied To You” from Sinners. The stage was transformed into a juke joint and featured actors and performers who starred in Ryan Coogler’s supernatural thriller.
As is tradition for the Oscars, the In Memoriam segment paid tribute to the members of the Academy who sadly passed away last year. Billy Crystal delivered an emotional speech to remember Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle. He said “My friend Rob’s movies will last a lifetime, because they’re about what make us laugh and cry, and what we aspire to be.” Rachel McAdams held back tears as she talked about the lives and careers of the impactful women like Diane Keaton, Claudia Cardinale and Catherine O’Hara. Barbra Streisand spoke about the advocacy that the late Robert Redford stood for, with the actress describing him as having “ a real backbone both on and off the screen.”
A Surprise At The End
Strangely, this year’s broadcast ended with a bizarre post-credit scene of sorts which parodies Colonel Lockjaw’s death from One Battle After Another. The morbid scene ended with a fake tease of Mr. Beast being the next in line to host the Oscars, which was a nod to how the Academy Awards will transition to Youtube as its primary streaming platform starting in 2029. Despite some weird comedic choices and some questionable decisions made on the air, the 98th Academy Awards wrapped up another strong season for the film industry and honored the people who made it so tremendous.
