The 2026 Oscars have come and gone, with the narrative shaped mostly by the battle between Ryan Coogler’s Sinners (16 nominations) and Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another (13 nominations). A battle of populism and genre, with the chance to make history, and Anderson’s long-awaited victory after multiple nominations. Once more, Conan O’Brien hosted, with an incredible opening sequence that saw him invade all of the major nominated movies (including KPop Demon Hunters), while dressed as Amy Madigan’s Aunt Gladys from Weapons. The jokes didn’t quite all land, the audience was occasionally a little too cold, and the tone was all very… straightforward.
With first time wins, history making wins, and, to be honest, not an awful lot of surprises, the Winners Class of 2025 reads as an incredibly talented one. Here’s every winner in every category, all the nominees, and some commentary on the biggest wins, shut-outs, and shocks, starting with Best Supporting Actress, right through to Best Film. But first, here’s the opening sequence:
I needed almost no makeup to play Aunt Gladys. #OSCARS pic.twitter.com/nBaxh7aZnP
As expected by all of the market commentary (if not the general public, who may have felt more drawn to Wunmi Mosaku), even in a strong field, Amy Madigan won her second Oscar, 40 years after her first win for Twice in a Lifetime. She proclaimed herself both flummoxed and overwhelmed, but her transformative role as the cartoonish villain of Weapons was easily one of the year’s highlights.
The biggest animated movie phenomenon of the year wins, despite Zootopia 2’s incredible box office performance. Rightly, I might add. First aggressive “wrap it up” music during the speeches of the night, which is painfully ironic given the message of the movie about getting your voice out.
Another frontrunner wins as Kate Hawley takes the win for Frankenstein, which should win all of the art awards, if there’s any justice. Speaking of which…
If Frankenstein hadn’t won, you’d think Jacob Elordi, who went through 11 hours of makeup each day (sometimes overnight) might have been somewhat annoyed. In total, according to winner, Mike Hill, that’s over 400 hours.
A first-time award, which took way too long to be added, the Achievement in Casting was presented by five hosts from each of the nominated films – Paul Mescal, Gwyneth Paltrow, Chase Infiniti, Wagner Moura, and Delroy Lindo. A tough category (and a hard one to really gauge from a layman’s perspective, given we don’t really get to see what casting directors do), one by the excellent One Battle After Another.
In only the seventh time in Oscars history ever, a tie (not the fourth time as was wrongly said on stage)! The Singers wins alongside the delightfully named Two People Exchanging Saliva.
A no-show by winner Sean Penn, so Kieran Culkin takes it home for him. Again, not a shock, despite the popularity of Delroy Lindo as a nominee. Jacob Elordi had been a frontrunner for some time, but Penn’s powerhouse, Vince McMahon-like performance as the One Battle After Another villain is a fitting win.
Finally, an Oscar win for Paul Thomas Anderson after 14 nominations. One Battle After Another was based – loosely, admittedly – on Vineland by Thomas Pynchon, but to the extent that it’s mostly not noticeable as an adaptation.
And another first-time win for Ryan Coogler after five nominations as Sinners gets its first win of the night. Coogler’s anxious speech was incredibly endearing, as he always is when he talks.
As I predicted, Frankenstein wins another of the big art awards. A very impressive feat of art.
Naturally.
A second win of the night for Sinners, and a third win overall for Ludwig Göransson who previously also won for his work with Ryan Coogler on Black Panther as well as for Oppenheimer.
Another win for One Battle After Another over Sinners, again following the industry predictions.
And a quickfire response from Sinners, which picks up the Editing gong for Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever collaborator Autumn Durald Arkapaw. She’s now the first ever female winner of the category.
The defining song of 2025 was always going to win, and in the process “Golden” earned the milestone of becoming the first KPop song to win an Oscar. It also means KPop Demon Hunters is now the first Netflix animated movie to win two Oscars.
here's the full Oscars performance of Golden from KPop Demon Hunters pic.twitter.com/CorVkHqpRF
The favorite with the prediction markets takes it again, as Paul Thomas Anderson finally wins his directing Oscar at the fourth time of asking.
Another expected win, but a great one to see as Michael B. Jordan wins Best Actor in a very difficult category. He obviously played two roles in Sinners, which definitely showcased his ability. In total, Sinners won four Oscars.
The favorite wins again, as Jesse Buckley’s intense, emotional performance in Hamnet.
While Sinners was the outside favorite and arguably the people’s choice, One Battle After Another took the double of Best Director and Best Film. With this confirmation, Marty Supreme‘s shut-out is confirmed too: 9 nominations and no wins. In any other year, you’d think that would be unthinkable.
One Battle After Another is a remarkable achievement in storytelling (as are all of the nominated movies), an impressive feat in art, and of its 13 nominations, it took home 6 wins as an indication of just how likely this big win was going to be. Two small beers to celebrate.
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