Oscars 2026: Spreading the love around

“The narrative of this year’s Oscars was: How to pick?” said David Sims in The Atlantic. Coming into awards night, two “majorly successful, critically beloved” studio releases led all contenders, with One Battle After Another carrying in 13 nominations and Sinners a record 16. But rather than celebrating one over the other, the 98th Academy Awards “did a good job making plenty of room to celebrate both movies sincerely.” One Battle took home six trophies, including best picture, while Sinners nabbed four. “To see that kind of big-budget artistry properly lionized, given some of the duds the Academy has recognized in recent years—I’m looking at you, Green Book—felt like a true triumph.”

As the night progressed, “there was a lot of history made,” said Daniel Fienberg in The Hollywood Reporter. Sinners’ Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman to win an Oscar for cinematography. The summer hit “Golden,” from KPop Demon Hunters, was the first K-pop tune to be named best original song. This year also saw the debut of the best casting category, with the award going to Cassandra Kulukundis for One Battle. Before this year’s telecast, that movie’s director, Paul Thomas Anderson, had set a record in futility by racking up 11 Oscar nominations without a win, said Sam Adams in Slate. He finally took home three trophies, including for best director, and because One Battle can stand with the best of his impressive previous catalog, the victory “felt like it was earned, rather than simply foreordained.”

“What Timothée Chalamet wanted was to become the second-youngest best actor winner in Oscars history,” said Nate Jones in NYMag.com. Instead, that trophy went to Michael B. Jordan for Sinners. Though Chalamet stirred an online storm by disparaging the cultural relevance of ballet and opera, the comment came so late that it probably didn’t affect Academy voters. My guess is that they were already “just a little sick of Chalamet” and his aggressive Marty Supreme campaign. In the end, he was beaten by “one of the most well-loved actors operating in Hollywood,” said Lanre Bakare in The Guardian. “Some wondered in the buildup to the Oscars about whether Jordan is a ‘star’ rather than a ‘great
actor.’ The truth appears that he is both.”