One Battle After Another won the coveted Best Picture Academy Award at Sunday’s (15.03.26) ceremony, taking its total of wins to six.
One Battle After Another won Best Picture
The drama scooped the night’s biggest prize ahead of Bugonia, F1, Frankenstein, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, The Secret Agent, Sentimental Value, Sinners, and Train Dreams, capping off a hugely successful night for the movie but director Paul Thomas Anderson – who also won Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay – insisted the winner is more about “mood” than which film is the best.
He said on stage at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre: “In 1975 the Oscar nominees were Barry Lyndon, Dog Day Afternoon, Jaws, Nashville and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest…. there is no best among them, there’s just a mood that day.
“We’re just happy to be part of this. So many great films this year.”
The filmmaker pledged to celebrate with a martini.
He said: “I really blew it when I won best director, I forgot to thank my cast! What a night, let’s have a martini. Cheers!”
The movie also saw Sean Penn win Best Supporting Actor, but he wasn’t in attendance to accept the honour, while Cassandra Kulukundis took the first ever Academy Award for Best Casting. One Battle After Another’s six wins was rounded out by the Best Editing prize.
Meanwhile, Sinners won four awards, including Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan, Best Original Screenplay for Ryan Coogler, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Score.
After thanking his “incredible” co-stars, Michael gave a shout out to the five other Black actors who have previously won Best Actor, Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Jamie Foxx, and Will Smith.
He said: “I stand here because of the people who came before me and to be amongst those giants, those greats, my guys…
“I want to thank everybody in this room and everybody at home for supporting my career. I know you guys want me to do well and and I wanna do that because you guys bet on me.
“So thank you for keeping on betting on me. I’m gonna keep stepping up and keep being the best version of myself I can be, so thank you to everybody in this room that had something to do with my success, I love you guys.
“Everybody at home who supported the movie and went to see it once, twice, three times, thank you, because you guys made this movie what it is. I love you.”
Jessie Buckley dedicated her Best Actress win for Hamnet to “the beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart”.
She said: “Chloe and Maggie, you to get to know this incandescent woman, and journey to understand the capacity of a mother’s love is the greatest collision of my life.
“It’s Mother’s Day in the UK today, but I would like to dedicate this to the beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart.
“We all come from a lineage of women who continue to create against the odds, thank you for recognising me in this role, this is the greatest honour, I can’t believe it.”
Best Supporting Actress was awarded to Weapons actress Amy Madigan, who took the prize 40 years after her first Oscar nomination.
Kpop Demon Hunters took two prizes, Best Original Song for Golden, and Best Animated Feature Film.
Conan O’Brien returned as host for the second year in a row, while there was also a cast reunion for the stars of Bridesmaids, Rose Byrne, Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph and Ellie Kemper, Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman revisited a musical moment from their movie Moulin Rouge, and Bill and Lewis Pullman shared a father-and-son moment when the stars all handed out awards.
Academy Awards 2026 list of winners:
Best Picture:
One Battle After Another
Best Director:
Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
Best Actress:
Jessie Buckley, Hamnet
Best Actor:
Michael B. Jordan, Sinners
Best Supporting Actor:
Sean Penn, One Battle After Another
Best Supporting Actress:
Amy Madigan, Weapons
Best Adapted Screenplay:
One Battle After Another, screenplay by Paul Thomas Anderson
Best Original Screenplay:
Sinners, written by Ryan Coogler
Best International Feature:
Sentimental Value, Norway
Best Documentary Feature:
Mr. Nobody Against Putin
Best Documentary Short:
All The Empty Rooms
Best Animated Feature:
KPop Demon Hunters
Best Animated Short:
The Girl Who Cried Pearls
Best Cinematography:
Sinners, Autumn Durald Arkapaw
Best Editing
One Battle After Another, Andy Jurgensen
Best Original Song
Golden, KPop Demon Hunters
Best Costume Design
Frankenstein, Kate Hawley
Best Casting:
One Battle After Another, Cassandra Kulukundis
Best Original Score:
Sinners, Ludwig Goransson
Best Hair and Makeup:
Frankenstein
Best Production Design:
Frankenstein
Best Visual Effects:
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Best Sound:
F1
Best Live Action Short:
Tie – The singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva
