Oscars 2026: Hollywood to Hand out One Award After Another
Conan O'Brien returned to host the Oscars, which are taking place in Los Angeles, for the second time.
Conan O'Brien returned to host the Oscars, which are taking place in Los Angeles, for the second time. Plus, early prizes are announced. Follow the excitement live!
Also Read | Oscars 2026: Hollywood to Hand out One Award After Another.
Sean Penn is named Best Supporting Actor for his role in "One battle after another" but is a no-show
Amy Madigan wins first award of the evening Best Supporting Actress for "Weapons."
‘K-pop demon hunters’ won the Best Animated Feature Oscar
Conan O'Brien is hosting for a second time
The "fun" at the 98th Academy Awards is getting underway in Los Angeles, grab a snack, settle in, and follow our live coverage, also refresh your browser every so often:
WINNERS: Best Production Design - Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau for "Frankenstein"
“Production design is the noble art of conjuring an entire visual universe for a film, and then pretending it all happened effortlessly, rather than through weeks of arguing about paint swatches and whether a chair is 'emotionally correct' for the scene. Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau won the Oscar
Wolfgang Puck gears up to feed 1,500 Stars
The award ceremony just over halfway, but celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck is already busy getting the food and drinks ready for the after-party.
Puck heads a team of about 130 chefs who will feed 1,500 stars at the Governors Ball, the official Oscars after-party.
They're putting together a menu with flavors from around the world, and of course that includes apple strudel in a nod to Puck's Austrian roots.
"I have five chefs who only take care of special requests. If someone wants Wiener Schnitzel, we'll make it," he told German newspaper Bild earlier this week.
The team is preparing around 600 home-made pizzas, 3,000 artichoke agnolotti and 2,000 mini chocolate Oscars.
Puck estimates the kitchen goes through about 200 pounds (91 kg) of dry-aged ribeye, 300 pounds (136 kg) of house-smoked salmon, 30 pounds (14 kg) of Kaluga caviar, 500 pounds (227 kg) of wild mushrooms, 200 pounds (91 kg) of Nishiki rice and 400 pounds (181 kg) of cheeses.
In Memoriam
Billy Crystal introduced a moving In Memoriam tribute by talking about his friends Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, who were killed in December.
The Oscars will be saying farewell to a lot of cinema titans, and will be taking more time to do so. Among them are Robert Duvall, Robert Redford and Diane Keaton.
Other talents who died in the last year include Brigitte Bardot, Val Kilmer, Michael Madsen, Terence Stamp, Diane Ladd, Sally Kirkland, Tom Stoppard and Malcolm-Jamal Warner.
Already this year, the film world has lost Catherine O'Hara, Robert Carradine, Eric Dane, James Van Der Beek and Bud Cort.
Among the foreign talents who died were Joan Plowright, Claudia Cardinale, Dharmendra, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Mohammad Bakri, Bela Tarr and Jimmy Cliff.
Given the large number of names, producers have decided the In Memoriam segment will be longer than usual.
Offering my Oscars pick, since this is apparently mandatory
My editor Roshni has already planted her flag, very publicly, very firmly, so it seems I am expected to follow suit.
Fine. "One Battle After Another" will win Best Picture. Apparently this is now a matter of settled fact.
If anyone were actually interested in what should win, the answer is "Hamnet."
I also happened to appreciate "Warfare" and "Mickey 17," but the Academy has chosen to pretend they do not exist.
WINNER: Best Original Screenplay - "Sinners"
And "Sinners" picks up its first Oscar with Ryan Coogler winning for Best Original Screenplay. He’s also up for more awards tonight.
What if the Oscar goes to... Secret Agent or Sentimental Value?
We know there's stiff competition between "One Battle After Another" and "Sinners" for the Best Picture category, but I am here to say that I think "Sentimental Value" or "Secret Agent" might just have a fair shot.
I am putting this down in writing so if either of those win, I have proof.
WINNER: Best Adapted Screenplay - Paul Thomas Anderson for "One battle after another"
We write here at DW but not art like this. Paul Thomas Anderson won his first-ever Oscar for this.
WINNER: Best supporting actor - Sean Penn, "One Battle After Another"
But Sean Penn was not there to accept his award. For those counting it is two for "One Battle After Another," so far.
WINNER...S: A tie for Best Live Action Short Film, is that even a thing!?!
A tie? That is unexpected, though not as rare as many like to pretend. It has happened six times before, which makes it less of an anomaly and more of an Oscars quirk.
This year's winners are "The Singers" and "Two People Exchanging Saliva."
"Ironic that the short film Oscars are going to take twice as long!" presenter Kumail Nanjiani said when announcing the tie.
"Congratulations on both winners, you just ruined 22 million Oscar pools," Conan O'Brien commented.
WINNER: Best Casting - Cassandra Kulukundis for "One battle after another"
This is a brand new competitive category, the first in more than two decades. Cassandra Kulukundis won it, and also the first Oscar for "One battle after another"
WINNER: Best makeup and hairstyling - Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel and Cliona Furey for "Frankenstein"
The band played them off, you know what that means, drink!
WINNER: Best Costume Design "Frankenstein"
Kate Hawley won the award. Here are some of her and the other nominees' work.
First musical performance
Shaboozey, the singer who is among the ensemble performing the best original song nominee "I Lied to You" from "Sinners," earlier said "it's just a dream come true" to perform at the Oscars.
"The song is about a journey... the evolution of music," he said on the carpet. "I think the magic of the movie is captured on that stage tonight."
It is also a chance for us to see Michael B. Jordan wearing an all-black ensemble on the red carpet. He seemed to like the performance, nodding and smiling while it was happening.
WINNER: Best Animated Short Film - "The Girl who cried pearls"
And a shoutout to Canada from "The Girl who cried pearls" Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski. Drink!
WINNER: Best Animated Feature - "Kpop Demon Hunters"
Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans, and Michelle L. M. Wong arrived, and some people acted surprised. In reality, most had already assumed this would happen. They offered a thoughtful shout‑out to Korean filmmakers, which, for anyone following the drinking game, counts. So, drink.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 16, 2026 06:40 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).