Oscars 2026 recap: One Battle After Another wins Best Film, Michael B Jordan wins Best Actor, biggest moments

Conan didn’t say it, but that whole Casablanca sketch was definitely a shot at Netflix.

“It’s been widely reported that some studios are now insisting filmmakers repeat information and re-state the plot several times in their movies in order to accommodate the modern movie viewer who’s half watching, because they’re distracted by their phones.

“Some people are upset about this. I don’t think it’s a big deal.”

Conan and Sterling K. Brown then re-enacted an iconic scene from Casablanca with re-written dialogue:

Rick: “In all the gin joints, in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.

Sam: “She being Ilsa, right?

Rick: “Yeah, that’s her name.

Sam: “Yeah, that’s gotta be tough, because she ghosted you at that train station in Paris.

Rick: “It definitely contributed to my overall cynicism, what with this being World War II and all.

Sam: “World War II. That’s the Hitler one, right?

Rick: “Sure is, Sam.”

Sam: “And Rick, to reiterate, you’re just now realising that you’re still in love with Ilsa, even though she’s married.

Rick: “That’s right, Sam. I’m in a love triangle.”

Sam: “During World War II? Crazy.”

Conan: “Thank you very much, Sterling K. Brown, everybody. And now... now to present the awards for screenwriting.

Sterling: “And to be clear, the award we’re talking about is the Oscars.”

Kieran Culkin said what we were all thinking, “Sean Penn couldn’t be here this evening, or didn’t want so I’ll be accepting this on his behalf.”

Penn defied the early odds and beat out not just his fellow nominees but his co-star Benicio del Toro to win his third Oscar.

But, like when he won at the BAFTAs and the SAGs, he wasn’t present. He did attend the Golden Globes where he was pictured smoking inside the auditorium, but he didn’t win there.

Penn previously won Oscars for Mystic River and Harvey Milk.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Benicio del Toro, One Battle After Another

Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein

Delroy Lindo, Sinners

Sean Penn, One Battle After Another - WINNER

Stellan Skarsgard, Sentimental Value

Wow, a tie is extremely rare given there are around 10,000 voters in the Academy.

There have only ever been six ties in Oscars history. It last happened in 2013 when Zero Dark Thirty and Skyfall tied for sound but most famously it happened when Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand both won best actress in 1969.

Presenter Kumail Nanjiani quipped, “It’s ironic that the short film Oscar is going to take twice as long”.

The twinners (that was a typo but what a great one, so I’ve decided to keep it) were The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva.

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT

Butcher’s Stain

A Friend of Dorothy

Jane Austen’s Period Drama

The Singers - WINNER

Two People Exchanging Saliva - WINNER

It’s a big moment that needed to be marked, the awarding of the first ever Casting Oscar, and the ceremony has taken a moment to recognise all five nominees - four women and one man.

One star from each of the five nominated films - Paul Mescal, Chase Infiniti, Gwyneth Paltrow, Wagner Moura and Delroy Lindo - came out to individually pay tribute to the casting directors that worked on their films.

Francine Maisler for One Battle After Another takes it!

“I have to, obviously, thank the Academy for even adding this category, and for the casting directors who’ve fought tirelessly to make it happen, despite everything in their way.”

BEST CASTING

Hamnet

Marty Supreme

One Battle After Another - WINNER

The Secret Agent

Sinners

The first four minutes of the Oscars were wild.

Online, viewers are already dubbing host Conan O’Brien’s opening sketch the ‘best opening’ to the Academy Awards ever.

The Guillermo del Toro creature feature claimed the win in the Make-up and Hairstyling costume.

Jacob Elordi famously spent 10 hours in the chair every day having those elaborate prosthetics put on.

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Frankenstein - WINNER

Kokuho

Sinners

The Smashing Machine

The Ugly Stepsister

Anna Wintour and Anne Hathaway, in a nice bit of promotion for The Devil Wears Prada 2, presented to costume design award to Frankenstein’s Kate Hawley.

If you’re watching, yes, that is a Kiwi accent, so that’s an almost adjacent win for Australia!

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Avatar: Fire and Ash

Frankenstein - WINNER

Hamnet

Marty Supreme

Sinners

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

Butterfly (Papillon)

Forevergreen

The Girl Who Cried Pearls - WINNER

Retirement Plan

The Three Sisters

Sorry, that was such a bad pun. It had to be done.

In a surprise to absolutely no one, KPop Demon Hunters has won the Best Animated Feature Oscar. I think its chances for success were like 99 per cent to win.

In many ways, KPop Demon Hunters was an unlikely success that relied on the worldwide embrace of Korean pop culture, something that would not have happened only 10 years ago.

Filmmaker Maggie Kang said, “Thank you to the Academy, and to all the fans who got us here, and for those of you who look like me, I’m so sorry that it took us so long to see us in a movie like this.

“But it is here. And that means that the next generations don’t have to go longing. This is for Korea and for Koreans everywhere.”

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Arco

Elio

KPop Demon Hunters - WINNER

Little Amelie or the Character of Rain

Zootopia 2

“We’re coming to you live from the Has a Small Penis Theatre. Let’s see him put his name in front of that.”

Ha.