Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” was topped finest image on the 98th Academy Awards, handing Hollywood’s prime honor to a comic book, multi-generational American saga of political resistance.
The ceremony Sunday, which additionally noticed Michael B Jordan win finest actor and “Sinners” cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw make Oscar historical past as the primary feminine director of images to win the award, was a long-in-coming coronation for Anderson, a San Fernando Valley native who made his first brief at age 18 and has been one in all America’s most lionized filmmakers for many years. Before Sunday, Anderson had by no means received an Oscar.
But “One Battle After Another,” the favourite coming in, received six Oscars, together with finest director and finest tailored screenplay for Anderson, the Oscars’ first trophy for finest casting and finest supporting actor for an absent Sean Penn.
“I wrote this movie for my kids to say sorry for the housekeeping mess that we left in this world — we’re handing off to them,” stated Anderson whereas accepting the screenplay trophy. “But also with the encouragement that they will be the generation that hopefully brings us some common sense and decency.”
Ryan Coogler’s Jim Crow-set, blues-soaked vampire story “Sinners,” which got here in with a report 16 nominations, additionally landed some massive and even historic wins. Coogler, the extensively liked filmmaker, received the primary Oscar in an unblemished profession that started off with Jordan in 2013’s “Fruitvale Station.”
Arkapaw was additionally the primary Black individual to win for finest cinematography. Only the fourth feminine cinematographer ever nominated, her win was a long-in-coming triumph for ladies behind the digicam.
“I really want all the women in room to stand up,” stated Arkapaw. “Because I don’t feel like I get here without you guys.”
And Jordan, one in all Hollywood’s most preferred main males, received finest actor in one of many night time’s closest races. The Dolby Theatre rose to its ft in essentially the most thunderous applause of the night time.
“Yo, momma, what’s up?” stated Jordan after staggering to the stage.
The Oscar night time belonged to Warner Bros., the studio of “One Battle After Another” and “Sinners,” which scored a record-tying 11 wins. It was an oddly poignant word of triumph for the fabled studio, which weeks earlier agreed to a sale to Paramount Skydance, David Ellison’s quickly assembled media monolith. The $111 billion deal, which awaits regulatory approval, has Hollywood bracing for extra layoffs.
But “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another” — the much-acclaimed heavyweights of the season — have been every Hollywood anomalies: big-budget originals born from a private imaginative and prescient. In a 12 months the place anxiousness over studio contraction and the rise of synthetic intelligence usually consumed the business, each movies gave Hollywood contemporary hope.
Jessie Buckley received finest actress for her efficiency as Agnes Shakespeare in “Hamnet,” making her the primary Irish performer to ever win within the class. At an Oscars the place no different appearing award appeared a certain factor, Buckley cruised into Sunday’s Oscars on the Dolby Theatre because the overwhelming favourite.
“It’s Mother’s Day in the UK,” stated Buckley on the stage. “I would like to dedicated this to the beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart.”
‘KPop’ and ‘Frankenstein’ win for Netflix
From the beginning, when host Conan O’Brien sprinted via the 12 months’s nominees as Amy Madigan’s character within the horror thriller “Weapons” in a pre-taped bit, Sunday’s ceremony was quirky, slightly clunky and preoccupied with the shifting place of films in tradition. There was, of all issues, a tie for finest live-action brief movie.
As anticipated, the Netflix sensation “KPop Demon Hunters,” 2025’s most-watched movie, received finest animated characteristic, in addition to finest tune for “Golden.” It was a giant win for Netflix however a extra certified victory for the film’s producer, Sony Pictures. Though it developed and produced the movie, Sony bought “KPop Demon Hunters” to the streaming large as an alternative of giving it a theatrical launch.
On Netflix, “KPop Demon Hunters” grew to become a cultural phenomenon and the streaming platform’s largest hit. It has greater than 325 million views and counting.
“This is for Korea and Koreans everywhere,” stated co-director Maggie Kang.
Another Netflix launch, Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” picked up three awards for its lavish craft, for costume design, make-up and hairstyling and for manufacturing design.
Amy Madigan received finest supporting actress for her efficiency within the horror thriller “Weapons,” a win that got here 40 years after the 75-year-old actor was first nominated, in 1986, for “Twice in a Lifetime.” Letting out a large chortle as she hit the stage, Madigan exclaimed, “This is great!”
O’Brien presides over a ceremony shadowed by politics
Hosting for the second time, O’Brien started the Dolby Theatre present alluding to “chaotic and frightening times.” But he argued that the present geopolitical local weather made the Oscars all of the extra resonate as a globally unifying power.
“We pay tribute tonight, not just to film, but to the ideals of global artistry, collaboration, patience, resilience and that rarest of qualities today — optimism,” O’Brien stated. “We’re going to celebrate. Not because we think all is well, but because we work, and hope, for better.”
Throughout the present, O’Brien hit various targets, like Timothée Chalamet — who once more missed out on profitable his first Oscar, this time for “Marty Supreme” — for his diss of opera and ballet. But the ceremony seldom wasn’t shadowed by politics, whether or not in references to adjustments below U.S. President Donald Trump or the not too long ago launched warfare in Iran.
Joachim Trier, whose Norwegian household drama “Sentimental Value” received finest worldwide movie, quoted James Baldwin in his acceptance speech: “All adults are responsible for all children,” he stated. “Let’s not vote for politicians that don’t take this seriously into account.”
Presenter Jimmy Kimmel, whose late-night present final 12 months was suspended after feedback he made about Charlie Kirk’s killing, was among the many most blunt.
“There are some countries that don’t support free speech,” stated Kimmel. “I’m not at liberty to say which. Let’s just leave it at North Korea and CBS.”
Shortly after, “Mr. Nobody Against Putin,” a movie a few Russian main schoolteacher who paperwork his college students’ indoctrination to help Russia’s warfare with Ukraine, received finest documentary.
“’Mr. Nobody Against Putin’ is about how you lose your country,” co-director stated. “And what we saw when working with this footage is that you lose it through countless, small, little acts of complicity.”
“We all face a moral choice,” he added, “but, luckily, a nobody is more powerful than you think.”
Tributes to Reiner, Redford and others
Elegy additionally marked the Oscars. Producers expanded the in memoriam section following a 12 months that featured the deaths of so many Hollywood legends, together with Keaton, Robert Duvall and Redford. Barbra Streisand spoke about Redford, her “The Way We Were” co-star.
“Bob had real backbone,” stated Streisand, who referred to as Redford “an intellectual cowboy” earlier than singing a couple of bars of “The Way We Were.”
Billy Crystal paid tribute to Rob and Michele Reiner, who have been killed of their dwelling in December. Crystal, a detailed good friend of Rob Reiner’s who memorably starred in 1989’s “When Harry Met Sally…” and 1987’s “Princess Bride.” In his transferring remarks, Crystal quoted the latter.
“All we can say is: Buddy, how much fun we had storming the castle,” stated Crystal.
Theatrical bests streaming, once more
Yet once more, the night time’s last award once more did not go to a streaming launch; Apple’s “CODA” stays the one streaming movie to realize that distinction. “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another” have been each theatrical releases shot on movie.
Apple’s prime contender this time, the Formula One race drama “F1,” a film that it partnered with Warner Bros. to distribute theatrically, received for finest sound. The lone blockbuster of the 12 months to go dwelling with a win was “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” for visible results.
Some of O’Brien’s finest digs got here on the expense of the streamers. Netflix chief Ted Sarandos, he joked, was in a theater for the primary time. The host additionally lamented the shortage of nominees for Amazon MGM: “Why isn’t the website I order toilet paper from winning more Oscars?”
“I’m honored to be the last human host of the Academy Awards,” stated O’Brien. “Next year it’s going to be a Waymo in a tux.”
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