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Oscars 2026 RECAP: Where to watch, Nominees, Cheapest ways to stream the 98th Academy Awards

Lights, camera, Oscars! Catch up with every win, surprise, and red-carpet moment from the 98th Academy Awards

Del Toro, Jordan and DiCaprio pose after the ceremony finishes
Del Toro, Jordan and DiCaprio pose after the ceremony finishes (Image credit: © Getty Images)

The 2026 Oscars are finally here, and fans everywhere are tuning in to see who takes home Hollywood’s biggest prizes tonight.

The ceremony airs live from Los Angeles at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT, and viewers can watch the Oscars live on ABC or stream the show on Hulu / YouTube TV.

Oscars LIVE 2026: Quick Guide

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Welcome to the Oscars!

Hello from wherever you are in the world, and welcome to the biggest night in Hollywood!

Strap in for what’ll most likely be - if we’re being conservative judging by the ‘shortest’ ceremonies - one hour of pre-coverage and four hours of Oscar drama. And I’ll be with you through it all.

Stay tuned wherever you are as the action kicks off in less than an hour…

What does the ceremony look like?

For those new to Hollywood’s sacred annual ritual, here’s what the night looks like…

24 categories will be presented include this year’s newest one, Best Casting, just to boost that running time a little more.

Who will take home the most Academy Awards, stay tuned…

How to watch the Oscars wherever you are…

Whether you’re strapping in as we approach midnight with a strong coffee in Europe…or you’re watching as sunset rises with a strong coffee in Asia (that’s where this writer is) or you’re watching at a sensible time with a strong coffee in America…how do you watch the ceremony?

Well, thankfully we’ve got you covered! Find out how to watch it wherever you are with our handy guide here.

One Sinner After Another

Not since the year of Barbenheimer have two films completely dominated the Oscar conversation. One Battle After A Sinner? One Sinner After Another? Hmmmm there’s not really a good portmanteau for them…

It’s pretty much the conventional wisdom that either Sinners or One Battle After Another will bring home the big prizes of Picture, Director, Writing and some of the other acting categories.

Cards on the table

Here’s my predictions so you can hold me to account later…

Best Actor - Timothée Chalamet

Best Original Score - Ludwig Göransson

It’d be a Sin to give the Oscar to anyone else

But, let’s not forget Sinners leads with an incredible 16 nominations. Sixteen!

To put that in perspective that’s the most in Oscar history by not one but two nominations, albeit this includes a new category Best Casting but it’s incredible. A film which came out nowhere near the typical awards season window towards the end of the year and about bloody vampires is the FRONTRUNNER for the Academy Awards.

However, despite that and maybe due to the unstoppable juggernaut which One Battle After Another has been most of awards season with 13 nominations, it’s also managed to position itself as the scrappy underdog.

Less than 2 minutes until the Oscars!

We’re nearly at showtime!

Strap in, and make sure you know how you’re going to watch the ceremony wherever you are with our guide.

Get yourself on NordVPN if you haven’t and don’t miss any of the action…

What’s on the bingo sheet?

We’ll find out now!

Cue Conan Parody montage!

Conan O’Brien gets things started off with a nod to Weapons, dressed up as the terrifying witch Gladys!

He’s being pursued by the murderous kids from the film going through the Best Picture nominated films in a fantastic and funny way to kick off the action and remind us of the films we’ve loved.

Let’s start the show!

Conan’s monologue kills

Jabs at Timothée’s Opera and Ballet comments, Netflix’s aversion to theatres and subtle references to political events, Conan O’Brien has proved once again why he’s the GOAT.

Conan ‘gives’ himself an Oscar

As certain as Jessie Buckley’s win for Best Actress later, was the chances of Conan indulging in a self indulgent skit and tonight was no different.

A montage of imagining himself receiving an Oscar is fun and doesn’t outstay its welcome.

Amy Madigan takes Supporting Actress!

Wow, Amy Madigan wins! That rare thing happened that the Academy rewarded a genre film performance of a literal witch.

Prognosticators - and I - were having palpitations trying to guess who walked away with this golden statue. I’m 0 for 1 so far so not a great start.

Teyana Taylor looked like she was having a moment with her brief but memorable appearance in One Battle After Another’s opening…but then in swoops Amy Madigan’s delicious scenery chewing witch in the endlessly watchable sleeper hit of the year Weapons.

A Golden start for KPop Demon Hunters

A very touching speech from the producers about representation and a dedication to Korea…and then they’re played off abruptly but continue anyway.

Best Animated Short Surprise

It doesn’t go down too well with this writer who is one prediction for three so far.

Sinners gets things off to a steamy start

And now a musical performance reminding everyone of the incredible music montage in the middle of Sinners to the live performance and nominated tune ‘I Lied to You’ with Miles Caton .

It’s a bit of a mishmash over the stage as they try and showcase all the dance styles and have some cameos from the Sinner cast in a way which makes you realise the skill of the direction and cinematography in the film which does this seamlessly.

It’s not quite the musical moment that I’m Just Ken was but it’s a welcome addition. Thankfully there’s just one more song - not all five nominated song performances this year - and it’s the one that’ll probably win: Golden from Kpop Demon Hunters.

Frankenstein begins its technical Oscar sweep

Two awards in quick succession for Guillermo del Toro’s creation!

That wording would make more sense but technically it’s Frankenstein’s Creature that would do the lumbering, Frankenstein is the man behind the monster. Or is Frankenstein the real monster and the Creature just a victim? I digress.

Make sure you don’t miss any of the action wherever you are with our guide on how to watch it.

One Battle After Another triumphs over Sinners

A slightly lengthy tribute-style presentation as each casting director gets a one minute monologue about how great they are. It’s long overdue to reward them but you wonder if the audience at home will have much interest.

One Battle After Another wins over Sinner in the first win for the PTA epic! It’s nice to see this film rewarding the casting of relatively new discoveries - Chase Infiniti and Teyana Taylor - alongside established legends - Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn.

Sinners was the slight favourite and arguably Marty Supreme had the most interesting casting choices - the guy from Shark Tank and Tyler, the Creator! - but One Battle After Another triumphs over Sinners…will this be how things go tonight?

Woahhhhh, it’s a tie!

It’s a tie! The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva both win the Best Live Action Short.

Kumail Nanjiani has to reiterate he’s not joking - people naturally think the comedian is having a laugh when he announces a tie. He quips it’s ironic that the live action short will take twice as long. Good stuff.

Oscar statisticians will be going into overdrive trying to work out the last time this happened and how many times it has, but it’s happened nevertheless!

Third Oscar Penn-ding…and accepted!

In a baller move, Sean Penn wins for One Battle After Another and doesn’t even show up!

He’s got two Oscars in the bag for Mystic River and Milk which may have acted in his favour - he now joins the three timer club with Frances McDormand and Daniel Day Lewis.

He had a sudden surge in award wins particularly after it looked like Stellan Skarsgård may be getting his lifetime achievement award moment and some interesting early momentum for Jacob Elordi which may have been crushed by the damp squib which has been Wuthering Heights.

Casablanca skit

They recreate Casablanca with this in mind and the now immortal line as Brown reminisces: “World War II? That’s the one with Hitler, right?”

PTA wins his first Oscar!

Coogler also wins his first Oscar!

PTA and Coogler both received a rapturous reception for their wins but judging from the room, Coogler may have captured the room in a way that PTA hasn’t…Is it too late for me to change my prediction for Best Director to the Sinners director?

Hollywood stars lead the extended tributes

It’s been a year of big losses and none were more felt in Hollywood than Rob Reiner.

A very touching montage accompanies this with the likes of Terrance Stamp, Diane Keaton, Val Kilmer, Robert Duvall, Robert Redford, Gene Hackman, Catherine O’Hara also name checked by a visibly moved Rachel McAdams and then Barbra Streisand.

Looking ahead to Best International Feature

Check out my article about how to watch the International Feature lineup this year - which in my humble opinion is the strongest we’ve ever seen - and what I believe is the obvious frontrunner.

Sentimental Value hits all the Oscars checklists. A film about a film featuring a famous cast led by Stellan Skarsgärd and Elle Fanning giving incredible performances. It certainly helps having Hollywood names in the international category which voters will not be as familiar with, and it also helps that this film from Trier is a masterpiece which would rightly deserve to take home the trophy for Norway.

It Was Just an Accident is an incredibly timely movie, about the oppressive Iranian regime, and had a fascinating history with its director having served time in jail for speaking out and making films criticising said regime. It’s a meticulously crafted film which blends dark humour, suspense and real world horror.

The Secret Agent could be an outlier too so who knows…

Three wins for Frankenstein with Production Design

Sinners is lagging behind at the moment in regards to wins with just the one for Original Screenplay but the night is young and the big awards are still to come…

Avatar: Fire and Ash 100% success rate…of the one award it was up for

Kimmel gets political

Again, it’s just enough of a dig at the current administration but curiously no one has called out Trump directly compared to his first term when he was mentioned incessantly at every awards show.

All the Empty Rooms wins

Mr Nobody Against Putin triumphs

Bridesmaids reunion

It’s nice to see the cast of Bridesmaids on stage 15 years after it was released. They do a ‘notes from the audience’ skit which they self-knowingly wrap up fairly tightly.

A surprising amount of connections from the main cast to this year’s Oscars with Rose Byrne nominated for Best Actress and Maya Rudolph married to Paul Thomas Anderson.

Ludwig Göransson secures his third Oscar win

And Best Original Score goes to Ludwig Göransson for Sinners!

No surprise but absolutely the right winner and another trophy to add to the Swede’s shelf alongside his one for Black Panther and Oppenheimer.

Sinners is now on two wins with One Battle After Another still on three. Things are heating up…

The Oscar-winning F1

Joking aside, it’s an easy target and despite supposedly pissing off the film community with its Best Picture nomination (unjustly because you always need one dumb fun blockbuster to draw in an audience) it deserves a win for Best Sound.

One Oscar After Another

They say that Best Editing is usually an indication of who will take home Best Picture…this could be big if so!

I keep using the phrase ‘richly deserved’ but watching the last 10 minutes of PTA’s latest film you’d be hard pressed to argue against this win. Managing to create one of the most stress inducing sequences of cars going over choppy hills is a miracle that this editor made a reality.

The tide feels like it’s shifting towards One Battle After Another…

Autumn Durald Arkapaw makes Oscar history!

No sooner had I said the tide was turning towards One Battle After Another…and then Sinners rears its head nipping at the heels of PTA’s epic with the tally rising to 4-3.

Don’t miss any of the action with NordVPN.

Golden plays…just before Best Song

It feels a bit mean to only feature two songs live this year as opposed to the normal five but honestly the runtime is thankful for it. There’s always questions of why time is being made for skits and waffley speeches but you can’t please all the people all the time.

You can scan the QR code to listen to the other original songs apparently. Can’t see many people following the link to listen to Nick Cave’s somber crooning of ‘Train Dreams’ but you never know.

No to war and Free Palestine

Yes, Javier Bardem! He manages to get the first overtly political message as he presents with a cry of ‘Free Palestine’.

At least the Oscars didn’t cut it out like the BAFTA editors.

I did predict at the start of this blog that Mark Ruffalo would say something political but I should’ve known it would be Bardem if not him.

Sentimental for Sentimental Value

A Golden night for KPop

PTA wins Best Director!

PTA gives a rather alienating speech about deserving the Oscar, fairly tongue in cheek but considering the room feels quite pro-Coogler you’d think he’d play it safe.

It’s true that the Oscars love to reward established directors for films that maybe aren’t as befitting of a Best Picture win - infamously Martin Scorsese for The Departed - but as much as this is a thing, it’s also true that the Oscars has also failed to reward established directors at all - Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock etc.

However, Paul Thomas Anderson was thoroughly deserving of the Best Director trophy with an urgent, suspenseful and surprisingly funny film to show for it. And that’s high praise when you look at the other nominees in what may be one of the strongest director lineups in recent years.

Truly any of them would have been deserving…but it feels like Sinners could still win Best Picture in maybe a Picture/Director split that - while fairly rare - has had recent precedent: see Ang Lee/Argo, Damien Chazelle/Moonlight, 12 Years A Slave/Alfonso Cuarón.

Michael B. Jordan beats Timmy!

Michael B. Jordan takes the Best Actor win in a move which is both shocking and proof that the Academy really has it in for Timmy. That’s not to take away from Jordan’s win but of the Sinners performances it feels the least deserving.

It’s no secret that Timothée Chalamet really wants to win an Oscar. He’s actively said it in a way that has rubbed some people up the wrong way but some people have appreciated for its honesty. He’s certainly been everywhere in an omnipresent awards campaign that may have elevated him above his nominees by a long shot but it’s also made him an easy target.

His comments about the ballet and opera being dying art forms may have been blown up by the click bait headlines but they actually didn’t affect how the Academy ultimately decided as the voting deadline had already closed by the time they’d exploded.

Michael B. Jordan endearingly won at the Actors awards - which like the Oscars was voted by his peers - so this set him up for the duel performance win today. It’s a showy double performance which, not to say it wasn’t deserved, but feels more like a vote against Chalamet rather than a glowing endorsement of Jordan.

The Best Actress win we all saw coming

She’s won pretty much 100% of the awards this season with an emotive performance that tugs at the heartstrings and alongside Best Score and Best Song was the only safe bet you could place this Oscars.

It’s an incredible role and stands among the all time Best Actress performances. It sadly looks like the only win Hamnet will get but at least it doesn’t leave empty handed.

A detailed look ahead at the Best Picture nominees

It’s true that there’s 10 nominees - thanks to the expansion of the category over a decade ago - but there’s only two serious contenders: Sinners and One Battle After Another.

Frankenstein? Too mixed reception. Maybe the most divisive of the Best Picture nominees - aside from F1 - del Toro’s latest film was maybe a bit too del Toro for his own good with some loving it - and Elordi receiving a surprising amount of love for his portrayal of the Creature - but many left feeling as cold as the Arctic opening scene. And the Netflix of it all doesn’t help it either

F1? Too blockbuster-y. There was a significant backlash to it taking up a spot on the list but there’s always one popcorn picture for the masses - Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: The Way of Water etc.

Marty Supreme…watch this space. This could actually be a popular third choice in the preferential ballot and if the top two contenders cancel each other out this could sneak in. However, conversation has died off around this masterpiece, aside from Chalamet’s performance, and it’s been interpreted by some corners of the internet as some as a chest-thumping U-S-A film which is a gross misinterpretation of it.

The smart money would be on One Battle After Another with it feeling like a conventional awards winner, a ‘beloved by the industry’ director who’s been around for decades and a timely exploration of America at this current moment wrapped in a thrilling narrative with superb performances.

However, Sinners has been nominated for the most Oscars of ALL TIME. 16 nominations, boosted by the new category Best Casting albeit. That doesn’t mean anything necessarily, previous front runners include American Hustle, The Irishman and Killers of the Flower Moon which all went away empty handed and also further affirmed the Academy hates Scorsese. But Sinners is enjoying a strange underdog status despite this historic milestone because it’s being pitted against the favourite in this category One Battle After Another. The trajectory of buzz and recent awards seems to be leaning towards this picture which is even more extraordinary considering how little the Academy rewards ‘genre’ films like this (the last time was del Toro’s Shape of Water). Will the Oscars give Best Picture to a film which features a lot of vampires among some incredible world building? Honestly it’s 50/50 at this point.

Best Picture goes to…One Battle After Another!

I should’ve gone with the conventional wisdom because One Battle After Another wins Best Picture!

There was a moment where it felt like Sinners could’ve taken it but the safer bet won.

A fun Conan parody to end the night

In a final skit we see Conan get the ‘job of Oscars host for life’ as he’s lead into an office and murdered horribly a la One Battle After Another’s Sean Penn death.

The final Oscar tally

The loser(s)? Timmy

It’s a narrative that’s been overplayed for sure, but it’s as much his clear desperation to win as well as the Academy not rewarding younger actors (the youngest winner still being a 29-year-old Adrian Brody over 20 years ago).

The real winner? Films

Cliche as it is to say but the real winner was the film industry. This may be one of the strongest years in recent history - certainly since Barbenheimer - which actually feels like it’s got people going to the cinemas again.

Yes, Sinners may have not won all 16 nominations but the fact it got nominated for that many is astounding. It’s a genre film, it’s original property, it’s a majority black film, it’s got a lot to say and it’s - above all - entertaining as hell.

Most importantly - how did yours truly do?

In short, it wasn’t bad but wasn’t great when it came to my Oscar predictions.

17.5 correct out of 24 categories. 72% accuracy…ehhhh.

Likewise, Jordan was a shock but shouldn't have been as people were wising up to his incredible career (The Wire, Friday Night Lights, Creed, Fruitvale Station, Black Panther et al). I’ve definitely talked Chalamet down at the extent of mentioning that Jordan was deserving but I would say he - like Chalamet - has given better performances more deserving of recognition.

Best Actor - Timothée Chalamet (WRONG - Michael B. Jordan)

Best Original Score - Ludwig Göransson (CORRECT)

That’s all folks!

It was a historic Oscars…

Surprises were aplenty too from Chalamet’s snub to F1 officially crowned with an Oscar to the first tie for god knows how long.

I’ve been Dan and I’ll speak to you next time.

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