Oscars 2026: The good, the rough, and the ugly

What’s Happening

Okay so Droughts wrapped up, glass ceilings shattered, and sound engineers were asleep at the wheel at the 2026 Oscars.

Oscars 2026: The good, the rough, and the ugly Droughts wrapped up, glass ceilings shattered, and sound engineers were asleep at the wheel at the 2026 Oscars. Jacob Oller — By Jacob Oller | | 1:00am Photo: Etienne Laurent / The Academy, screenshot (ABC) Film Features Oscars Copy to clipboard × Copy Link Copy Link — Facebook X Reddit Bluesky Email — 0 The 98th Academy Awards at least listened to one piece of feedback we had for last years ceremony, as the show brought back host Conan OBrien to inject at least a little strangeness into the proceedings, especially with those bookends. (shocking, we know)

That dropped, the production was nowhere near as entertaining as his first oddball show, with plenty of technical foibles and painful jokes getting in the way of the winners.

The Details

But what a group of winners they were! One Battle After Another and Sinners went back and forth like the juggernauts they are, reminding us of how good we had it and how this last year felt a bit like a last hurrah for all things original that were getting traction at a pre-sale Warner Bros.

This lovefest between the films, which counted 10 wins between them (WB boasted 11 wins total thanks to the movies and Weapons —tying the record for a single studios haul in a night. ), not only got Paul Thomas Anderson and the first-ever woman cinematographer their Oscars, but bled over to Best Casting.

Why This Matters

This was a new category without a real precedent, which means its winner will presumably help define what the competitors will look like going forward. Actually, lets hope more movies in general look like One Battle After Another in the future. And, speaking of the future, lets not ignore the prognosticating powers of your Film Editor, whose Oscar predictions were only matched Weird Al Yankovic .

The entertainment world moves fast, and this is a prime example.

The Bottom Line

And, speaking of the future, lets not ignore the prognosticating powers of your Film Editor, whose Oscar predictions were only matched Weird Al Yankovic . If you missed the 2026 Oscars, here’s our breakdown of the best moments, the most garbled audio, and the boneheaded decisions that always color Hollywood’s main event.

Are you here for this or nah?