Oscars 2026: The good, the bad, and the ugly
Droughts ended, glass ceilings shattered, and sound engineers were asleep at the wheel at the 2026 Oscars.
Photo: Etienne Laurent / The Academy, screenshot (ABC)
The 98th Academy Awards at least listened to one piece of feedback we had for last year’s ceremony, as the show brought back host Conan O’Brien to inject at least a little strangeness into the proceedings, especially with those bookends. That said, 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. 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 studio’s haul in a night.), not only got Paul Thomas Anderson and the first-ever woman cinematographer their Oscars, but bled over to Best Casting. 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, let’s hope more movies in general look like One Battle After Another in the future.
And, speaking of the future, let’s not ignore the prognosticating powers of your Film Editor, whose Oscar predictions were only matched by those of 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.
The Good
An In Memoriam segment actually worthy of the year’s losses
This was a tough year in all corners, and the film world didn’t get off easy. With deaths including Robert Redford, Diane Keaton, Rob Reiner, Béla Tarr, Frederick Wiseman, Val Kilmer, Diane Ladd, Catherine O’Hara, Isiah Whitlock Jr., and Udo Kier, it felt like every week offered another blow to the foundation of living masters. Instead of rushing through them all in a slapdash montage, the Oscars slowed down and gave these giants the weight they deserved. A song from Barbra Streisand, a heartfelt remembrance from Billy Crystal (and many more), and Rachel McAdams’ loving tribute to the actresses we lost—this was worth taking a moment for, and was the classiest moment of the production.
An extremely cool orchestral mash-up of the Best Score nominees
Why would you ever pipe in this exceptional music if you could’ve been doing this all along? Easily flowing between the different nominees as they were announced, this was one of the best introductions of the night, all because we actually got to hear some of the artistry at work. Endless respect to lead arranger Chris Walden, who proved how connected and fluid these soundscapes can be in the right hands, despite their disparate tones and genres.
A glass ceiling shattered
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