Best Moments From the 2026 Oscars
From Conan O'Brien's wild opening to historic wins and an unexpected callback to Moulin Rouge, here's what moved us the most on Oscar night.
The comedy-drama One Battle After Another may have taken home the top prize of the night, but the 2026 Oscars ceremony itself went off without much of a fight.
Host Conan O’Brien kicked off the evening with a reference to Amy Madigan’s character in the horror film Weapons, which soon evolved into a montage salute to all the major films of Hollywood’s biggest night (it also turned out to be a prescient move, as the storied character actress won the supporting actress Academy Award a few minutes after his monologue). O’Brien also kept his opening jokes mostly apolitical, instead concentrating his criticism on easier targets like best actor nominee Timothée Chalamet’s recent disparaging remarks that “no one cares” about ballet and opera and peppering his comments with elevated Dad Jokes (O’Brien said the racing movie F1 “did so well they’re making a sequel: Caps Lock“).
Below, we’ve listed some of the other highlights from the 98th Academy Awards.
Central Casting
The 2026 Academy Awards marked the first time casting directors were recognized with their own competitive award (and the first time a new competitive award has been added to the Oscars’ rosters since 2001 saw the addition of Best Animated Feature Film). One Battle After Another casting director Cassandra Kulukundis was the first recipient of this prize.
A long-time collaborator with One Battle director-writer Paul Thomas Anderson, Kulukundis said to him from the stage that “I have one before you, which is also crazy. So, yeah, I hope you get one tonight.”
Sometimes, wishes do come true…
PDA for PTA
One Battle’s Anderson broke the losing streak he’s been on since the 1998 ceremony, when he was nominated for best original screenplay forBoogie Nights (but lost to Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s screenplay for Good Will Hunting). OBAA, which is both a box office and critical success — it’s Certified Fresh with critics and Verified Hot with fans — took home three major awards: Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay (Anderson adapted the story from a Thomas Pynchon novel).
The night also assured audiences that Anderson’s partner, actress-comedian Maya Rudolph, isn’t the only funny one in the house. In his acceptance speech for Best Director, Anderson thanked his fellow nominees while also noting that the Academy makes “a guy work hard for one of these.”
“It’s an honor to be counted amongst you guys,” he said to his fellow nominees, Ryan Coogler (Sinners), Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme), Joachim Trier (Sentimental Value) and Chloé Zhao (Hamnet). “There will always be some doubt in your heart that you deserve it, but there is no question at the pleasure having of it for myself.”
Have Fun Storming the Castle
The Oscars In Memoriam segment is always a tear-jerker, but this past year has seen the deaths of several industry icons. Some of them received special tributes from their friends and colleagues. This started with The Princess Bride director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Reiner, who were honored by his frequent collaborator Billy Crystal, and also included Rachel McAdams speaking about the kindness of her The Family Stone co-star Diane Keaton and Barbra Streisand giving one last serenade to her The Way We Were scene partner, Robert Redford.
Sinners Cinematographer Makes History
Sinners director of photography Autumn Durald Arkapaw became not just the first woman of color but the first woman ever to receive the Oscar for Best Cinematography (the field is notoriously a largely male space). In her acceptance speech, Arkapaw thanked Rachel Morrison, who was the first woman ever nominated in that category (for the 2017 film Mudbound) and who also has a long working relationship with Sinners writer-director Coogler.
“I have felt so much love from all the women on this whole campaign and gotten to meet so many people, and I just feel like moments like this happen because of you guys, and I want to thank you for that,” Arkapaw said in her acceptance speech.
Going Up, Up, Up
Netflix’s global juggernaut KPop Demon Hunters took home two awards at the 2026 Oscars: Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Song for its anthem “Golden” — the first K-pop song to ever win this category (six of the song’s credited writers also became the first South Koreans to win this category).
“Growing up, people made fun of me for liking K-pop, but now everyone is singing our song, and all the Korean lyrics,” musician EJAE, who co-wrote “Golden” and also portrays the singing voice for lead demon hunter Rumi, said in her acceptance speech. “I’m so proud. I realized the song, the award — it’s not about success, it’s about resilience.”
Maggie Kang, the film’s co-director and co-writer, also noted these achievements in her acceptance speech.
“For those of you who look like me, I’m so sorry that it took so long to see us in a movie like this, but it is here. That means the next generations don’t have to go longing,” she said. “This is for Korea and Koreans everywhere.”
No Joke; It’s a Tie
Ever since the Moonlight–La La Land envelope-gate of 2017, everyone is a little suspicious when awards categories aren’t announced in a routine manner. So it’s natural that comedian Kumail Nanjiani had to stress that he wasn’t kidding when he opened the envelope for best Live Action Short Film and saw two titles: The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva. There have only been six other ties in Oscar history, the most recent one happening in 2013 when Zero Dark Thirty and Skyfall tied for Sound Editing.
Mum’s the Word
Both Lead Actor winner Michael B. Jordan (Sinners) and Lead Actress winnerJessie Buckley (Hamnet) used their time on stage to speak about the importance of parenthood. Jordan famously takes his mother, Donna, as his date to award shows, and he thanked her from the stage, as well as his father and his siblings. Buckley thanked her baby daughter and noted that it is Mother’s Day in the UK. She also dedicated her award, which is for a film about a grieving parent, to the “beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart.”
This is Your Song
Moulin Rouge co-stars Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman presented the final award of the night; Best Picture. But before they did, they reminded everyone why they were so great in that movie by duetting on stage a cappella. The only way it would have been better was if they’d ridden an elephant on stage.
Thumbnail image by Frank Micelotta/Getty Images
