The 98th Academy Awards brought glamour, competition, and a few jaw-dropping surprises. Here’s a closer look at the evening’s most memorable moments.

Conan O’Brien Returns to the Stage

Conan O’Brien returned to host the Oscars, delivering a mix of comedy and heartfelt reflections. Highlights included a playful reenactment of Casablanca with Sterling K. Brown, and a cheeky montage of 2025’s biggest films.

While some jokes landed perfectly (like replacing every seat filler with Michael B. Jordans) some believe others fell flat, like references to F1 sequels and Timothée Chalamet’s past remarks.

O’Brien also reminded the audience of the Oscars’ global significance: “Every film we salute is the product of thousands of people speaking different languages, working hard to make something of beauty.” It was a moment of sincerity in a night often dominated by spectacle.

The Battle of the Night: One Battle After Another vs. Sinners

The showdown for Best Picture came down to One Battle After Another and Sinners. One Battle After Another led early, securing Best Adapted Screenplay for Paul Thomas Anderson, marking his first Oscar win. Anderson’s acceptance speech was heartfelt: “I wrote this movie for my kids… hoping they will bring some common sense and decency to the world.”

Sinners, despite its record-breaking 16 nominations, faced a slow start. Its first win came in Best Original Screenplay for Ryan Coogler, followed by Best Original Score for Ludwig Göransson. Autumn Durald Arkapaw made history by winning Best Cinematography, the first woman ever to do so, earning one of the loudest reactions of the night.

One Battle After Another‘s Ultimate Triumph

By the time Best Picture was announced, One Battle After Another had pulled ahead with six total wins, including the inaugural Best Casting award. Michael B. Jordan’s Best Actor win for Sinners was a highlight, as he paid tribute to the Black actors who paved the way before him.

Other Major Wins

• Jessie Buckley won Best Actress for Hamnet, delivering a moving speech dedicated to motherhood.

• The first woman in history to win the award for Best Cinematography is Autumn Durald Arkapaw for her work on the film Sinners.

• Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein took home three awards, including Best Costume Design, Makeup, and Production Design.

• KPop Demon Hunters won Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Song, marking a milestone for non-traditional musical cinema.

• Amy Madigan won Best Supporting Actress for Weapons, while Sean Penn took Best Supporting Actor but was absent from the stage.

Anderson got one more chance to speak after his film won Best Picture. “I just wanna say that in 1975, the Oscar nominees for Best Picture were Dog Day Afternoon, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Jaws, Nashville, and Barry Lyndon. There is no best among them. There’s just what their mood might be that day… Let’s have a martini; this is pretty amazing.” 

A Powerful In Memoriam

Often a solemn formality, the In Memoriam segment at this year’s Oscars emerged as one of the ceremony’s most affecting moments. Rather than a purely procedural roll call, the segment intertwined personal tributes with acknowledgments of the year’s most staggering losses.

Billy Crystal opened with a heartfelt homage to Rob and Michelle Reiner, blending warmth and humor: “For us, who had the privilege of working with and knowing him and loving him, all we can say is, ‘Buddy, what fun we had storming the castle.’” Colleagues from Reiner’s films then joined onstage, hand-in-hand, to honor his legacy.

Rachel McAdams delivered a mid-segment tribute to the women of Hollywood, spotlighting Diane Keaton with a concise but reverent eulogy. The weight of the year’s losses became palpable well before Barbara Streisand took the stage to honor Robert Redford, recalling both their professional collaborations and personal friendship. Streisand shared the final note she ever exchanged with Redford: “As we were hanging up, he said, ‘Babs, I love you dearly, and I always will.’ And in the last note I ever wrote to Bob, I ended it with, ‘I love you too,’ and I signed it Babs.” She then concluded with a stirring rendition of The Way We Were, paying tribute to their iconic pairing.

The segment also included subtle musical cues, like a delicate performance of Storybook Love from The Princess Bride, giving the tribute emotional texture without overshadowing the images on screen. The combination of personal storytelling, thoughtful music, and restraint from excessive spectacle made this one of the most compelling In Memoriam segments in at least a decade, allowing viewers to reflect fully on the lives and legacies of those lost.

Musical Performances

The Academy made a controversial decision this year to showcase only two of the Best Original Song nominees, limiting live performances to the tracks considered true contenders.

Sinners’ “I Lied to You” opened the segment, led by Miles Catton in a recreation of the film’s juke-joint setting. The performance included ballet star Misty Copeland, musicians Eric Gales, Brittany Howard, and Bobby Rush, alongside co-stars Buddy Guy, Jayme Lawson, and Li Jun Li. While visually striking and faithful to the film’s choreography, the execution faltered on screen: Catton’s vocals were often lost beneath the instrumentation, and the camerawork failed to capture the full chaos and energy of the scene. Ambitious in scope, the performance ultimately fell short of its live potential.

Later, KPop Demon Hunters’ “Golden” took the stage. The production began with a nod to the film’s fictional boyband before the three lead singers emerged, backed by golden-clad dancers in a luminous set. Even with thoughtful backing vocals for the non-Ejae performers, the rendition didn’t reach its full impact. Several verses were inexplicably cut from the three-minute performance, leaving the number feeling truncated despite the elaborate staging.

Both performances demonstrated creative ambition, but neither quite achieved the live spectacle one might expect from the Oscars—especially in a year when half of the Best Original Song lineup wasn’t represented at all.

The Best Presenters of the Night

Over at TalentNews, we believe some presenters truly elevated the night. Will Arnett, presenting Best Animated Short Film to The Girl Who Cried Pearls, delivered an unexpected rallying cry for human creativity in animation: “Tonight we are celebrating people. Not AI. Because animation is more than a prompt. It is an art form, and it needs to be protected. Am I right?!” The line landed with the kind of energy the animation community hasn’t seen since Guillermo del Toro famously declared, “Animation is cinema.”

Anne Hathaway also delivered comedic precision while presenting Best Costume Design alongside Dame Anna Wintour—though Wintour ignored Hathaway’s urgent request for feedback on her dress and even got her name wrong: “Thank you, Emily.” The moment, simple as it was, perfectly blended awkwardness with humor.

Sigourney Weaver brought a playful touch to Best Production Design, riffing on her sci-fi legacy while interacting with Grogu, who was being gently petted by Kate Hudson. “Get away from him, you b*tch!” Weaver shouted—an irreverent callback that landed far better than the convoluted references in Alien: Romulus. Tragically, Grogu remained physically incapable of applauding the winners, adding an unintentionally hilarious note.

Jimmy Kimmel reclaimed some of his Oscar mojo while presenting the Documentary categories, won by Mr. Nobody Against Putin and All the Empty Rooms. He highlighted the stakes of making these films under censorship: “As you know, there are some countries whose leaders don’t support free speech. I’m not at liberty to say which. Let’s just leave it at North Korea and CBS.”

Finally, Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman reunited to present Best Picture, slipping effortlessly back into their Moulin Rouge! chemistry, much to the delight of the audience, and perhaps the silent dread of Keith Urban. Even Adrian Brody, whose long-winded speech last year drew criticism, took it in stride while presenting Best Actor, flipping through pages of notes before being cut off - an oddly charming display of humility.

Miscellaneous Oscar 2026 Highlights

The night wrapped on an uplifting note with the presentation of the inaugural Best Casting award. Paul Mescal, Gwyneth Paltrow, Chase Infiniti, Wagner Moura, and Delroy Lindo took the stage, each celebrating the casting directors behind their respective films. Cassandra Kulukundis of One Battle After Another emerged victorious, delivering one of the evening’s most candid speeches: “I have to thank the crew… I’m in all of your departments whether you like me or not,” she said, proudly noting that this was her first Oscar, ahead of even her film’s other wins.

Kumail Nanjiani then presided over a rare tie in Best Live Action Short, with The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva sharing the honor. Co-director Alexandre Singh used the moment to highlight cinema’s broader purpose: “We can change society through art, through creativity, through theater and ballet, and also cinema.” The sentiment reflected one of the evening’s dominant undercurrents: a desire to use storytelling as a force for understanding, connection, and ultimately, world peace.

Even amidst the quirky moments—Sean Penn winning Best Supporting Actor in absentia or Conan O’Brien’s darkly comic closing sketch, which passed the hypothetical hosting torch to MrBeast—the Oscars maintained a sense of optimism. The ceremony consistently reminded viewers that film, at its best, can bridge divides, celebrate diversity, and inspire audiences around the globe.

As the curtains closed on the 98th Academy Awards, it was clear that beyond the glamour and competition, the night was about more than trophies. It was a celebration of creativity, collaboration, and the universal messages that movies can carry—perhaps none more timely than a shared aspiration for peace in a turbulent world.