2026 Oscars Recap: Horror Wins Big and Warner Bros. Dominates the Night
Sinners and Frankenstein led a historic night for horror at the 2026 Oscars, while Paul Thomas Anderson finally got his due. But is this Warner Bros.' last great year?
Hollywood’s biggest night, The Oscars (or The Academy Awards if you’re fancy), took place last night. I stayed up and watched the whole show, and here are my unfiltered, instant reactions to what I saw!
Horror Won Big
Horror won big! Sinners took home 4 Oscars, including Best Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Score, and Best Original Screenplay. Amy Madigan took home Best Supporting Actress for playing a new horror movie icon in her role as Aunt Gladys in Weapons. Frankenstein won 3 Oscars for Costume Design, Makeup and Hair, and Production Design. Even K-Pop Demon Hunters — while not straight horror — has plenty of horror elements in a kid-friendly presentation. Demons are demons, no matter how they are portrayed, and it took home 2 Oscars including the big one for Best Animated Feature Film. Horror is here, on the main stage, and there is no denying that it is a major force driving Hollywood right now.
One Battle After Another Had a Great Night
I was surprised One Battle After Another won the Casting award early, and knocking off Sinners for that award cleared the way for the rest of the wins. Paul Thomas Anderson winning 3 Oscars after having none for all of his illustrious career was great to see. He deserved it, and even though One Battle may not be his best film — hard to beat There Will Be Blood — it was a timely one and definitely a bit of recognition for his amazing career. In any other year, Sinners likely would have come out on top in multiple areas where One Battle won, including Best Picture. But this was PTA’s year, and he deserved it.
Sinners Still Did Well
But Sinners did not get shutout by any means. Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan was awesome and so well deserved. I loved Chalamet in Marty Supreme, but the more I sat with that movie, the more it felt like he was playing a version of himself. Jordan had to carry three characters — Stack, Smoke, and (spoilers) Vampire Stack. It is so hard to act against a character who is not there, and not once during Sinners did I ever forget that he was not two distinct people. I was so happy for him.
I was also pumped for Autumn Durald Arkapaw from Sinners for her amazing cinematography win. The way that she shot that movie — so many different formats, aspect ratio shifts — it was just perfection and a huge reason why the movie was so successful. This was a movie that campaigned and marketed based on formats, bringing the conversation in the film world to a more technical space, and she deserved that award. After Michael Bauman (One Battle) won the award at the American Society of Cinematographers, I thought this might be tipping back to his side. Both were worthy contenders, but making history by giving the award to Autumn as the first female winner for cinematography was a big win for women in film, and it was so well deserved.
No Major Surprises
I was not really shocked by most of the results during the show. Most of the awards went exactly as I expected. Cinematography might have been the biggest “upset” based on past awards results. I also thought The Perfect Neighbor might win for Best Documentary, but Mr. Nobody Against Putin is certainly a great pick and an extremely relevant movie in the times we live in. I do wish they had given Best Supporting Actor to Delroy Lindo. Sean Penn was excellent in One Battle, but he hates awards shows and never shows up. It makes the whole win so anti-climactic. Delroy Lindo winning would have been an awesome shoutout to a veteran actor.
Warner Brothers and Netflix Owned the Night
The big winners of the night were Warner Brothers and Netflix, the two juggernauts who at one point almost got together to create a major power shift in Hollywood. Now it looks like Warner Brothers will be sold to Paramount, and Netflix will remain on their own. But it was their show, and almost nobody else had a presence. Disney won a single award for Avatar (Visual Effects), Apple took home one for Sound (F1), Focus Features and Universal took home Best Actress (Hamnet, Jessie Buckley), and NEON won Best Foreign Film (Sentimental Value). Nothing for Paramount or A24.
It was a shift from the last few years where indie studios like NEON and A24 dominated the awards circuit. This was a push back from the big studios, and it was all well deserved for Warner Brothers. They banked on original content from amazing voices and won big for their gamble. Other studios should learn from what they did here.
But This Might Be Warner Brothers’ Swan Song
Warner Brothers is set to be acquired by Paramount, and I have zero faith that Paramount ownership would greenlight films like One Battle After Another and Sinners. Paramount has so far focused on franchises and established IP. Don’t take my word for it — take a look at their slate for 2026 and beyond. It is almost entirely IP or franchise based. And honestly, I don’t see filmmakers like PTA, Ryan Coogler, or other prestige directors and producers working with the new Paramount ownership group in the future. The best case scenario is that the whole deal falls apart, David Zaslav steps down from his position, and Warner Brothers builds off of a great 2025 and continues to take chances and win big. We shall see…
The Ceremony Itself Was Underwhelming
Was it just me, or did the whole production seem off? Conan was fine as the host. I am a big Conan fan, but outside of the monologue he didn’t have much going on within the show. The audio was off, or delayed at times. The live music sounded terrible. Speeches were rudely cut short, sometimes allowed to continue, sometimes they were not. It all felt messy.
I do wonder if YouTube taking over in 2029 will bring some new life to the show and introduce it to a new audience. At the end of the day, I wanted more celebration of the movies and the filmmakers, and less theatrics. I want the original song performances back. I want more highlights on filmmakers and the people we lost — the Rob Reiner and Robert Redford tributes were on point. I want to learn more about the people behind these movies and let them speak. The awards show is for them!
So what did you think? Any surprises? Anything you wish they showed more of? How did your Oscar pool go? Let me know in the comments!
I admit I didn't watch the Oscars. It has been a while since they felt relevant to me. I do check out the winners after the show out of curiosity. Wow, you are not kidding, Paramount's future schedule is about as exciting as leftover oatmeal. I am curious to see what they do with the Star Trek IP in movie form, even if the project wasn't listed as being in development.
Besides the bad audio, I thought the writing for the show, specifically, the patter, intros, and jokes were just awful. Has the writer's strike already begun? Also, many of the comedy bits/intros went on too long, especially the Robert Downey Jr/Chris Evans bit, which was more crass than funny, and the endless Bridesmaids reunion intro before they gave out their awards. If they had trimmed all of that down, then none of the winners would have had their awards speeches cut short and be played off-stage by what sounded like bad t.v. show music from the 1970s.