Oscars 2026: The moments we’ll be talking about all year
A.M.P.A.S.
By Alli Rosenbloom, Dan Heching, CNN
(CNN) — Hollywood’s biggest stars gathered in Los Angeles on Sunday to honor some incredible movies and celebrate the power of film, while giving in to the fact that putting the world’s troubles aside, even for a night, is impossible.
There were indeed some happy moments, including history-making wins and uplifting musical performances. But there was also an element of sadness — much time was devoted to honoring those legends we lost this year, and even host Conan O’Brien took time to acknowledge that we live in “very chaotic, frightening times.”
How will this year’s Oscars stand the test of time? Coming amid turmoil both at home and abroad, maybe its lesson is that difficult moments can lead to incredible art, and that celebrating together is all the more important.
On with the show!
A ‘Battle’ won but not lost
Raise your hand if you thought this time would be different and that the buzz for “Sinners” — a creative and cultural achievement in the horror genre and at large — would lead it to unmitigated glory. Womp.
In the end, “One Battle After Another,” another deserving film in so many ways, came out on top. But: “Sinners” is in no way a loser here.
With 16 total nods, the movie entered Oscar night making history, as the most-nominated movie ever in 98 years of the Academy Awards. To have a project that is not only critically acclaimed and culturally significant, but also a powerhouse at the box office, is rare. To have that film be a horror film, written and directed by a Black man and featuring a mostly Black cast, felt like a whole other level.
While trophies are nice, the movie did it right in the ways that matter most. That feels like the biggest win of all.
A decisive best actor win for Michael B. Jordan
Going back to those “Sinners” triumphs…
With no clear frontrunner, all eyes were on the best actor race this year and the top award went to Michael B. Jordan for his performance playing twins Smoke and Stack in the film.
The actor appeared stunned when his name was read and the theater erupted in thunderous applause as the former child actor accepted his first-ever Oscar.
After thanking his family, who were all in the audience, Jordan thanked the film’s director, Oscar-winner Ryan Coogler, who has cast Jordan in every film he’s made.
“You gave me the opportunity and the space to be seen,” he said.
Jordan called out Black Oscar-winning actors who came before him, including Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx and Halle Berry, among others, saying how proud he was to stand “amongst those giants, amongst those greats, amongst my ancestors.”
The “Devil Wears Prada 2” promotional stunt we welcomed
Note to future Oscars bookers: If you’re going to put what is essentially a commercial in the middle of the ceremony, it better be this good.
Anna Wintour made a surprise appearance on the Oscars stage — even dropping her signature sunglasses, at least for a while, for the occasion.
The legendary Vogue editor appeared alongside Anne Hathaway to present two awards — for costume design and makeup, and for hairstyling, both of which went to “Frankenstein.”
Wintour and Hathaway walked out to “Vogue” by Madonna, a song that famously appears in “The Devil Wears Prada,” the film in which Hathaway stars alongside Meryl Streep, who plays Miranda Priestly, a character believed to be loosely based on Wintour. A sequel to the beloved 2006 film will be released in theaters on May 1.
The duo nodded at the film while presenting, with Wintour jokingly calling Hathaway “Emily” at one point, a reference to the assistant character played by Emily Blunt in the movie.
Uplifting musical performances that truly felt global
While there were only two musical performances during the telecast, they more than made up for any feeling that it might lack in spectacle.
First came a stunning live performance of “I Lied to You” from “Sinners” that was led by the film’s breakout star, Miles Canton, and songwriter Raphael Saadiq. Joining them on stage were ballerina Misty Copeland, blues legend Buddy Guy (who also appears in the film), Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Brittany Howard, Grammy-winner Shaboozey and blues artist Christone “Kingfish” Ingram.
“I Lied to You,” co-written by Saadiq and Coogler’s longtime collaborator Ludwig Göransson (who won an Oscar for the original score), is the soundtrack to one of the most transcendent moments in “Sinners,” when various performers of Black music through history are represented in a sequence that seamlessly melds past, present and future, a moment that was represented beautifully on the Oscars stage.
That track from “Sinners” was up for best original song, which ended up going to “Golden” from “KPop Demon Hunters,” the other standout performance of the night. The presentation was a celebration of Korean culture that literally shimmered with gold, as dancers spread out over the stage with billowing flags.
Singers EJAE, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami of HUNTR/X, who are the singing voices from the hit Netflix film, had the audience in the Dolby Theater on their feet with lights that they waved in time to the tune.
It’s a TIE!
For only the sixth time in Oscars history, one of the categories ended in a tie. The Oscar for best live action short film went to two films: “The Singers” and “Two People Exchanging Saliva.”
This is the sixth true tie. In the ‘30s, two films — “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and “The Champ” both won in the best actor category because rules at the time indicated that if two nominees were within three votes of each other, both would receive the award. Today, only an exact match in votes qualifies for a tie.
Upon realizing the situation, presenter Kumail Nanjiani urged everyone to stay calm. “It’s a tie. I’m not joking,” he said, promising that “we’re going to get through this.”
The tie was not completely unanticipated for Alexandre Singh, one of the directors of “Two People Exchanging Saliva.”
“We’re also a little bit Oscar geeks,” Singh said in the press room after the win. “So, we had actually discussed that this could happen but couldn’t possibly imagine.”
Natalie Musteata, Singh’s co-director, said that a Reddit user asked the duo before the awards if they would be happy to share the award and they answered with, “Heck yeah!”
Conan gets political…ish
Host Conan O’Brien did a pretty good job of keeping things funny while acknowledging, in his own way, that we live in extremely strange times. His best zingers included a penis joke that made reference to President Donald Trump’s love of sticking his name on buildings and (“Welcome back, we’re coming to you live from the Has a Small Penis Theatre — let’s see him put his name in front of that.”) and an Epstein files joke that elicited a chorus of “whoas” from attendees.
But the overt politics largely stopped there, landing the host somewhere in that safe-ish zone between a vintage Jimmy Kimmel (who never shied from excoriating Trump) and Actor Awards host Kristen “We’re going to keep things fun tonight” Bell.
O’Brien seemingly aimed to make sure his comments didn’t overshadow what he saw as the mission — to acknowledge but not dwell on the fact that “these are very chaotic, frightening times.”
“It’s at moments like these that I believe that the Oscars are particularly resonant,” O’Brien said at one point. “We pay tribute tonight not just to film, but to the ideals of global artistry, collaboration, patience, resilience, and that rarest of qualities today: optimism.”
Among the presenters and winners, there were other statements that touched on current events, one of the most memorable being when Javier Bardem took the stage with his own pointed message: “No to war and free Palestine.”
A meaningful tribute to legends
The Academy went all out to honor the many Hollywood legends who died since the last ceremony.
Billy Crystal honored his friends and collaborators Rob and Michelle Reiner, an emotional tribute that culminated in his being joined on stage by several actors who starred in some of the late director’s films, including Cary Elwes, Carol Kane and Fred Savage from “The Princess Bride,” Kathy Bates from “Misery,” and Christopher Guest and Michael McKean from “This is Spinal Tap.” Jerry O’Connell and Wil Wheaton from “Stand by Me” also took the stage, among others.
Rachel McAdams paid homage to the great Diane Keaton, with whom she starred in the 2005 holiday classic “The Family Stone,” calling her “luminous on screen and indelible in life.”
Moments later, Barbra Streisand took the stage to honor her friend Robert Redford, whom she starred alongside in the 1973 Oscar-winning romance “The Way We Were.”
Streisand described Redford as an “intellectual cowboy who blazed his own trail” before gracing the audience with a verse of the titular song.
Some big firsts
A big moment came when Autumn Durald Arkapaw, who worked on “Sinners,” took the award for best cinematography — becoming the first woman and person of color to take home the Oscar in that category.
Accepting the award, she asked all the women in the room to stand. “Because I feel like I don’t get here without you guys,” she said to a roar of long applause. “I really, really, truly mean that.”
Another history-making moment came when “Golden” from “KPop Demon Hunters” became the first K-Pop tune to win the award for best original song.
The song has dominated awards season — and streaming. “Growing up, you know, people made fun of me for liking K-Pop but now everyone is singing our song, and all the Korean lyrics,” EJAE, one of the singers and songwriters on “Golden,” said in an emotional acceptance speech. “I’m so proud.”
‘Marty’ misses
The reign of Timothée “Timmy” Chalamet in the cultural conversation is over…at least for now. “Marty Supreme” walked away with zero awards, despite nominations for best picture, best actor and best director for Josh Safdie, among others. Did balletgate do Timmy in? Unlikely. But at this point, the more interesting question is what he does next.
There were other snubs. “The Secret Agent,” the celebrated Brazilian film starring Wagner Moura, who was up for best actor, walked away with nothing, as did “It Was Just an Accident” by Iranian director Jafar Panahi.
Meanwhile, eight-time nominee “Hamnet” walked away with a single win, with odds-favorite Jessie Buckley fulfilling her destiny in the best actress category.
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CNN’s Miriam Elder, Lisa Respers France, Sandra Gonzalez, Asuka Koda, Matt Meyer, Tori Powell and Aditi Sangal contributed to this report.
