‘One Battle After Another’ wins best picture at the 98th Academy Awards

-Editorial 

The film One Battle After Another won best picture Sunday at the 98th Academy Awards, leading the night with six Oscars.

The awards, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, honored films released in 2025 across 24 competitive categories. The ceremony was broadcast in the United States on ABC and streamed on Hulu.

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another also won Oscars for directing, supporting actor (Sean Penn), casting (Cassandra Kulukundis), film editing (Andy Jurgensen), and adapted screenplay (Anderson).

The drama Sinners followed with four awards, including best actor for Michael B. Jordan, original score for Ludwig Göransson, cinematography for Autumn Durald Arkapaw, and original screenplay written by director Ryan Coogler.

Jessie Buckley won best actress for her performance in Hamnet. The award for best supporting actress went to Amy Madigan for Weapons, marking a return to the Oscars 40 years after her first nomination for Twice in a Lifetime.

Comedian Conan O’Brien hosted the ceremony for the second consecutive year after receiving positive reviews for hosting the previous year. The show was executive-produced by Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan, with Hamish Hamilton serving as director.

Several other films earned multiple awards. Frankenstein, produced by Guillermo del Toro, won three Oscars, including costume design for Kate Hawley, makeup and hairstyling, and production design by Tamara Deverell with set decoration by Shane Vieau.

The animated feature award went to KPop Demon Hunters, produced by Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans, and Michelle L. M. Wong. The film also won best original song for “Golden,” written by EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo, and Teddy Park.

The Oscar for international feature film went to Norway’s Sentimental Value, directed by Joachim Trier. In the documentary category, Mr. Nobody Against Putin, directed by David Borenstein and Pavel Talankin, won best documentary feature.

In technical categories, F1 won the Oscar for sound, while Avatar: Fire and Ash received the award for visual effects.

The ceremony also marked the debut of the best casting category, bringing the total number of competitive Academy Award categories to 24.

The nominations were announced Jan. 22 at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills by actress Danielle Brooks and actor Lewis Pullman. The film Sinners led all nominees with 16 nominations, the most for any film in the history of the awards.

Among notable milestones, actor Timothée Chalamet became the youngest performer since Marlon Brando to receive three acting nominations by age 30, and the youngest person nominated in the same year for acting and producing. Actor Wagner Moura became the first Brazilian nominated for best actor, while Stellan Skarsgård became the first performer nominated for best supporting actor for a role in a non-English-language international feature film.

Costume designer Ruth E. Carter received her fifth nomination, becoming the most-nominated Black woman in Academy Awards history across all categories. Cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman of color nominated for Best Cinematography.

In directing, Chloé Zhao earned her second nomination for Hamnet, becoming the first woman of color nominated twice in the category and the first woman previously to have won best director to receive another nomination.

Other winners included The Girl Who Cried Pearls for animated short film, All the Empty Rooms for documentary short film, and the live-action short films The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva.