The 98th Academy Awards, held on March 15, 2026, were defined by several historic "firsts" and broken records, largely dominated by the films Sinners and One Battle After Another.
Record-Breaking Film Milestones
• Most Nominations Ever: Ryan Coogler’s Sinners set a new all-time record with 16 nominations, surpassing the previous record of 14 held by All About Eve, Titanic, and La La Land.
• Autumn Durald Arkapaw: Made history as the first woman and first woman of color to win Best Cinematography in the category's nearly 100-year history for Sinners.
• Michael B. Jordan: Became the first actor to win Best Actor for playing identical twins (Smoke and Stack in Sinners).
• Jessie Buckley: Became the first Irish woman to win the Best Actress Oscar for her role in Hamnet.
• K-Pop Global Milestone: The song "Golden" from KPop Demon Hunters became the first K-Pop song to win Best Original Song.
• Inaugural Casting Award: Cassandra Kulukundis became the first-ever winner of the Best Achievement in Casting Oscar for her work on One Battle After Another.
• Rare Short Film Tie: In a rare occurrence, the award for Best Live Action Short Film resulted in a tie between The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva.
Historic Individual Achievements
Other Notable Firsts
Paul Thomas Anderson: Won his first-ever competitive Oscars for both Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for One Battle After Another.
Ryan Coogler: Secured his first win for Best Original Screenplay for Sinners. Coogler is the second Black American screenwriter to win in this category. Jordan Peele took home the statue for Get Out (2018).
