LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d was crowned best picture at the 98th Academy Awards, handing Hollywood\u2019s top honor to a comic, multi-generational American saga of political resistance.<\/p>\n
The ceremony Sunday, which also saw Michael B. Jordan win best actor and \u201cSinners\u201d cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw make Oscar history as the first female director of photography to win the award, was a long-in-coming coronation for Anderson, a San Fernando Valley native who made his first short at age 18 and has been one of America\u2019s most lionized filmmakers for decades. Before Sunday, Anderson had never won an Oscar.<\/p>\n
But \u201cOne Battle After Another,\u201d the favorite coming in, won six Oscars, including best director and best adapted screenplay for Anderson, the Oscars\u2019 first trophy for best casting and best supporting actor for an absent Sean Penn.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wrote this movie for my kids to say sorry for the housekeeping mess that we left in this world \u2014 we\u2019re handing off to them,\u201d said Anderson while accepting the screenplay trophy. \u201cBut also with the encouragement that they will be the generation that hopefully brings us some common sense and decency.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSinners,\u201d which came in with a record 16 nominations, also landed some big and even historic wins. Coogler, the widely loved filmmaker, won the first Oscar in an unblemished career that started out with Jordan in 2013\u2019s \u201cFruitvale Station.\u201d Arkapow, only the fourth female cinematographer ever nominated, won the award in a long-in-coming triumph for women behind the camera.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really want all the women in room to stand up,\u201d said Arkapaw. \u201cBecause I don\u2019t feel like I get here without you guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Jordan, one of Hollywood\u2019s most liked leading men, won best actor in one of the night\u2019s closest races. The Dolby Theatre rose to its feet in the most thunderous applause of the night.<\/p>\n
\u201cYo, momma, what\u2019s up?\u201d said Jordan after staggering to the stage.<\/p>\n
The Oscar night belonged to Warner Bros., the studio of \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d and Coogler\u2019s vampire tale. It was an oddly poignant note of triumph for the fabled studio, which weeks earlier agreed to a sale to Paramount Skydance, David Ellison\u2019s rapidly assembled media monolith. The deal, which awaits regulatory approval, has Hollywood bracing for more layoffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cSinners\u201d and \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d were each Hollywood anomalies: big-budget originals born from a personal vision. In a year where anxiety over studio contraction and the rise of artificial intelligence often consumed the industry, both films gave Hollywood fresh hope.<\/p>\n
Jessie Buckley won best actress for her performance as Agnes Shakespeare in \u201cHamnet,\u201d making her the first Irish performer to ever win in the category. At an Oscars where no other acting award seemed a sure thing, Buckley cruised into Sunday\u2019s Oscars at the Dolby Theatre as the overwhelming favorite.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s Mother\u2019s Day in the U.K.,\u201d said Buckley on the stage. \u201cI would like to dedicated this to the beautiful chaos of a mother\u2019s heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018KPop\u2019 and \u2018Frankeinstein\u2019 win for Netflix<\/p>\n
From the start, when host Conan O\u2019Brien sprinted through the year\u2019s nominees as Amy Madigan\u2019s character in the horror thriller \u201cWeapons\u201d in a pre-taped bit, Sunday\u2019s ceremony was quirky, a little clunky and preoccupied with the shifting place of movies in culture. There was, of all things, a tie for best live-action short film.<\/p>\n
As expected, the Netflix sensation \u201cKPop Demon Hunters,\u201d 2025\u2019s most-watched film, won best animated feature, as well as best song for \u201cGolden.\u201d It was a big win for Netflix but a more qualified victory for the movie\u2019s producer, Sony Pictures. Though it developed and produced the film, Sony sold \u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d to the streaming giant instead of giving it a theatrical release.<\/p>\n
On Netflix, \u201cKPop Demon Hunters\u201d became a cultural phenomenon and the streaming platform\u2019s biggest hit. It has more than 325 million views and counting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is for Korea and Koreans everywhere,\u201d said Korean-Canadian filmmaker Maggie Kang, who wrote and co-directed with Chris Appelhans.<\/p>\n
Another Netflix release, Guillermo del Toro\u2019s \u201cFrankenstein\u201d picked up three awards for its lavish craft, for costume design, makeup and hairstyling and for production design.<\/p>\n
Amy Madigan won best supporting actress for her performance in the horror thriller \u201cWeapons,\u201d a win that came 40 years after the 75-year-old actor was first nominated, in 1986, for \u201cTwice in a Lifetime.\u201d Letting out a giant laugh as she hit the stage, Madigan exclaimed, \u201cThis is great!\u201d<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien presides over a ceremony shadowed by politics<\/p>\n
Hosting for the second time, O\u2019Brien began the Dolby Theatre show alluding to \u201cchaotic and frightening times.\u201d But he argued that the current geopolitical climate made the Oscars all the more resonate as a globally unifying force.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe pay tribute tonight, not just to film, but to the ideals of global artistry, collaboration, patience, resilience and that rarest of qualities today \u2014 optimism,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to celebrate. Not because we think all is well, but because we work, and hope, for better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Throughout the show, O\u2019Brien hit a number of targets, like Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet for his diss of opera and ballet. But the ceremony seldom wasn\u2019t shadowed by politics, whether in references to changes under U.S. President Donald Trump or the recently launched war in Iran.<\/p>\n
Joachim Trier, whose Norwegian family drama \u201cSentimental Value\u201d won best international film, quoted James Baldwin in his acceptance speech.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll adults are responsible for all children,\u201d he said. \u201cLet\u2019s not vote for politicians that don\u2019t take this seriously into account.\u201d<\/p>\n
Presenter Jimmy Kimmel, whose late-night show last year was suspended after comments he made about Charlie Kirk\u2019s killing, was among the most blunt.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are some countries that don\u2019t support free speech,\u201d said Kimmel. \u201cI\u2019m not at liberty to say which. Let\u2019s just leave it at North Korea and CBS.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shortly after, \u201cMr. Nobody Against Putin,\u201d a film about a Russian primary school teacher who documents his students\u2019 indoctrination to support Russia\u2019s war with Ukraine, won best documentary.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2019Mr. Nobody Against Putin\u2019 is about how you lose your country,\u201d co-director said. \u201cAnd what we saw when working with this footage is that you lose it through countless, small, little acts of complicity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all face a moral choice,\u201d he added, \u201cbut, luckily, a nobody is more powerful than you think.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tributes to Reiner, Redford and others<\/p>\n
Elegy also marked the Oscars. Producers expanded the in memoriam segment following a year that featured the deaths of so many Hollywood legends, including Keaton, Robert Duvall and Redford. Barbra Streisand spoke about Redford, her \u201cThe Way We Were\u201d co-star.<\/p>\n
\u201cBob had real backbone,\u201d said Streisand, who called Redford \u201can intellectual cowboy\u201d before singing a few bars of \u201cThe Way We Were.\u201d<\/p>\n
Billy Crystal paid tribute to Rob and Michele Reiner, who were killed in their home in December. Crystal, a close friend of Rob Reiner\u2019s who memorably starred in 1989\u2019s \u201cWhen Harry Met Sally\u2026\u201d and 1987\u2019s \u201cPrincess Bride.\u201d In his moving remarks, Crystal quoted the latter.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll we can say is: Buddy, how much fun we had storming the castle,\u201d said Crystal.<\/p>\n
Theatrical looks to best streaming, again<\/p>\n
The night\u2019s final award again didn\u2019t go to a streaming release; Apple\u2019s \u201cCODA\u201d remains the only streaming film to achieve that distinction. \u201cSinners\u201d and \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d were both theatrical releases shot on film. And both came from Warner Bros., the legacy studio that\u2019s agreed to merge with David Ellison\u2019s new media colossus, Paramount Skydance. The $111 billion deal, which awaits regulatory approval, has rattled an industry already reconciling itself to the acquisitions of MGM (by Amazon) and 20th Century Fox (by The Walt Disney Co.).<\/p>\n
Apple\u2019s \u201cF1,\u201d a movie that it partnered with Warner Bros. to distribute theatrically, won for best sound. The lone blockbuster of the year to go home with a win was \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash,\u201d for visual effects.<\/p>\n
Some of O\u2019Brien\u2019s best digs came at the expense of the streamers. Netflix chief Ted Sarandos, he joked, was in a theater for the first time. The host also lamented the lack of nominees for Amazon MGM: \u201cWhy isn\u2019t the website I order toilet paper from winning more Oscars?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m honored to be the last human host of the Academy Awards,\u201d said O\u2019Brien. \u201cNext year it\u2019s going to be a Waymo in a tux.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d was crowned best picture at the 98th…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539465,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[62,276,277,49,48,61],"class_list":{"0":"post-539464","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}