The 2026 Academy Awards at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood saw significant victories, with Paul Thomas Anderson's film, One Battle After Another, emerging as a dominant force. The film, inspired by Thomas Pynchon's postmodern novel Vineland, secured the coveted Best Picture award, capping off one of the strongest awards runs of the season. It entered the ceremony with 13 Oscar nominations, making it the second-most-nominated movie of the year, behind only Sinners, which garnered 16 nominations.

Paul Thomas Anderson achieved a remarkable personal milestone, winning his first-ever Academy Award for Best Director for One Battle After Another. This prestigious win came after he had already secured his first Oscar of the night, and his second Oscar overall, for Best Adapted Screenplay for the same film. His Adapted Screenplay victory for the darkly comedic political action thriller was considered pre-ordained, having swept all the major precursor awards, including the Critics' Choice, Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and WGA Awards. This marked an especially sweet victory for Anderson, who had seen recognition for seven of his films, starting with Boogie Nights in 1997, and had been nominated for an Oscar 14 times without a win until now. Other notable nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay included Bugonia (penned by Will Tracy), Frankenstein (by Guillermo del Toro), Hamnet (by Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell), and Train Dreams (by Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar), all of which were also featured in the Best Picture race.

One Battle After Another also garnered significant acting recognition. Sean Penn won the Best Supporting Actor trophy for his role as Steven Lockjaw, marking his 6th nomination and 3rd win, though he was not in attendance. Benicio del Toro was also nominated in the same category for his supporting role as community activist and martial arts sensei Sergio St. Carlos. The Best Supporting Actor race additionally featured nominations for Delroy Lindo for his performance as bluesman Delta Slim in Sinners, Stellan Skarsgård for his role as Norwegian film director Gustav Borg in Sentimental Value, and Jacob Elordi, who became the first actor ever to earn an Oscar nomination for playing Frankenstein's monster in Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein. Penn had been a front-runner, having taken home both the Supporting Actor BAFTA and Golden Globe trophies.

In a historic moment, the Academy Awards added its first new awards category in over 20 years: Best Casting. Cassandra Kulukundis, a frequent collaborator with Paul Thomas Anderson since Hard Eight and casting director for One Battle After Another, took home the inaugural prize. This was the first win for Anderson's film that night. She made her debut as a casting director on Anderson's 1999 film Magnolia and has cast all his subsequent features. In her speech, Kulukundis thanked her collaborators and acknowledged past casting directors who were not recognized with awards or even credits on their work. The cast she assembled for One Battle After Another included Leonardo DiCaprio (as Bob Ferguson), Teyana Taylor (as Perfidia), Benicio del Toro, Sean Penn, Chase Infiniti (as Willa), Regina Hall, and Tony Goldwyn, with DiCaprio, Taylor, del Toro, and Penn all receiving acting Oscar nominations. Other nominees for the Best Casting Oscar included Nina Gold for Hamnet, Jennifer Venditti for Marty Supreme, Gabriel Domingues for The Secret Agent, and Francine Maisler for Sinners. This new category brings the total number of competitive Oscars to 24, with a 25th, Best Stunt Design, set to be awarded starting in 2027.

The plot of One Battle After Another follows washed-up French 75 revolutionary Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his free-spirited daughter Willa (Chase Infiniti), 16 years after they were sent into hiding. Both are still grappling with the consequences of their pasts after Bob's partner, Perfidia (Teyana Taylor), sold out her fellow members of the French 75, leading Bob to become an overprotective, paranoid stoner content to continue living off the grid. When Willa suddenly goes missing and his old nemesis, Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn), re-emerges to hunt her down, he's sent scrambling to evade his grasp and find his daughter before it's too late. In a race through the sanctuary city of Baktan Cross and its communities, both Fergusons are forced to directly face their demons and try to move forward. Collider's review stated that Anderson executed an