Oscars: What Went Right & Very Wrong at 2026 Academy Awards

Another Oscars ceremony has come and gone. 

One Battle After Another was the big winner at the 98th Academy Awards, taking home six awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and the newly added Best Casting category. Sinners, which made history by obtaining the most nominations ever, went home with four, while Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein scored three, and KPop Demon Hunters won two.

As we can now officially close the curtain on 2025 cinema and turn our attention to 2026, we’re taking one last look at the 98th Oscars — the things that went right and the things that went very wrong.

What went right and what went wrong at the Oscars this year?

Bad: Rudely cutting off people with music

Golden set a number of records when winning the Best Original Song Academy Award; it was the first K-pop song to ever win, the first song with more than four writers to ever win, etc. Ejae gave a good acceptance speech, too. And, then, whoever was in charge of cutting people off with music decided they’d heard enough, because they very rudely wouldn’t let anyone else but her talk. Everyone on stage tried to power through and keep going. But, after some others had successfully pulled that strategy off earlier in the night, the Oscars weren’t having it this time; they never got their moment to shine. We get it, they’re trying to get through the whole ceremony in 3.5 Oscars. But if Adrian Brody was allowed to go on and on and on last year, they can give KPop Demon Hunters another minute or two.

Good: Adding a new Oscars category

As previously mentioned, One Battle After Another’s Cassandra Kulukundis took home the first-ever Best Casting Academy Award. And the category, itself, seems like a big success! Bringing one of the stars out from all the nominated movies on stage to explain a bit about why each film deserved to be there and the role the casting director played during production. They probably should have added this category years ago, but at least we’ve got it now, and it was done with class.

Bad: No thank you to the RDJ and Chris Evans banter

You know them, you love them, and you’ve seen them argue back and forth all the time in those Avengers movies. But then Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans come on stage and try to banter a little bit in front of the whole audience and, oof, the magic wasn’t there. The bit wasn’t especially funny and wasn’t getting a whole lot of laughs from those in attendance. And then they double down on it, too; granted, Channing Tatum saved it a little bit, but overall? Not your best work, guys.

Good: Making history in the Best Cinematography category

We love watching history being made during the Academy Awards. And we definitely got a huge, ‘something is happening right now’ one when Autumn Durald Arkapaw won Best Cinematography, becoming the first woman to ever do so, for her work on Sinners. It’s well-deserved, and seeing the way everyone in the audience responded to her winning was a sight to be seen. More of that energy.

Bad: Picking and choosing the song performances

Only two songs were performed live at the ceremony this year, “Golden” and “I Lied to You.” Um, why? Yes, these are the two most popular songs that were nominated; not many people have ever heard the other ones, I’m well aware. But the Academy thought they were good enough to nominate. Can’t we hear those, too? It was previously reported that the others were cut for time and “broader structural changes.” Remind me why we’re so worried about how long the ceremony runs, again? If the Oscars are about honoring movies, let’s honor movies properly and completely instead of trying to make the whole show fit into too small of a window.

Good: One of the better ‘In Memoriam’ segments 

It’s been a tough year in terms of losing some beloved Hollywood stars and icons: Rob Reiner, Diane Keaton, Catherine O’Hara, Robert Redford, etc. And the way the show handled that in the “In Memoriam” this year felt tasteful. Billy Crystal talking about Reiner, Rachel McAdams talking about Keaton, and Barbra Streisand talking about Redford; it was a very moving moment that properly paid tribute to some true legends.

Source: Oscars

Source: Comingsoon.net