What to Expect at the Oscars: Predicted Winners, Hosts, and More Details
The 2026 awards season is racing towards its climactic conclusion with the airing of the 98th Academy Awards, set for Sunday, March 15. Here is everything that you need to know about the upcoming Oscars, including the leading nominees and how you can tune in to watch Hollywood's biggest night.
Diving Into This Year's Oscar Favorites Ahead of the 2026 Ceremony
It has already been a memorable awards season. What will the Oscars have in store as the season wraps up on Sunday? The Oscars are widely regarded as the most prestigious awards ceremony of them all, celebrating the greatest achievements in cinema. Preceding awards ceremonies, including the Golden Globes and the Writers Guild Awards, often serve as hints as to who will take home the coveted Oscar on Sunday. However, that does not mean that there will be no surprises for viewers this year.
Most experts predict that "One Battle After Another" will take home the prize for Best Picture. Other nominees in this much-anticipated category include "Sinners," "Hamnet," "Marty Supreme," "F1 The Movie," "The Secret Agent," "Train Dreams," "Sentimental Value," "Bugonia," and "Frankenstein." While "One Battle After Another" remains the favorite, "Sinners" was the surprise winner of the Writers Guild Award for Original Screenplay last Sunday.
The nominees for Best Actress include Jessie Buckley ("Hamnet"), Rose Byrne ("If I Had Legs I'd Kick You"), Kate Hudson ("Song Sung Blue"), Renate Reinsve ("Sentimental Value"), and Emma Stone ("Bugonia"). Buckley is the wide favorite in this category, sweeping the previous awards ceremonies.
Best Actor nominees include Timothée Chalamet ("Marty Supreme"), Ethan Hawke ("Blue Moon"), Leonardo DiCaprio ("One Battle After Another"), Michael B. Jordan ("Sinners"), and Wagner Moura ("The Secret Agent"). Although Chalamet is once again the favorite to take home a Best Actor award, Jordan is also getting a lot of buzz for his performance playing dual roles as twin brothers Elijah “Smoke” Moore and Elias “Stack” Moore.
Nominees for Best Director include Paul Thomas Anderson for "One Battle After Another," Ryan Coogler for "Sinners," Chloé Zhao for "Hamnet," Josh Safdie for "Marty Supreme," and Joachim Trier for "Sentimental Value."
As a whole, "Sinners" led all films with 16 nominations, setting a record for the Academy. The record was previously held by "Titanic," "La La Land," and "All About Eve," with each film garnering 14 nominations. "One Battle After Another" came in with the second-highest tally with 13 nominations. "Marty Supreme," "Frankenstein," and "Sentimental Value" notched nine nominations each, followed by "Hamnet" with eight nominations.
New this year to the Oscars is the Achievement in Casting category. Casting directors nominated for the debut award are Nina Gold for "Hamnet," Jennifer Venditti for "Marty Supreme," Cassandra Kulukundis for "One Battle After Another," Gabriel Domingues for "The Secret Agent," and Francine Maisler for "Sinners."
Details of the 2026 Oscars
Comedian Conan O’Brien returns to host the big event for the second straight year. Once again, Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan were tapped as executive producers for this year's show. "What We Do in the Shadows" star Matt Berry will serve as the ceremony's announcer. The Oscars Creative Team detailed that the theme of this year's awards is "humanity."
As is tradition, several of last year's Oscar winners will appear on stage as presenters. The list of presenters features a who's who of Hollywood, including Adrien Brody, Kieran Culkin, Mikey Madison, Zoe Saldaña, Javier Bardem, Chris Evans, Chase Infiniti, Demi Moore, Kumail Nanjiani, Maya Rudolph, Will Arnett, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Robert Downey Jr., Anne Hathaway, Paul Mescal, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rose Byrne, Nicole Kidman, Jimmy Kimmel, Delroy Lindo, Ewan McGregor, Wagner Moura, Pedro Pascal, Bill Pullman, Lewis Pullman, Channing Tatum, and Sigourney Weaver.
While the Oscars center on the film industry, the ceremony also features live musical performances reflective of the nominees for Best Original Song. Views can look forward to a performance of "I Lied to You," the original song from "Sinners." Other performances on deck include "Golden" from "KPop Demon Hunters" and a number by Josh Groban and the Los Angeles Master Chorale.
The 98th Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled to air live on ABC and streaming on Hulu on Sunday, March 15, live from Hollywood's Dolby Theater. The show starts at 7 pm ET.
The official live red carpet show will air at 6:30 pm ET. This show will be hosted by Tamron Hall and Jesse Palmer. If all of that hoopla was not enough, you can tune in on Monday at 9 am ET to watch the official "After the Oscars Show," hosted by Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos of the "Live With Kelly and Mark" morning television show.
Curious for more stories that keep you informed and entertained? From the latest headlines to everyday insights, YourLifeBuzz has more to explore. Dive into what’s next.