'One Battle After Another' wins Best Picture at 98th Oscars as Sinners makes history

The 98th Academy Awards delivered one of the more memorable nights in recent Oscar history. Paul Thomas Anderson's 'One Battle After Another' walked away with six trophies including Best Picture and Best Director, while Ryan Coogler's 'Sinners' entered the record books with 16 nominations, the most ever for a single film. The ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles produced several firsts and confirmed that this was not a typical awards season.

Anderson takes Best Picture and Best Director

'One Battle After Another' had been the frontrunner heading into the ceremony, and it delivered. The film claimed six awards in total, with Paul Thomas Anderson winning Best Director. Anderson, whose previous films include 'There Will Be Blood,' 'Boogie Nights,' and 'The Master,' had been nominated for the directing prize multiple times without winning. Sunday night finally changed that. The film's six wins made it the dominant story of the evening, even on a night when 'Sinners' was pulling attention from a different angle.

Sinners breaks the nominations record

Ryan Coogler's 'Sinners' came into the night with 16 nominations, breaking the previous record for most nominations received by a single film in Oscar history. The previous record of 14 had been shared by 'All About Eve' (1950) and 'Titanic' (1997). Reaching 16 was a statement about how thoroughly the film had connected with Academy voters across every branch, from acting and directing to sound, production design, and technical categories.

Michael B. Jordan won Best Actor for his performance in the film, finally converting a long-anticipated Oscar run into a win. Jordan had been one of the most discussed performers of his generation without Academy recognition, making the win feel overdue to many who had watched his work in 'Fruitvale Station,' 'Creed,' and 'Black Panther.' His acceptance speech was one of the more talked-about moments of the night.

Jessie Buckley wins Best Actress for Hamnet

Irish actress Jessie Buckley took home Best Actress for her performance in 'Hamnet,' the adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's novel about the death of Shakespeare's son and its effect on the family. Buckley had been steadily building toward this kind of recognition since her breakout work in 'Wild Rose' and her nominated turn in 'The Lost Daughter.' Her win for 'Hamnet' was well-received by critics who had considered her performance among the year's strongest.

Autumn Durald Arkapaw makes cinematography history

One of the night's most concrete historical moments came in the Best Cinematography category. Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman ever to win the Oscar for Best Cinematography. The category has existed since the first Academy Awards in 1929, making the wait for a female winner nearly a century long. Durald Arkapaw had previously shot 'Licorice Pizza' and several other projects before her nominated work this year.

The win was greeted with a standing ovation inside the Dolby Theatre and drew immediate attention online, where the nearly 97-year gap since the category was first awarded became a widely shared data point. For the cinematography community, it was a moment that many working DPs had said publicly they hoped to see happen within their careers.

How the night shaped up across major categories

With 'One Battle After Another' winning six awards and 'Sinners' winning at least the acting prize for Jordan, the spoils of the night were split rather than concentrated entirely in one film. That outcome is fairly common at ceremonies where two films dominate the conversation heading in, and this year followed the pattern. The record-setting nomination count for 'Sinners' did not translate into a sweep, but a Best Actor win alongside the historical distinction of most-nominated film is a substantial result.

The 98th ceremony also continued a recent pattern of the Academy recognizing work across a wider range of films rather than concentrating all major awards in a single title. Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Cinematography went to four different films, which reflects a broader spread of voter enthusiasm than years when one film dominates nearly every major category.

What the night meant for Ryan Coogler

Ryan Coogler came into the night as the director of the most-nominated film in Oscar history and left with Michael B. Jordan holding a Best Actor statuette for a film they made together. Coogler and Jordan have collaborated since 'Fruitvale Station' in 2013, and the arc from that debut feature to a record-setting Oscar night is one of the more complete career stories in recent Hollywood history. Whether Coogler takes home a directing win in a future year remains to be seen, but 16 nominations and a Best Actor win for his latest film is a result few directors ever achieve.