The winners of the 2026 Academy Awards were announced Sunday night in Hollywood at the 98th annual Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gala. Legendary film studio Warner Bros and its streaming platform HBO Max had every reason to rejoice.
As pundits expected, this year's gala was almost a two-way contest in the major Oscar categories between “Sinners,” director Ryan Coogler's acclaimed horror film, and “One Battle After Another,” the political satire thriller directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.
The big winner was ultimately Anderson's film with Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn. It won six awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (for Penn) and Best Adapted Screenplay.
“Sinners,” on the other hand, won Michael B. Jordan the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role and Best Adapted Screenplay for Coogler.
As expected, “Sinners” also won the Academy Award for Best Soundtrack, awarded to Swedish composer Ludwig Goransson. The film also triumphed in the Best Picture category, awarded to Filipino-American filmmaker Autumn Durald Arkapaw.
Three top Oscar-winning films in 2026 are streaming on HBO Max
Even though Jordan, 39, became one of the few African-American actors in history to win an Oscar, for “Sinners” the result can be considered slightly disappointing, considering that in January he had received no less than 16 nominations at the Academy Awards, an absolute record.
But, no matter what the result was, for the studio Warner Bros the situation was one of “win-win” type, both films being its productions. As a result, they can be seen streaming on the HBO Max platform of the wider Warner Bros Discovery conglomerate, which is to be bought by Paramount Skydance after its deal with Netflix last year fell through.
Another cause for joy for Warner Bros. bosses was the triumph of veteran actress Amy Madison at the Oscar for best actress in a supporting role. And here it was an internal race between actresses from films produced or distributed by Warner Bros., with Madison competing against Wunmi Mosaku (“Sinners”) and Teyana Taylor (“One Battle After Another).”
But the 75-year-old actress' win highlighted another title available on HBO Max, the horror film “Weapons” in which Madison gives a chilling performance. The story of the film starts with a group of students from the same class who suddenly disappear under mysterious circumstances.
The wins at the Academy Awards capped off a dream year 2025 for Warner Bros., which has had no less than 9 consecutive films debut at the top of the North American box office. The streak only recently broken by the movie “The Bride!” helped the studio cross the $4 billion mark in total grosses in 2025 for the first time this decade.
Netflix won the 2026 Oscar for best animated film
If for Warner Bros and HBO Max the 98th edition of the Oscars was a dream, the same could not be said for Netflix. But pundits didn't see much of a chance for his productions in the major Oscar categories after “Jay Kelly,” the George Clooney film that the American streaming company had pegged as its big contender in 2026, drew mixed reviews and ultimately failed to earn a nomination.
But the heads of Netflix had at least one major reason to rejoice, the phenomenon film “KPop Demon Hunters” (KPop Girls – La vănătore de demons), a fantasy adventure about a group of girls who protect the world from demons through their music, winning the Oscar for the best animated feature film.
It was a resounding success considering the main competitor was “Zootropolis 2,” the Disney title that last year became the highest-grossing animated film in Hollywood history with ticket sales of more than $1.86 billion. “KPop Demon Hunters” is instead the most-watched film in Netflix history, with the competition between them at the 2026 Oscars reflecting the larger discussion about releasing feature films in theaters or on a streaming platform.
It was also a race between a production of the biggest streaming platform and the highest-grossing studio in Hollywood, with Disney selling more than $6 billion in tickets in 2025.
The other major Netflix title awarded at the gala held in Hollywood on the evening of March 15 was “Frankenstein”, the new version of the classic story, this time directed by the acclaimed Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, starring Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi and Mia Goth.
“Frankenstein” won three Academy Awards: for best production design, best costumes, and best makeup and hairstyling.
Netflix also won two Oscars for short films in 2026
Another Oscar-winning production that can be seen on Netflix is ”All the Empty Rooms,” which earned its producers the statuette for best documentary short.
It follows journalist Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp as they embark on a journey across the United States to capture the bedrooms of children killed in school shootings.
In an extremely rare situation in the history of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Academy Award for Best Short Film was awarded in 2026 to two “tie” productions.
The first is “The Singers,” a musical comedy short featuring a cast discovered through viral videos and street casting. Based on a 19th-century Russian short story by Ivan Turgenev, the film features an impromptu singing duel between laden patrons in a pub.
The film that brought the Romanian filmmaker Natalie Musteață an Oscar can be seen on YouTube
The other Oscar-winning short film this year is “Two People Exchanging Saliva”, a Canal+/The New Yorker production directed by Romanian-born filmmaker Natalie Musteață and Alexandre Singh, her partner.
Musteață built his career in the United States, where he immigrated with his family born in Romania. She lives and works today in New York.
According to the specialized site on cinema Urban.ro, Musteață was a contemporary art researcher and curator before making films. He has a PhD in art history and has worked for years in academia and museums, organizing exhibitions and studying the relationship between art, language and society.
“In a society where kissing is punishable by death and people pay for things by getting slapped across the face, Angine, an unhappy woman, shops compulsively in a department store. There, she becomes fascinated by a playful saleswoman. Despite the ban on kissing, the two grow closer, arousing the suspicions of a jealous colleague,” states the IMDb description of the Mustache and Singh short film.
The story of the French-language film is set in a dystopian world and does not refer to any specific country. The film can be seen in its entirety, for free, on YouTube:
Avatar: Fire and Ash is streaming on Disney+
“Fire and Ash,” director James Cameron's last year's “Avatar,” can be seen on Disney's streaming platform. In fact, all of Cameron's “Avatar” films can be seen on Disney+, based on the partnership that the American entertainment giant has with Lightstorm Entertainment, the production company founded by the director.
“Avatar: Fire and Ash” won the 2026 Academy Award for best visual effects, once again confirming Cameron's status as a pioneer in this field. Even though it didn't receive many awards at the Oscars, it was a box office success for Disney, grossing over $1.48 billion.
Other Oscar-winning films in 2026, such as “Hamnet,” which won British actress Jessie Buckley the award for best actress in a leading role, or “Mr. Nobody Against Putin,” best documentary, have not yet appeared in streaming or have been acquired by platforms that are not available in Romania.
Instead, “Sentimental Value”, chosen as the best foreign film at the 98th Academy Awards, can still be seen in some cinemas in Romania, after having its general premiere on January 15.
“Sisters Nora and Agnes are reunited after many years with their father Gustav, a once famous director, who offers Nora a role in his latest film, but she refuses it. This is how Gustav ends up with Rachel Kemp, a famous Hollywood actress, whom he brings into the middle of this personal and emotional meeting,” states the description published by Cinemagia.ro.
Gustav is played by well-known Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård, who won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film in which he stars alongside Elle Fanning, Renate Reinsve and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, among others.
In total, “Sentimental Value” was nominated for 9 Oscars, behind only “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another,” but ultimately only won for Best Foreign Language Film.
PHOTO article: Rafael Henrique / Dreamstime.com.
