One Battle After Another turns Oscar nominations into a watch-party countdown
For Benicio Del Toro and Leonardo DiCaprio, one battle after another is not only a film title this weekend. It is also the experience of watching nomination totals settle, ballots get filled out, and a broadcast schedule tighten around a single start time. The 98th Academy Awards arrive Sunday, March 15, with One Battle After Another carrying 13 nominations into a night led by Sinners.
One Battle After Another and the people attached to its Oscar moment
The nominations list turns abstract categories into something personal, and the context around One Battle After Another is anchored by two named contenders: Benicio Del Toro and Leonardo DiCaprio. Their names appear alongside the film title in the run-up to the ceremony, a reminder that awards season can compress months of work into a few lines on a ballot.
Not every high-profile contender sits alone at the top. Sinners leads the nominees with 16 nods, described as the most in Oscars history. One Battle After Another follows with 13 nominations, placing it immediately behind the night’s dominant title. Other films remain close enough to shape the evening’s pacing and conversation: Marty Supreme, Frankenstein, Sentimental Value, and Hamnet are all described as high up in the mix.
For viewers building ballots at home, that cluster matters because it frames the ceremony as more than a single frontrunner story. Still, the numbers give the human stakes a scoreboard. In a year when one film holds 16 nominations and another has 13, even the gaps become part of what people watch for as names are read out on stage.
March 15 at 7: 00 p. m. ET: Conan O'Brien, ABC, Hulu, and a slightly earlier start
The event itself is pinned to a clock. The Oscars begin at 7: 00 p. m. ET on Sunday, March 15, starting slightly earlier than usual. Red carpet coverage begins at 3: 30 p. m. ET on the same day. The ceremony will air on ABC and stream live on Hulu, including for viewers without a subscription that includes live TV.
Hosting duties return to a familiar figure. Conan O'Brien will host the Academy Awards again, marking his second year in the role. The list of presenters slated to appear stretches across genres and generations: Adrien Brody, Mikey Madison, Kieran Culkin, Zoe Saldana, Javier Bardem, Chris Evans, Chase Infiniti, Demi Moore, Kumail Nanjiani, Maya Rudolph, Will Arnett, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Robert Downey Jr., Anne Hathaway, Paul Mescal, and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Watching details also come with a consumer choice for people who want to stream. A basic, ad-supported subscription to the Disney+ Hulu bundle typically starts at $12. 99 a month, but a current deal offers ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu for $4. 99 a month for three months. The offer is described as good through March 24.
Sinners, K-Pop Demon Hunters, and the two songs that will be performed
The show’s musical moments are narrowed this year. Only two of the nominated songs will be performed at the 2026 Oscars: “Golden” from K-Pop Demon Hunters and “I Lied To You” from Sinners. That decision shapes what audiences will actually hear live, turning the performances into a focused pair of set pieces rather than a longer medley of contenders.
“Golden” brings EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami, identified as the voices of HUNTR/X, onto the stage. The other performance connects directly to the top nominee: Sinners star Miles Caton and Raphael Saadiq are slated to appear for “I Lied To You. ” The presence of performers from both the year’s leading nomination haul and a separate animated title signals a ceremony built to cut between different corners of the nominees list, not only the Best Picture race.
Behind the on-air spectacle, the voting structure remains the machinery that turns names into winners. Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences vote for Best Picture and for categories within their respective disciplines, including acting, writing, directing, and producing. That process is what eventually turns a nomination count into an outcome—and what makes one battle after another a useful phrase for anyone living through the final stretch of awards week.
By Sunday evening, the night’s most practical questions will have simple answers: red carpet at 3: 30 p. m. ET, the ceremony at 7: 00 p. m. ET, and a choice between ABC and Hulu for viewing. For the people attached to One Battle After Another, including Benicio Del Toro and Leonardo DiCaprio, those times mark the point when nomination totals stop being headlines and start becoming results.
