Oscars 2026 Tonight: What Time, Where to Watch, and Every Major Prediction — Sunday, March 15, 2026

The 98th Academy Awards are happening tonight. The Oscars 2026 kick off in a matter of hours from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, and this year's ceremony promises one of the most competitive best picture races in a generation. Here is everything you need to know right now.

What Time Are the Oscars 2026 — Start Time and Red Carpet Schedule

The Oscars start at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT on Sunday, airing on ABC and streaming on Hulu. The official red carpet show starts 30 minutes prior, at 6:30 p.m. ET.

E!'s Oscar day coverage begins at 2 p.m. ET with E!'s Brunch at the Oscars, followed by E!'s Live From the Red Carpet at 4 p.m. ET. Red Carpet Rundown wraps the fashion coverage at 10:30 p.m. ET.

How to Watch the Oscars 2026 — Every Option

The 98th annual Academy Awards will be broadcast live on ABC stations and available on international networks worldwide. The Oscars will also stream live on Hulu this year and will be available live on ABC.com and the ABC app. Other streaming services like YouTube TV, AT&T TV, and FuboTV will also carry the show.

The 2026 Oscars will air on Hulu even for a basic, ad-supported subscription that usually features no live TV — making this the most accessible Academy Awards broadcast in history. In the UK, the ceremony airs on ITV1 with coverage fronted by Jonathan Ross.

Oscar Host 2026 — Conan O'Brien Returns

Conan O'Brien is hosting the 98th Academy Awards, marking his second consecutive year emceeing the ceremony. "My job is always to try to walk a very thin line between entertaining people and also acknowledging some of the realities," O'Brien said during a Wednesday news conference with the Oscars creative team.

Matt Berry, the star of What We Do in the Shadows, will serve as the ceremony's announcer. Presenters include Adrien Brody, Mikey Madison, Kieran Culkin, Zoe Saldaña, Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Hathaway, Pedro Pascal, Demi Moore, Chris Evans, Nicole Kidman, Channing Tatum, and Sigourney Weaver, among others.

Oscars Nominees 2026 — Best Picture Full List

The ten Best Picture nominees at the 2026 Academy Awards are Bugonia, F1, Frankenstein, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, The Secret Agent, Sentimental Value, Sinners, and Train Dreams.

Sinners — Record 16 Nominations and Why It Is the Story of the Night

Sinners is the most-nominated film in Academy Award history with 16 nominations, breaking the previous record of 14 held by All About Eve, Titanic, and La La Land. Ryan Coogler's feature mixes supernatural horror, romance, and blues culture, set in 1932 Clarksdale, Mississippi, centered on a community opening a juke joint that finds itself under siege by vampires.

Sinners nominations include Best Picture, Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan, Best Supporting Actor for Delroy Lindo, and Best Directing for Ryan Coogler. One Battle After Another follows with 13 nominations.

Oscar Predictions 2026 — Who Will Win the Major Awards

Best Picture: It is essentially a two-film race between One Battle After Another and Sinners. Paul Thomas Anderson's film swept most top prizes this awards season, but Sinners scored an upset win for cast performance at the Actor Awards. Gold Derby gives One Battle a 69% edge over Sinners at 27%.

Best Actor: Michael B. Jordan's win at the Actor Awards was critical, delivering a decisive blow to Timothée Chalamet's prospects for Marty Supreme. Jordan now has the support of his fellow actors, the largest voting branch of the Academy. The predicted winner is Michael B. Jordan for Sinners.

Best Actress: If there is one result that can be taken to the bank, Jessie Buckley has swept the entire circuit of televised awards shows — Critics Choice, Golden Globes, BAFTA, and the Actor Awards — for her performance in Hamnet.

Best Director: The five nominees are Chloé Zhao for Hamnet, Josh Safdie for Marty Supreme, Paul Thomas Anderson for One Battle After Another, Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value, and Ryan Coogler for Sinners. Coogler becoming the first Black man to win Best Director would be an iconic moment.

Best Supporting Actor: Sean Penn, with two Oscar wins already, appears poised to add a third as the unforgettable Steven Lockjaw in One Battle After Another, coming on strong at BAFTA and the Actor Awards.

Best Supporting Actress: Wunmi Mosaku has emerged as a viable contender after her BAFTA win for Sinners, with Teyana Taylor of One Battle After Another close on her heels, and Amy Madigan of Weapons also in the conversation.

Sinners Performance and New Best Casting Category

Miles Caton will perform the Oscar-nominated song "I Lied to You" from Sinners alongside Raphael Saadiq, who co-wrote it with Ludwig Göransson. The Sinners musical performance at the Oscars will serve as a tribute to Black artistry across generations, including ballerina Misty Copeland, rocker Brittany Howard, and blues musicians Eric Gales, Bobby Rush, and Alice Smith.

Brand new this year is the Academy Award for Best Casting. The nominees 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. The winner tonight will be the first person in Academy history to receive a competitive Oscar in that category.