Oscars 2026: Conan O'Brien Will Host the Academy Awards Again
The host is already making the first jokes about the upcoming show
The Oscars 2025 are over, but there is already news about next year's ceremony: the Academy has announced that Conan O'Brien will once again take the reins and host the 98th edition of the award show.
Conan hosted the famous film award for the first time in 2025. Many viewers were satisfied with O'Brien as host of the 97th Academy Awards. The Academy is of a similar opinion and confirmed him as host for the next year unusually early on.
Conan himself jokingly gives one reason in particular for his return: After all, he wants to hear Adrien Brody's speech to the end. Brody had won the award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for "The Brutalist". The Hollywood star then gave a disproportionately long acceptance speech. At a whopping five and a half minutes, the speech went down in Oscar history as the longest ever.
Overall, the ceremony can be considered a success for ABC and Disney: This year saw the highest viewing numbers of the last five Oscar evenings. So it's no wonder that Conan will be back on the Oscar stage on March 15, 2026.
The Big Oscar winners 2025
Anora
The big winner of the night was Sean Baker's "Anora", which won a total of five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. Mikey Madison also won the award for Best Actress.
The movie tells the story of Anora "Ani" Mikheeva, a young stripper from Brighton Beach, a Russian-speaking neighborhood in Brooklyn. As Ani is the only Russian-speaking stripper in her Manhattan strip club, her boss introduces her to Ivan "Vanya" Zakharov, the immature son of a rich Russian oligarch. Vanya hires Ani to play his girlfriend for a week, but this leads to a turbulent romance. They marry in Las Vegas, but Vanya's mother, Galina, is furious and wants to annul the marriage.
The Brutalist
"The Brutalist" can also be counted among the 2025 Oscar contenders. The film by director Brady Corbet took home the award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Cinematography and Best Film Score.
"The Brutalist" tells the story of Hungarian-Jewish architect and Holocaust survivor László Tóth (Adrien Brody), who emigrates to the USA after the Second World War. There he tries to realize his dream of a successful career in architecture.
The movie follows three decades of his life and shows both personal and professional challenges. His wife Erzsébet (Felicity Jones) accompanies him on this journey and supports him in difficult times. The focus is also on his complex relationship with a wealthy industrialist (Guy Pearce), who has a significant influence on his career. This connection brings opportunities, but also leads to moral conflicts. The film shows how László tries to reconcile his artistic visions with the expectations of his new surroundings.
Emilia Pérez
The controversial movie "Emilia Pérez" was also awarded trophies: Zoe Saldaña won the award for Best Supporting Actress and the award for Best Original Song also went to the musical.
"Emilia Pérez" can best be described as a musical thriller. A cartel boss wants to get out of the criminal business and start a new life as a woman. He is supported by a lawyer played by Zoe Saldaña.
In the end, however, the evening for "Emilia Pérez" did not necessarily go as expected weeks before. After all, the film had received numerous nominations. But in the run-up to the award ceremony, "Emilia Pérez" had to take some criticism. You can find out more in our article about the controversy surrounding Emilia Pérez and Karla Sofía Gascón.
Other Winners
"Succession" star Kieran Culkin was awarded the prize for Best Supporting Actor for "A Real Pain". The Oscar for Best Animated Feature, on the other hand, went to "Flow", which beat the big favorite "The Wild Robot". "Conclave" also took home the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. "Wicked" was honored for Best Costume Design and Best Production Design. The Best Documentary Film went to "No Other Land".
