Oscars 2026 live coverage: All the winners, red carpet, and the 98th Academy Awards' biggest moments – as it happens

The Oscars schedule: when are the awards being given out?

Last year's Academy Awards were a whopping 3 hours and 50 minutes. Could this year's ceremony top the 4-hour mark? It's possible as there's an extra category to consider: Best Casting, which is being handed out for the first time in Oscar history this year. As for the order the awards are set to be handed out in, that's subject to change, but according to Gold Derby, this is how things are currently shaping up:

• Best Supporting Actress
• Best Animated Feature
• Best Animated Short
• Best Costume Design
• Best Makeup & Hairstyling
• Best Casting
• Best Live-Action Short
• Best Supporting Actor
• Best Adapted Screenplay
• Best Original Screenplay
• Best Production Design
• Best Visual Effects
• Best Documentary Short
• Best Documentary Feature
• Best Score
• Best Sound
• Best Film Editing
• Best Cinematography
• Best International Feature
• Best Song
• Best Actor
• Best Actress
• Best Director
• Best Picture

T-minus 30 minutes to go!

There's just half an hour until the Academy Awards get underway. With several major categories still wide open (though they may as well engrave Jessie Buckley's Best Actress baldie now), it promises to be a thrilling evening. Keep this page open in your tab for updates throughout the evening, or head over to the Total Film X/Twitter account for live updates seconds after they happen.

Who is hosting and handing out the awards?

With everyone in broad agreement that he did a damn fine job last year, Conan O'Brien is back on hosting duties at this year's Academy Awards. As for the stars set to hand out the prizes, alongside a gaggle of previous winners (including the never-not-sardonic Kieran Culkin), there's set to be a "Marvel reunion", according to executive producer Katy Mullan. Both Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans are confirmed to be handing out prizes, so that seems like a safe bet pairing. Dare we say it, but could an Avengers: Doomsday tease be in the offing?

As for other presenters, according to Deadline, here's who'll be stepping up to the podium for 70ish seconds of awkward banter:

• Javier Bardem
• Chase Infiniti
• Nicole Kidman
• Jimmy Kimmel
• Ewan McGregor
• Demi Moore
• Kumail Nanjiani
• Pedro Pascal
• Bill and Lewis Pullman
• Maya Rudolph
• Channing Tatum
• Sigourney Weaver

Chicken Shop date host (and future rom-com star) Amelia Dimoldenberg is back on official red carpet correspondent duties this year. She's just been chatting to One Piece star Charithra Chandran and, criminally, there wasn't any discussion of Tony Tony Chopper.

Who will win Best Picture?

This year looks set to be something of a two-horse race in most major categories, with One Battle After Another and Sinners in the running for many of the evening's top prizes, including Best Picture.

In recent years, we've seen presumptive frontrunners emerge in the summer and remain unchallenged all the way until Oscars night – both Oppenheimer in 2024 and Anora in 2025 were hotly tipped favorites from the get-go. The same has been true for Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another, but Sinners' whopping 16 nominations (an Oscar record) and recent wins at the Actor (fka SAG) Awards has many wondering if Ryan Coogler's period vampire movie could go all the way. Only 5-or-so hours till we find out...

When do the Oscars start?

Hello, and welcome to our coverage of the 2026 Academy Awards!

If you're reading this live, there's just over 90 minutes until the Academy Awards kick off. That may come as something of a surprise, as it's actually an hour earlier than usual, due to this year's awards taking place so late in March that daylight saving time has already put the clocks back an hour in the US.

That means the Awards themselves should start at 7pm EDT/4pm PDT/11pm GMT, pending any delays in proceedings, of course. For the time being, the stars have started arriving on the oh-so-glamorous red carpet.