Heading into Sunday night’s Oscars ceremony, the race seemingly narrowed to just two films: Ryan Coogler’s Sinners and Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another. The first, a horror thriller starring Michael B. Jordan, made history with a record-breaking 16 nominations, while Anderson’s ensemble piece, led by Leonardo DiCaprio, trailed with 13.
Making for a fascinating Oscar season, both hail from Warner Bros., so things would’ve had to have gone sideways for the studio not to emerge triumphant in the studio race scorecard. When the final trophy was handed out, Warner Bros. did, in fact, emerge victorious with a total of 11 Academy Awards, tying a record for the most wins by a studio in a single night at the Oscars.
Anderson ended his Oscar drought by watching his film earn a total of six awards, including best picture, best director (Anderson), best adapted screenplay (Anderson), best supporting actor (an absent Sean Penn), inaugural best casting (Cassandra Kulukundis) and best film editing (Andy Jurgensen). Coogler had a shiny night as well as Sinners earned four trophies, including best original screenplay (Coogler), best actor (Jordan), best original score (Ludwig Goransson) and best cinematography (Autumn Durald Arkapaw).
Warner Bros. also notched another win thanks to Weapons star Amy Madigan, who triumphed as best supporting actress for her role in Zach Cregger’s horror entry. The overall showing can surely be seen as a huge victory for Pam Abdy and Michael De Luca, co-chairs and co-CEOs of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, who heard their names shouted out from the stage many times throughout the night.
It also comes at such a curious time for the studio as its future remains uncertain on the heels of Paramount’s agreement to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in an estimated $111 billion deal, orchestrated by Paramount and Skydance boss David Ellison and WBD chief David Zaslav.
The studio race breakdown continues with Netflix winning six Oscars thanks to three for Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein (best makeup and hairstyling, costume design and production design), a win for best animated feature and best original song for KPop Demon Hunters, and best documentary short for All the Empty Rooms. Disney, Apple, Focus Features and Neon each won one Oscar during the ceremony, hosted by Conan O’Brien.
Heading into this year’s Oscars, the most wins by a studio from years past included MGM’s 11 trophies for 1959’s Ben-Hur, Paramount’s 11 for 1997’s Titanic and New Line’s 11 for Peter Jackson’s 2003 franchise entry The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. See more from the 98th annual Academy Awards including the star-studded Oscars red carpet 2026 arrivals, and the full list of winners.
