Oscars 2026: ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ wins best animated feature film
(L-R) Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans, and Michelle Wong accept the best animated feature film for ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ onstage during the 98th Oscars at Dolby Theatre on March 15, 2026 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
KPop Demon Hunters has taken home the gold at the 2026 Academy Awards, picking up the award for best animated feature film.
It beat out fellow nominees Arco, Elio, Little Amélie or the Character of Rain and Zootopia 2.
Directors Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans and Michelle Wong took the stage to accept the Oscar, with Kang dedicating the award to Koreans everywhere. “For those of you who look like me, I’m so sorry that it took us so long to see us in a movie like this,” she said. “This is for Korea and for Koreans everywhere.”
Wong thanked their partners at Netflix, Sony Pictures Animations and Sony Pictures Music, as well as their spouses; she ended with a special shoutout to her mother.
Appelhans sent encouraging words to young filmmakers, artists and musicians around the world. “Tell your story. Sing in your voice,” he said. “I promise you the world is waiting.”
KPop Demon Hunters 2 is officially in development at Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation, with Kang and Appelhans coming back to direct.
The 98th annual Academy Awards, airing March 15 on ABC. (The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)
Nomination day has arrived for the 2026 Oscars.
The nominees in all categories for the 98th Academy Awards were revealed Thursday morning in a live presentation from the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Los Angeles.
Oscar-nominated actress Danielle Brooks and actor Lewis Pullman announced the nominations, which includes this year’s newest category: casting.
The 2026 Oscars will air on Sunday, March 15, at 7 p.m. ET on ABC.
Here’s a list of the nominees:
Best picture Bugonia F1 Frankenstein Hamnet Marty Supreme One Battle After Another The Secret Agent Sentimental Value Sinners Train Dreams
Best director Chloé Zhao, Hamnet Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another Joachim Trier, Sentimental Value Ryan Coogler, Sinners
Best actor Timothée Chalamet, Marty Supreme Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon Michael B. Jordan, Sinners Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent
Best actress Jessie Buckley, Hamnet Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You Kate Hudson, Song Sung Blue Renate Reinsve, Sentimental Value Emma Stone, Bugonia
Best supporting actress Elle Fanning, Sentimental Value Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Sentimental Value Amy Madigan, Weapons Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another
Best supporting actor Benicio Del Toro, One Battle After Another Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein Delroy Lindo, Sinners Sean Penn, One Battle After Another Stellan Skarsgård, Sentimental Value
Best original score Bugonia, Jerskin Fendrix Frankenstein, Alexandre Desplat Hamnet, Max Richter One Battle After Another, Jonny Greenwood Sinners, Ludwig Göransson
Best live action short film Butcher’s Stain Jane Austen’s Period Drama A Friend of Dorothy The Singers Two People Exchanging Saliva
Best adapted screenplay Bugonia, Will Tracy Frankenstein, Guillermo Del Toro Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell and Chloé Zhao One Battle After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson Train Dreams, Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar
Best original screenplay Blue Moon, Robert Kaplow It Was Just an Accident, Jafar Panahi Marty Supreme, Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie Sentimental Value, Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt Sinners, Ryan Coogler
Best animated short film Butterfly Forevergreen The Girl Who Cried Pearls Retirement Plan The Three Sisters
Best animated feature film Arco Elio KPop Demon Hunters Little Amélie or the Character of Rain Zootopia 2
Best casting Hamnet, Nina Gold Marty Supreme, Jennifer Venditti One Battle After Another, Cassandra Kulukundis The Secret Agent, Gabriel Domingues Sinners, Francine Maisler
Best original song “Dear Me” from Diane Warren: Relentless “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters “I Lied to You” from Sinners “Sweet Dreams of Joy” from Viva Verdi! “Train Dreams” from Train Dreams
Best documentary feature film The Alabama Solution Come See Me in the Good Light Cutting Through Rocks Mr. Nobody Against Putin The Perfect Neighbor
Best documentary short film All Empty Rooms Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud Children No More: Were and Are Gone The Devil is Busy Perfectly a Strangeness
Best international feature film Brazil, The Secret Agent France, It Was Just an Accident Norway, Sentimental Value Spain, Sirât Tunisia, The Voice of Hind Rajab
Best film editing F1, Stephen Mirrione Marty Supreme, Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie One Battle After Another, Andy Jurgensen Sentimental Value, Olivier Bugge Sinners, Michael P. Shawver
Best sound F1 Frankenstein One Battle After Another Sinners Sirāt
Best visual effects Avatar: Fire and Ash F1 Jurassic World Rebirth The Lost Bus Sinners
Best cinematography Frankenstein Marty Supreme One Battle After Another Sinners Train Dreams
Best makeup and hairstyling Frankenstein Kokuho Sinners The Smashing Machine The Ugly Stepsister
Best costume design Deborah L. Scott, Avatar: Fire and Ash Kate Hawley, Frankenstein Malgosia Turzanska, Hamnet Miyako Bellizzi, Marty Supreme Ruth E. Carter, Sinners
Best production design Frankenstein Hamnet Marty Supreme One Battle After Another Sinners
Darth Maul takes center stage in the upcoming animated series Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord.
Disney has announced that the new show will premiere on Disney+ on April 6. The teaser trailer and poster for the series also debuted on Thursday.
The show is set after the events of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and follows Maul as he plots to rebuild “his criminal syndicate on a planet untouched by the Empire,” according to an official synopsis. “There, he crosses paths with a disillusioned young Jedi Padawan who could be the apprentice he is seeking to aid him in his relentless pursuit for revenge.”
Two episodes will premiere every week, with the final two episodes debuting on, what else, May the 4th — Star Wars Day.
“We have all been made to suffer,” Maul says in the teaser trailer. “We survive but do not live.”
Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord was created by Dave Filoni, who recently took on the role of president and chief creative officer of Lucasfilm after Kathleen Kennedy stepped down in January 2026. It is based on characters created by George Lucas.
Sam Witwer leads the voice cast as Maul. Newly minted Oscar nominee Wagner Moura also stars as Brander Lawson. The rest of the voice cast includes Gideon Adlon as Devon Izara, Richard Ayoade as Two-Boots, Dennis Haysbert as Master Eeko-Dio-Daki, Chris Diamantopoulos as Looti Vario, Charlie Bushnell as Rylee Lawson, Vanessa Marshall as Rook Kast, David C. Collins as Spybot, A.J. LoCascio as Marrok and SteveBlum as Icarus.
Beef season 2 is cooking up something new. Netflix has announced that a new trailer for the upcoming season will arrive Thursday. Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Cailee Spaeny and Charles Melton star in the season, which arrives to the streaming service on April 16 …
Fight Club is returning to theaters. Tickets are now on sale for a one-night-only rerelease of the David Fincher film. This 4K rerelease will be available to watch on the big screen on April 22 …
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