The biggest night in film is tonight.
The 98th Academy Awards will be given out later tonight to crown the best movies of the year.
Sinners, io9‘s pick for best genre film of the year, leads the nominations with a record-breaking 16 nominations as the most nominated movie in Oscars history.
The ceremony comes in a politically fraught moment for the country. The show will have heightened security this year, after the FBI claimed that Iran could launch retaliatory drone strikes on the West Coast of the United States. But Trump administration press secretary Karoline Leavitt has claimed that the tip was based on “unverified intelligence,” and California governor Gavin Newsom has said there is no imminent threat.
Meanwhile, Trump’s immigration crackdown and the enactment of a travel ban on nationals from 40 countries has kept some nominees from attending the ceremony. Palestinian actor Motaz Malhees, whose movie The Voice of Hind Rajab is up for an award in the Best International Feature category, shared on Instagram earlier this week that he will be unable to attend the Oscars because of the travel ban on Palestinian nationals.
When is it?
The award ceremony will start at 4 pm PT / 7 pm ET on Sunday night.
Where is it?
The ceremony will be hosted at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, which has hosted the Oscars since 2001. The only exception was in 2021, when the ceremony was switched to a LA’s Union Station to allow for socially distanced seating due to the pandemic.
How do I watch it?
ABC will be broadcasting the ceremony live, and the broadcast will be available on the ABC app and abc.com. If you don’t have cable or access to streaming services with live TV like Hulu+ Live TV or YouTube TV, you can also stream the awards on Hulu, available to all subscribers with no additional add-ons required.
The Oscars has had an almost 50-year partnership with ABC that is now slowly coming to an end. In a true sign of the times, the Academy announced last year that the ceremony would be exclusively streamed on YouTube starting in 2029 and running at least through 2033.
Who’s hosting it?
Comedian and late-night TV host Conan O’Brien will be returning as host after first hosting the ceremony in 2025.
Which genre movies were nominated?
There are a couple of genre movies gunning for an Oscars statuette in the top categories. In the most sought-after award of the night, Best Picture, you have director Guillermo Del Toro’s retelling of Frankenstein, the box office sensation Sinners, and the sci-fi mystery Bugonia all up for an award.
Sinners, in particular, is leading all nominations. The movie broke the all-time record for most nominations with 16 nods across categories, including Best Actor nominee Michael B. Jordan, who seems well-positioned to snag a win tonight.
Frankenstein is up for an award in nine categories, and Bugonia is up for an award in four. Both Avatar: Fire and Ash and Jurassic World: Rebirth are nominated for Best Visual Effects, and Avatar scored an additional nomination for Best Costume Design. The cultural sensation KPop Demon Hunters is up for a Best Animated Feature and a Best Song award.
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