Australia’s top hopes have missed out on Oscars glory as darkly comic thriller One Battle After Another claimed this year’s coveted best picture prize.

Michael B Jordan took home the best actor trophy on Sunday (Los Angeles time) for ‌his dual roles as twin brothers in vampire story Sinners.

Jessie Buckley won best actress for playing the wife of William Shakespeare, Agnes Hathaway, in Hamnet. She had been the favourite to win, with Australian star Rose Byrne nominated in the same category for If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.

Buckley is the first Irish woman to win the best actress award.

“It’s Mother’s Day in the UK,” she said on stage. “I would like to dedicate this to the beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart.”

On a big night for One Battle After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson won his first Oscar for best director, while Sean Penn was named best supporting actor for his ‌role as an obsessed military officer.

“I wrote this movie for my kids to say sorry for the housekeeping mess that we left in this world – we’re handing off to them,” said Anderson while accepting the screenplay trophy.

“But also with the encouragement that they will be the generation that hopefully brings us some common sense and decency.”

It was Penn’s third Oscar. But he frequently skips movie industry awards shows and was not in LA’s Dolby Theatre audience.

He dashed the hopes of Australia’s Jacob Elordi, who had been nominated in as supporting actor for his performance in Frankenstein.

Another Australian, Nick Cave, missed out on the original song award, which went to Golden from KPop Demon Hunters.

Cave had been nominated for the title song to Clint Bentley’s film Train Dreams, starring Joel Edgerton.

Adelaide visual effects company Rising Sun Pictures, which had been in the running for best visual effects for its work on Sinners, also missed out. That award went to Avatar: Fire And Ash.

Rising Sun Pictures executive producer Ian Cope said the team – who had watched the ceremony at their Adelaide headquarters – was disappointed, but “excited” to have their work “recognised on the world stage”.

“We’ve been through these ups and downs before, both for Oscars, AACTA awards and Visual Effects Society Awards,” Cope told InDaily.

“We got to a stage where one of our supervisors got nominated and our work was seen as the best in a batch this year. I think that’s something for the team to be really proud of.”

A delighted Amy Madigan picked up an early Oscar for her role in Weapons. Photo: AAP

When the first award was handed out on Sunday, 75-year-old Amy Madigan was named best supporting actress for her role as the wacky Aunt Gladys in horror film Weapons. It was her first Oscar, and came 40 ‌years after her first ‌nomination.

In her remarks, Madigan ⁠thanked Weapons director Zach Cregger.

“He just wrote a dream part and he just let me grab it by the throat,” ​Madigan said.

KPop Demon Hunters, the Netflix movie that became a global phenomenon, was named best animated feature.

Amid the celebration, the show took on a serious tone to honour two major losses in the film world – directors Robert Redford and Rob Reiner.

Billy Crystal, star of When Harry Met Sally, said Reiner’s films including A Few Good Men and This Is Spinal Tap would “last for lifetimes”. He was joined on stage by Demi Moore, Meg Ryan and other cast members from Reiner classics.

Barbra Streisand, who played opposite Redford in The Way We Were, ⁠called him a “brilliant, subtle actor” and an “intellectual cowboy”. She finished her remarks by singing ‌a few lines from ​the movie’s well-known title song.

Host Conan O’Brien opened the festivities by joking that he was honoured to be “the last human host” of the awards at a ​time when Hollywood is ‌worried about artificial intelligence taking over jobs.

The glitzy celebration, Hollywood’s most over-the-top gala of the year, took place as the US wages war on Iran.

Security was tight ​in and around the ceremony. Organisers said they were working closely with the FBI and Los Angeles police after a federal warning of a possible Iranian threat against California, though authorities have cited no specific or credible danger to the Academy Awards.

Full list of 2026 Oscars winners

• Best picture One Battle After Another
• Best actress Jessie Buckley, Hamnet
• Best actor Michael B Jordan, Sinners
• Best supporting actress Amy Madigan, Weapons
• Best supporting actor Sean Penn, One Battle After Another
• Best director Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
• Best animated feature KPop Demon Hunters
• Best international feature Sentimental Value
• Best documentary feature Mr Nobody Against Putin
• Best original screenplay Sinners, Ryan Coogler
• Best adapted screenplay One Battle After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson
• Best original song Golden, KPop Demon Hunters (by EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo and Teddy Park)
• Best original score Sinners, Ludwig Goransson
• Best cinematography Sinners, Autumn Durald Arkapaw
• Best film editing One Battle After Another, Andy Jurgensen
• Best sound F1, Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A Rizzo and Juan Peralta
• Best visual effects Avatar: Fire and Ash, Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett
• Best production design Frankenstein, Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau
• Best casting One Battle After Another, Cassandra Kulukundis
• Best make-up and hairstyling Frankenstein,- Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel and Cliona Furey
• Best costume design Frankenstein, Kate Hawley
• Best animated short The Girl Who Cried Pearls
  Best live action short The Singers, Two People Exchanging Saliva (tied)
• Best documentary short All the Empty Rooms

-with AAP