From a private banquet at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in 1929 to the most watched awards ceremony on Earth β nearly a century of cinema's grandest night. The 98th ceremony airs March 15, 2026.
Louis B. Mayer founds the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, initially as an industry labor relations organization. The gold-plated statuette β reportedly nicknamed "Oscar" β is designed by Cedric Gibbons.
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel hosts 270 guests for dinner. The ceremony takes 15 minutes. Wings wins Best Picture. The winners had been announced three months earlier in the press β no envelope mystery yet.
The ceremony is broadcast on radio for the first time, transforming the Oscars from an industry dinner into a national cultural event. Public fascination with Hollywood stardom explodes.
After newspapers published winners in advance of the ceremony, Price Waterhouse (now PwC) is hired to tabulate ballots in secret. The iconic sealed envelope becomes the ceremony's defining ritual.
The ceremony becomes a landmark moment: Gone with the Wind wins a then-record 8 Oscars, and Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award, for Best Supporting Actress.
The wartime classic defeats the competition in a year considered one of Hollywood's greatest. The studio system is at its height β the ceremony celebrates an industry producing cinematic masterworks by the dozen.
For the first time, the Academy Awards are broadcast on television. An estimated 40 million Americans watch β instantly making the Oscars a TV event and permanently altering how Hollywood relates to the public.
William Wyler's epic claims 11 Academy Awards from 12 nominations β a record that would stand untouched for nearly four decades, until Titanic matched it in 1998 and The Return of the King in 2004.
Sidney Poitier becomes the first Black man to win Best Actor for Lilies of the Field β a watershed moment in an industry still defined by segregation. Hollywood's racial reckoning has begun, though it will take decades.
With television siphoning audiences and counterculture challenging Hollywood norms, the old guard faces extinction. A new generation of filmmakers β Coppola, Scorsese, Altman β waits in the wings.
Marlon Brando wins Best Actor for The Godfather but sends Apache activist Sacheen Littlefeather to decline the award in protest of Hollywood's treatment of Native Americans β one of the most electrifying moments in Oscar history.
Francis Ford Coppola's sequel becomes the first follow-up film to win Best Picture β a validation of the New Hollywood auteur model and of cinema as a continuing artistic conversation rather than disposable entertainment.
Woody Allen's intimate comedy defeats the highest-grossing film ever made β establishing the Academy's pattern of favoring prestige drama over populist blockbusters, a tension that still defines Oscar campaigns today.
The Deer Hunter wins Best Picture as Hollywood begins reckoning with the Vietnam War. The Oscars increasingly serve as a barometer of where American culture is emotionally processing its recent history.
Studios begin treating Oscar nominations as marketing strategies, running dedicated awards campaigns. The art of "for your consideration" advertising β full-page trade ads, screener tapes, wining and dining voters β becomes its own industry.
After years of notable snubs, Steven Spielberg finally wins Best Director for his Holocaust masterwork. The ceremony validates that blockbuster directors can make serious art β and that the Academy can recognize it.
Harvey Weinstein's Miramax perfects the aggressive Oscar campaign, steering Shakespeare in Love to Best Picture over Saving Private Ryan in one of the most controversial upsets in Academy history. The modern Oscar race is born.
James Cameron's epic claims 11 Oscars, matching Ben-Hur's 38-year-old record. Cameron infamously shouts "I'm king of the world!" at the podium β capturing both the triumph and the hubris of Hollywood at the millennium's edge.
Halle Berry becomes the first Black woman to win Best Actress (for Monster's Ball), and Denzel Washington wins Best Actor the same night (for Training Day). Sidney Poitier receives an honorary Oscar. A night unlike any other.
Peter Jackson's finale wins every award it's nominated for β the only time a film has achieved this feat with 11 nominations. Fantasy and genre cinema receives its ultimate Academy validation.
April Reign's hashtag ignites a global conversation about Hollywood's diversity problem after two consecutive years of all-white acting nominees. The Academy pledges to double its number of women and minority members by 2020.
In the most shocking moment in Oscar history, La La Land is announced as Best Picture winner β then the mistake is discovered. Moonlight is the actual winner. PwC accountants hand over the wrong envelope. The world watches in disbelief.
Bong Joon-ho's class-warfare thriller becomes the first non-English language film to win Best Picture, four Oscars in total. "Subtitles are not a barrier," Bong says β and the Academy finally seems to agree.
Apple TV+'s CODA wins Best Picture β the first streaming service film to claim cinema's top prize. The theatrical/streaming divide that has defined Hollywood since COVID collapses at the moment that matters most.
Will Smith strikes presenter Chris Rock on live television after a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith's alopecia, then proceeds to win Best Actor for King Richard. The Academy eventually banned Smith for 10 years.
The A24 multiverse epic sweeps with 7 Oscars β Michelle Yeoh becomes the first Asian woman to win Best Actress, Ke Huy Quan returns to Hollywood glory, and the Academy embraces maximalist storytelling.
Christopher Nolan wins his first Best Director Oscar for his atomic bomb epic, which wins 7 awards total. Cillian Murphy takes Best Actor. The blockbuster-art divide, once again, dissolves under the right circumstances.
Sean Baker's low-budget indie Anora dominates the 97th ceremony, winning Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress for Mikey Madison, and two more. Conan O'Brien hosts to widespread acclaim. A triumph for independent cinema over blockbuster prestige.
Ryan Coogler's genre-defying vampire horror set in the Jim Crow South earns a record 16 nominations β more than any film in Academy history. Michael B. Jordan receives his first acting nomination. The 98th ceremony airs March 15, with Conan O'Brien returning as host.
The films that defined the outer limits of Academy recognition. Three have matched the record of 11 wins β no film has exceeded it.
The 100th Academy Awards ceremony β arriving in 2028 β will celebrate an institution that has survived the studio collapse, the television revolution, the home video disruption, the streaming upheaval, and a global pandemic. The 98th ceremony on March 15, 2026 features Sinners with a record 16 nominations, Black cinema at the forefront, and a new Best Casting category. The Oscar statuette, 13.5 inches of gold-plated britannia metal, has stood throughout. What changes is the cinema it crowns β and who gets to hold it.
