How To Watch The 2026 Oscars This Weekend: Everything A Movie Fan Needs To Know

Another awards season is nearly in the bag. The only thing left now? The biggest night in Hollywood. Yes, the 2026 Oscars are upon us, and the various members of the Academy will be gathering in Los Angeles to celebrate the best films of the past year (and the people responsible for making them) on Sunday, March 15. So, if your intention is to watch the festivities live, here's what you need to know — including when it starts, how to watch the ceremony, streaming options, and who will be performing as part of the event.

The 2026 Academy Awards ceremony will be available to watch for free on your local ABC station, although it will also be streaming live on Hulu. (Hopefully, things will go much smoother than they did when Hulu tried streaming the Oscars in 2025.) As for those of you who still have cable or subscribe to a satellite provider, ABC is, in fact, part of your lineup, so you shouldn't have to worry about having any technical issues during the ceremony.

The 2026 Oscars ceremony will get underway at 7 PM ET/4 PM PT on Sunday, March 15. Pre-show programming traditionally begins several hours before the main event itself, so those hoping to tune in for the Oscars red carpet coverage should plan ahead accordingly. Similarly, the show itself is set to run for roughly three and a half hours, although anyone who's ever watched an Academy Awards ceremony knows they're pretty infamous for going over-schedule. Not that this is necessarily a deal breaker; in fact, the 2025 Oscars were a perfect example of how to do a long ceremony right.

ABC will once again be airing the Oscars live in the U.S. in 2026, just as the network has been doing for decades. Per usual, the ceremony will be broadcast on ABC's local affiliates, so that's where you'll want to change the channel if you're planning to watch it this way. Notably, the Oscars will be moving to YouTube in 2029 and staying on the streamer until at least 2033. But until then, you can still check out Hollywood's big night the old-fashioned way.

Don't have cable? Never fear, you can still enjoy the 2026 Oscars live by using the various live TV services that carry ABC, including Hulu Live TV, YouTubeTV, AT&T TV, and FuboTV. Hulu Live TV offers a three-day free trial, although pricing will vary depending on the bundle you select if you sign up full-time. Meanwhile, YouTubeTV offers a 10-day free trial or you can pay $59.99 per month for your first two months and $82.99 a month thereafter if you sign up before March 17, 2026. Finally, AT&T TV and FuboTV offer five-day and seven-day free trials, respectively, with the pricing for their full-time plans likewise varying depending on the package you want.

Conan O'Brien is returning to host the 2026 Oscars after earning generally top marks for overseeing last year's ceremony (complete with an Oscars opening bit that could've been very different and even more, for lack of a better description, Conan O'Brien-ish). Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, the beloved comedian admitted that he knows he's tempting fate hosting the awards show a second time, but he just can't help himself. "There's a little bearded Viking inside me," he explained. "He's been there since I was 10 years old. And when that Viking decides on something — whether it's replacing David Letterman with no experience, skiing some advanced slope I have no business going down, or hosting the Oscars, that's what's going to happen."

Among the presenters joining host Conan O'Brien in running the 2026 Academy Awards ceremony are Oscar-winners and "Iron Man" co-stars Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow, as well as Will Arnett, Paul Mescal, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Chris Evans, Chase Infiniti, Demi Moore, Kumail Nanjiani, Maya Rudolph, and Oscar-winners Anne Hathaway and Javier Bardem.

In addition, there will be live musical numbers for two of this year's Best Original Song Oscar nominees: "Golden" from "KPop Demon Hunters" (with EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami, who provide the singing voices for HUNTR/X in the film, performing) and "I Lied To You" from "Sinners" (with Miles Caton, who sings the tune in the film, performing alongside the song's co-writer Raphael Saadiq and a whole host of dancers "in an homage to the film's singular visual style").

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 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 Supporting Actress:

• Elle Fanning, "Sentimental Value"
• Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, "Sentimental Value"
• Amy Madigan, "Weapons"
• Wunmi Mosaku, "Sinners"
• Teyana Taylor, "One Battle After Another"

"Sinners" and "One Battle After Another" are regarded as the front-runners in the Best Picture Oscar race, with Ryan Coogler and Paul Thomas Anderson similarly neck and neck to win Best Director for those respective films. Elsewhere, Jessie Buckley is leading the Best Actress race for her work in "Hamnet," although Rose Byrne may yet pull an upset for her turn in "If I Had Legs I'd Kick You."

As for Best Actor? Timothée Chalamet remains in a strong position to win for "Marty Supreme." However, given the controversy he's courted with various comments he's made over the last few months (including, most recently, his remarks about ballet and opera), that could tip this race in favor of "Sinners" actor Michael B. Jordan or another contender instead. The Best Supporting Actor competition feels equally open right now, with Delroy Lindo and Stellan Skarsgård each having a respectable shot at winning for "Sinners" and "Sentimental Value," in turn. Finally, the Best Supporting Actress Oscar seems likely to go to Teyana Taylor for "One Battle After Another," but who knows? Amy Madigan sneaking in to take the gold for "Weapons" certainly isn't an impossibility.

The 2026 Oscars will be held at the Dolby Theatre, which is located in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Based near both the instantly recognizable Grauman's Chinese Theatre and the El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, the Dolby Theatre has served as the venue for the annual Academy Awards show following its official opening in November 2001, skipping only 2021 due to the covid-19 pandemic.