One Battle After Another Steamrolls the Competition at the 2026 Golden Globes

More like one win after another. Paul Thomas Anderson’s magnum opus, One Battle After Another, continued its winning streak Sunday night, picking up four trophies at the Golden Globes and cementing its status as the front-runner in the Oscar race.

The good news for One Battle After Another started early when Teyana Taylor won best supporting actress for her role as revolutionary Perfidia Beverly Hills. Taylor’s win was far from a sure thing; she faced stiff competition from pop star Ariana Grande in Wicked: For Good as well as Weapons breakout Amy Madigan, who had been steadily gaining momentum, particularly after a key win at the Critics Choice Awards. But ultimately, Taylor and her diamond whale tail emerged victorious, and the actor delivered an emotional and spirited speech that is sure to stick with voters come Oscar time.

“And last, but most importantly, to my brown sisters and little brown girls watching tonight: Our softness is not a liability,” Taylor said at the end of her speech. “Our depth is not too much. Our light does not need permission to shine. We belong in every room we walk into. Our voices matter, and our dreams deserve space.”

Although One Battle After Another started and finished strong, it didn’t technically sweep the Globes. Leonardo DiCaprio lost best male actor in a musical or comedy to Marty Supreme himself, Timothée Chalamet, who seems to be pulling ahead in the best-actor race. Newcomer Chase Infiniti also lost best actress in a musical or comedy to critical darling Rose Byrne, who has been gaining momentum as of late for her work in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.

But beyond those two acting losses, One Battle After Another basically did as well as it could have done. Before winning best musical or comedy, Anderson had made his way to the Golden Globes stage twice, to accept best screenplay and best director. By the third time, Anderson allowed producer Sara Murphy to accept the award instead. In her speech, Murphy paid tribute to Anderson’s assistant director Adam Somner, who died of cancer in 2024, as well as Anderson. “It is a privilege and a pleasure to work with you,” she said.

While One Battle After Another’s Oscar fortunes look bright, there’s still plenty of awards season left—and things continue to evolve. One Battle After Another’s main competition, Sinners, only picked up two awards over the course of the evening—for best score and for cinematic and box office achievement—with Michael B. Jordan losing best actor in a drama to The Secret Agent’s Wagner Moura. Many thought Sinners would prevail in the less competitive best-drama-film category (after all, One Battle After Another wasn’t in that category), but it wound up losing, in a surprise twist, to Hamnet. Is Sinners losing momentum, and can Hamnet catch up to OBAA? We’ll have to see how the rest of awards season plays out. But at least for now, it seems One Battle After Another is comfortably out in front in the Oscar race.