When the Academy Award ceremony arrives Sunday, (March 15), it might actually entertain us.
It will have a clever host (Conan O’Brien), a few funny presenters and a couple of live songs. And it will have movies people have actually seen.
Gone are the days of hostless, songless, joyless Oscarcasts. And gone, for now, is the domination of obscure films. This year has “Sinners”(shown here), “One Battle After Another,” “Marty Supreme” and more. Here’s an overview:
THE BASICS
This starts at 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT) on ABC and Hulu and is supposed to last three-and-a-half hours. Then again, last year it ran 20 minutes over.
If the timing works, ABC will have a “Bachelorette” preview at 10:30. Then many West Coast stations will rerun the whole thing at 8 p.m. PT.
Some ABC stations will also carry red-carpet previews. And for the full experience, there’s the E cable channel. It has an Oscar preview at 2 p.m. ET, then is on the red carpet from 4 to 7.
THE HOST
The dark stretch was from 2019 to 2021, when there was no host and little fun. Things bounced back slightly with a three-host try 2022.
Then came Jimmy Kimmel (2023-24) and O’Brien (2025-26), two guys who know how to be topical one moment, silly the next.
THE SONGS
Last year skipped performances of the five nominated songs. Some other years also skipped them … or mushed them into a medley … or aired them in the Oscar preview.
This year brings a compromise: Two songs — “Golden,” from “K Pop
Demon Hunters” and “I Lied to You,” from “Sinners” will be done live. The others will get some sort of video-style moment.
Those are the title song for “Train Dreams” and two songs from documentaries. “Sweet Songs of Joy” is from “Viva Verdi”; “Dear Me” is from “Dianne Warren: Relentless.”
And yes, Warren keeps relentlessly chasing an Oscar. She’s been nominated 17 times — including each of the last eight years — without winning. She did, however, get an honorary Oscar in 2023.
THE PRESENTERS
On a good year, presenters provide some of the humor.
This year? There are some presenters known for humor — Will Arnett, Maya Rudolph, Kieran Culkin, Kumail Narjiani — and a lot of others.
THE MOVIES
The Oscars do best when they have movies people saw.
When “Titanic” won in 1998; there were 55.2 million viewers in the U.S. When “Nomadland” won in 2021, there were 10.4 million.
The one recent broad-appeal winner was “Oppenheimer” in 2024. Before that? There hadn’t been a widely seen winner (one that made $100 million, for instance) since “Argo,” in 2013.
Now this year’s list includes strong possibilities:
— Two front-runners are “Sinners” ($289 million in the U.S., $89 million overseas) and “One Battle After Another” ($72 million and $137 million).
— The front-runner for best actor is Timothee Chalamet in “Marty Supreme” ($95 million in the U.S., $67 million overseas).
— A strong contender for technical awards is Brad Pitt’s “F1” ($190 million in the U.S., $444 million overseas).
— “Hamnet,” however, has made only $23 million in the U.S., plus $69 million overseas. It’s another strong prospect for best-picture and the front-runner for best actress (Jessie Buckley).
Those best-picture nominees are joiuned by five viewers will be less familiar with. “Train Dreams” and “Frankenstein” have spent most of their time on Netflix; the Spanish “Secret Agent,” Norwegian “Sentimental Value” and British “Bugonia” have had little impact in the U.S.
ADVANCE LOOKS
Viewers can find most of the best-picture nominees on streaming services.
HBO Max has “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another,” Netflix has “Train Dreams and “Frankenstein,” Peacock has “Hamnet” and “Bugonia,” Apple has “F1” and Hulu has “The Secret Agent.”
That leaves only “Marty Supreme” and “Sentimental Value” to buy, rent or find in a specialty theater. Have fun.