When do the oscars start is the practical question dominating Oscar Sunday, but it also reveals how tightly choreographed this year’s ceremony has become under unusual pressure. The 98th Academy Awards begin at 7 p. m. ET at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, airing live on ABC and streaming on Hulu. Yet the story of the night is not just timing—it is how Hollywood balances entertainment, industry upheaval, and a heightened security posture while debuting new rules meant to reinforce confidence in the awards.
When do the oscars start and where can viewers watch in ET?
The Academy Awards begin at 7 p. m. ET (4 p. m. PT) from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The telecast will air live on ABC and stream on Hulu. After the awards conclude, viewers can continue with “On the Red Carpet: After the Awards, ” positioned as a window into the most star-studded parties of the night.
Those distribution choices underscore a broader shift in how major live events meet audiences where they are. The show remains anchored on traditional broadcast while also leaning on streaming, a dual approach that has become central to appointment viewing. Still, the night’s most consequential prize appears unlikely to reinforce the streaming-first model: Apple’s “CODA” remains the only streaming release to win best picture, and the expectation heading into the ceremony is that the final award will not go to a streaming title.
Deep analysis: A ceremony under pressure—security, geopolitics, and the host’s mandate
Hollywood’s biggest night arrives amid an unusually heavy backdrop. The ceremony takes place two weeks after the U. S. and President Donald Trump launched the war with Iran, and the event is unfolding alongside expanding geopolitical turmoil. The practical impact is visible in the show’s security posture: “the already high security will be even greater this year, ” with explicit support named from the FBI and the LAPD.
This is not merely logistical. It affects how the Oscars tries to present itself: a global cultural spectacle that must remain upbeat while acknowledging that the world outside the theatre is unstable. Conan O’Brien, returning as host for the second year in a row, framed his intent in deliberately classic terms, pledging an entertaining show in the mold of Bob Hope and Johnny Carson. His stated goal—“Let’s have fun with it”—is a strategic choice as much as a comedic one: keeping the show’s tone buoyant can be read as a form of resilience, but it also raises the stakes for pacing, messaging, and crowd management inside the venue.
In that context, the question of when do the oscars start becomes symbolic: the night has a set schedule, but the conditions surrounding it are less controllable. The Academy’s challenge is to deliver a seamless broadcast while coordinating with law enforcement partners and ensuring the event’s celebratory atmosphere doesn’t collapse under the weight of external events.
Industry signals inside the nominees: theatrical releases, streaming limits, and a merger hovering overhead
Oscar Sunday 2026 also functions as a referendum on what kind of movies the industry is rewarding at this moment. Heading into the show, best picture is described as likely to go to “an anomaly in today’s movie industry: big-budget original films from a personal vision. ” Two examples named are “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another, ” both theatrical releases shot on film, both from Warner Bros.
That detail carries extra meaning because Warner Bros. has agreed to merge with David Ellison’s new media colossus, Paramount Skydance, in a $111 billion deal awaiting regulatory approval. The proposed merger has rattled an industry already reconciling itself to the acquisitions of MGM (by Amazon) and 20th Century Fox (by The Walt Disney Co. ).
The night therefore operates on two tracks at once: the artistic narrative on stage and a business narrative behind it. If big-budget original films dominate in major categories, it could be read as a signal that the Academy is elevating a model that studios and conglomerates increasingly treat as high-risk. That tension—between personal-vision filmmaking and corporate consolidation—makes the ceremony feel less like a victory lap and more like a snapshot of an industry trying to decide what it wants to be.
Streaming’s presence is still impossible to ignore. “KPop Demon Hunters, ” a Sony Pictures production sold to Netflix, was the most-watched movie of 2025 with 325 million views and counting, making it Netflix’s most-streamed movie ever. Yet the expectation remains that best picture will not go to a streaming release. The disconnect between massive audience reach and top Oscar outcomes is one of the night’s quiet storylines.
Expert perspectives: producers, host, and the Academy’s rule changes
On the operational side, Raj Kapoor, the show’s executive producer, emphasized the ongoing nature of risk monitoring and the formal security coordination: “Of course, every year we monitor what’s going on in the world, ” he said, adding that the show has the support of the FBI and the LAPD in a “close collaboration. ”
On the creative side, Conan O’Brien’s comments are a direct statement of intent. He acknowledged the turbulent environment while committing to an entertaining broadcast built in the spirit of well-known past hosts, reiterating his approach: “Let’s have fun with it. ”
Meanwhile, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is rolling out notable structural changes. New this year is a best casting category. Another innovation is a requirement that Academy members watch all nominees before voting. On the Academy’s streaming platform, voters had to check a box attesting to having watched each nominee before voting in a category. Factually, it is a compliance mechanism; analytically, it is also a credibility play—an attempt to reduce doubts about whether winners reflect full-viewing judgment.
Whether those changes will shift outcomes is uncertain. The context is clear that “some of the night’s closest races” could be affected, but the impact “remains to be seen. ” The best actor contest is described as one of the most difficult to call, with Timothée Chalamet once seen as the front-runner for “Marty Supreme” before momentum appeared to move toward Jordan.
Global and cultural impact: remembrance, performance choices, and the night’s emotional core
Beyond winners, the ceremony is expected to include an elegiac tone. The in memoriam segment is anticipated to include remembrances of Robert Redford, Diane Keaton, and Robert Duvall among others. O’Brien has promised a “very powerful” tribute, a moment that often defines how the Oscars is remembered the morning after—less about any single award and more about what the industry chooses to honor publicly.
Musically, only two of the five best song nominees will be performed: “I Lied to You, ” from “Sinners, ” with Miles Caton, Raphael Saadiq and others; and “Golden” from “KPop Demon Hunters. ” The selectivity itself is a signal about pacing and production priorities in a broadcast that must balance spectacle with time constraints.
So while viewers still lead with when do the oscars start, the bigger question is what the Academy wants this night to accomplish: reassure an anxious industry, maintain public trust in voting, and deliver a celebratory show under intensified security.
If the Oscars can pull off that balance at 7 p. m. ET, will next year’s ceremony lean even further into streaming, or double down again on theatrical identity—and what will that mean for the movies audiences actually watch?
