Paul Thomas Anderson's epic One Battle After Another, featuring a star-studded ensemble cast, prevailed Sunday at the Academy Awards, claiming the industry's highest honor for Best Picture.

The film, which offers a portrait of contemporary America, won six of the 13 nominations it brought to the 98th edition of the Oscars, Hollywood's most prestigious annual celebration.

One Battle After Another delivered Anderson his first three Academy Awards — for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture — marking a sweeping industry endorsement of his dynamic film after 11 previous nominations across past ceremonies.

"You really make a person work hard to get one of these," Anderson quipped upon accepting the Best Director award.

"I wrote this film to apologize to my children for the mess we are leaving behind in the world we are handing down to them," he said earlier in the evening when he accepted his first Oscar, for screenwriting.

The film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and inspired by Thomas Pynchon's novel Vineland, follows the desperation of a former revolutionary as the past comes back to settle old scores, against a backdrop of simmering tensions among white supremacists, activists, and immigrants.

'Sinners' Claims Four Statuettes

Its principal rival of the evening and of the awards season, Sinners — Ryan Coogler's vampire horror film examining the racism that defined the American South in the 1930s — converted only four of its 16 nominations, despite entering the night as the ceremony's leading favorite.

Coogler, 39, took home the award for Best Original Screenplay for Sinners, which earned recognition in part for its genre-blending approach, shifting fluidly between action, horror, and musical elements.

Both films also competed head-to-head in the acting categories, where each claimed significant prizes.

Michael B. Jordan earned the Oscar for Best Actor for his dual role in Sinners, while Sean Penn took home his third Academy Award for his performance in One Battle After Another.

Penn, known for operating outside industry norms and largely absent from the awards circuit this season, did not attend the ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, leaving presenter Kieran Culkin to accept the statuette on his behalf.

The evening's first award, Best Supporting Actress, went to Amy Madigan, the veteran performer who portrayed the unsettling Aunt Gladys in The Disappearing Hour.

Best Actress, unsurprisingly, went to Jessie Buckley for her devastating portrayal of a grieving mother in Hamnet, a film exploring the domestic life of William Shakespeare.

In the International Feature Film category, Norway's Sentimental Value, a family drama directed by Joachim Trier, claimed the prize, edging out the Brazilian entry The Secret Agent.