‘One Battle After Another’ Wins PGA as Paul Thomas Anderson Delivers Emotional Tribute to Warner Bros. Chiefs4
MICHAEL BUCKNER/VARIETY
The awards frontrunner added another major guild victory while Anderson publicly backed Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy amid industry turbulence.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another continued its march toward Oscar night by winning the Producers Guild Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures — a key bellwether victory just two weeks before the Academy Awards.
But the win became about more than momentum.
Taking the stage at the Fairmont Century Plaza, Anderson used his speech to deliver a pointed and emotional tribute to Warner Bros. Pictures co-chiefs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, who have spent months navigating turbulence surrounding the potential sale of Warner Bros. Discovery.
“Whatever the road lies ahead — your work this year is so spectacular. I share this with you. Long may you wave, whatever the future holds. It is one battle after another,” Anderson said, referencing both his film’s title and the broader instability facing the studio.
Without naming names, the subtext was clear. Paramount Skydance’s eleventh-hour bid for Warner Bros. Discovery has upended the landscape, prompting Netflix to walk away from its previous deal. Consolidation anxieties have rippled across the industry — and the room.
Anderson praised De Luca and Abdy for championing original filmmaking at scale, highlighting their support of unconventional directors including Ryan Coogler and Zach Cregger, whose films Sinners and Weapons were also nominated for top PGA honors.
“You protected me. You protected Ryan. You protected Zach. That’s real producing,” Anderson said. “Letting us do our work and leading us here.”
The win positions One Battle After Another as a dominant force heading into the Academy Awards on March 15, having already stacked major guild wins in the build-up.
Elsewhere in the evening, Apple TV+’s The Studio and HBO Max’s The Pitt won for episodic comedy and drama, while Netflix’s Adolescence continued its awards streak in the limited series category.
The night opened on a more somber note. PGA CEO Susan Sprung acknowledged escalating global tensions and referenced ongoing consolidation in Hollywood without naming Warner Bros. Discovery directly.
“The events of the past 24 hours have us all concerned,” Sprung said, calling for regulatory scrutiny and protections for the creative community amid mergers between major studios.
Beyond the competitive categories, the ceremony’s honorary awards delivered some of the most resonant moments.
Showrunner Mara Brock Akil accepted the Norman Lear Achievement Award with a speech reflecting on working “inside systems that were not built with me in mind” over a 35-year career. She emphasized her commitment to nurturing underrepresented writers and expanding the storytelling landscape.
“As producers we are architects of imagination,” she said. “That is not small work.”
Jason Blum received the Milestone Award, introduced by Barry Diller, who delivered both playful jabs and serious praise for Blumhouse’s independent horror empire. Blum compared producing to preserving Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup paintings — a story tied to his father’s early belief in Warhol’s work — underscoring the faith producers must maintain in creative risk.
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Amy Pascal, honored with the David O. Selznick Achievement Award, reflected bluntly on her transition from Sony executive to independent producer following the fallout from the 2014 hack.
“The way I became a producer was pretty fucked. And then I got lucky,” Pascal said, before distilling producing into a series of hard-earned lessons. “Being a producer is knowing there’s no such thing as a great movie without a great director.”
If the Producers Guild Awards often serve as an industry temperature check, this year’s ceremony felt particularly pointed. Creative risk, corporate instability, regulatory scrutiny, and the survival of original filmmaking were all part of the subtext.
And at the center of it stood Anderson’s reminder: in Hollywood, it’s always one battle after another.
Here is a full list of the 2026 Producers Guild Award winners
Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures
“Bugonia”
“F1”
“Frankenstein”
“Hamnet”
“Marty Supreme”
“One Battle After Another” (WINNER)
“Sentimental Value”
“Sinners”
“Train Dreams”
“Weapons”
Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures
“The Bad Guys 2”
“Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle”
“Elio”
“KPop Demon Hunters” (WINNER)
“Zootopia 2”
Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television – Drama
“Andor”
“The Diplomat”
“The Pitt” (WINNER)
“Pluribus”
“Severance”
“The White Lotus”
Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television – Comedy
“The Bear”
“Hacks”
“Only Murders in the Building”
“South Park”
“The Studio” (WINNER)
Award for Outstanding Producer of Limited or Anthology Series Television
“Adolescence” (WINNER)
“The Beast in Me”
“Black Mirror”
“Black Rabbit”
“Dying for Sex”
Award for Outstanding Producer of Televised or Streamed Motion Pictures
“Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy”
“The Gorge”
“John Candy: I Like Me” (WINNER)
“Mountainhead”
“Nonnas”
Award for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television
“aka Charlie Sheen”
“Billy Joel: And So It Goes”
“Mr. Scorsese”
“Pee-wee as Himself” (WINNER)
“SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night”
Award for Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment, Variety, Sketch, Standup & Talk Television
“The Daily Show”
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”
“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” (WINNER)
“SNL50: The Anniversary Special”
Award for Outstanding Producer of Game & Competition Television
“The Amazing Race”
“Jeopardy!”
“RuPaul’s Drag Race”
“Top Chef”
“The Traitors” (WINNER)
Award for Outstanding Production of Documentary Motion Picture
“The Alabama Solution”
“Cover-Up”
“Mr. Nobody Against Putin”
“My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay” (WINNER)
“Ocean with David Attenborough”
“The Perfect Neighbor”
“The Tale of Silyan”
