• by Wayne Friedman , March 16, 2026

Amid a major transition coming for Warner Bros. -- due to corporate parent potential sale to Paramount Skydance for $110 billion -- the legendary studio pulled in a big creative victory: The biggest studio Oscars award winner.

The studio won 11 trophies -- including top honors for Best Picture for “One Battle After Another.” The movie won six overall trophies, including Best Director and Best Supporting Actor.

The studio also earned another four awards for “Sinners,” a movie deemed to be a major competitor with “One Battle” for the Best Picture award.

Netflix came in next with five awards, including three for “Frankenstein” and one for “KPop Demon Hunters.” Walt Disney received one award for visual effects for “Avatar: Fire and Ash.”

Some analysts view Warner Bros.' strong result as a bittersweet Oscars performance, with many concerns over the future independence of the studio after its merger with Paramount Skydance, where massive cuts in staffing are expected.

In 2025, Warner Bros. had the second-highest national TV spend for its movies at $121.9 million, according to estimates from iSpot.

Ad spending for the studio was surpassed only by Universal Pictures at an estimated $164.2 million

In ad spending, Paramount Pictures was in third place at $113.1 million. Walt Disney Pictures was at $77.9 million with its sister movie production company, Twentieth Century Studios at $68.2 million.

Among the top individual movies released in 2025, Warner Bros. “Superman” had the biggest spend in national TV advertising at $28.3 million, according to iSpot.

Universal’s “Wicked: For Good” was next with $27.5 million in overall spend, followed by Disney’s “Captain America: Brave New World” at $26.0 million, Paramount’s “The SpongeBob Movie” with $25.5 million and Disney’s "Avatar: Fire and Ash” with $25.4 million.