Oscars: In Changing Times This Was A Night Of Triumph For Original Filmmaking, Warner Bros, And A Hollywood On Edge – Hammond Analysis

David Zaslav almost sounded like Martin Scorsese in his effusive praise of cinema and what his Warner Bros Discovery studio achieved Sunday night at the Oscars.

When I spoke to him at the Governors Ball he couldn’t be more enthused and pumped right after Wbd took home a leading 11 Oscars including Best Picture and five others for One Battle After Another, four Oscars with Sinners including Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan and Best Original Screenplay for Ryan Coolger, and another for Weapons supporting actress winner Amy Madigan (and it is 12 if you add in the Sound Oscar Apple won for F1 which Warners distributed).

Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav at the 2026 Oscars Governors Ball Checking His Phone. Pete Hammond/Deadline

“What a night we had,” he told me while holding court with Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy at the crowded Wbd celebratory corner of the ballroom.