Oscars 2026: Sinners Leads With Record 16 Nominations

Hollywood's Biggest Night Returns

The 98th Academy Awards ceremony takes place tonight, Sunday, March 15, 2026, at the iconic Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Broadcast live on ABC and Hulu starting at 7 p.m. ET, the show is hosted by Conan O'Brien, who returns for a second consecutive year after helping the telecast reach a five-year ratings high in 2025. Producers Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan are also back for their third year running.

Sinners Shatters a Decades-Old Record

The undisputed story of this awards season is Sinners, Ryan Coogler's supernatural thriller starring Michael B. Jordan in a dual role as twins Smoke and Stack Moore. The film received 16 Oscar nominations — the most ever received by a single film in Academy history, surpassing the previous record of 14 shared by All About Eve (1950), Titanic (1997), and La La Land (2016).

Coogler earned his first-ever Oscar nominations for both Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Should he win Best Director, he would become the first African American filmmaker to take home that award in the Academy's 98-year history. Michael B. Jordan, nominated for Best Actor, has been considered the frontrunner throughout the season after winning at several precursor ceremonies.

The closest competitor is Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another, which collected 13 nominations and fielded four acting nods for Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, Benicio Del Toro, and Sean Penn. Warner Bros., which produced both films, leads all studios with a combined 30 nominations — a remarkable show of industrial dominance.

Notable Snub: Wicked For Good Shut Out

One of the biggest surprises of nomination morning was the complete shutout of Wicked: For Good, Jon M. Chu's sequel to 2024's Wicked — a film that had been widely expected to factor into the race but received zero nominations across all categories.

Theme: Humanity and Human Connection

The ceremony's creative team has framed this year's show around the theme of "humanity" — a deliberate choice that music director Michael Bearden described as celebrating "human touch, human connection, and actual intelligence, not artificial intelligence." The framing arrives at a moment when debates over AI's role in the film industry have intensified considerably.

Reunions and Surprises on Stage

Producers have promised memorable moments beyond the trophy presentations. The cast of Bridesmaids — Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph, and Kristen Wiig — will reunite on stage to mark the comedy's 15th anniversary. A Marvel reunion featuring Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans is also confirmed. Producers have teased an additional "extraterrestrial" surprise, leaving fans to speculate.

Other confirmed presenters include Anne Hathaway, Paul Mescal, Gwyneth Paltrow, Demi Moore, Javier Bardem, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Kumail Nanjiani.

What to Watch For

The central question heading into tonight is whether Sinners can convert its record-breaking nomination haul into wins, or whether One Battle After Another will mount an upset in the top categories. Critics and pundits are split, with several calling the Best Picture race one of the most competitive in recent memory. Either way, Hollywood history is likely to be made before the night is over.