Sinners Sets Oscar Record with 16 Nominations

A Record That Stood for Decades — Until Now

For 75 years, no film had eclipsed the 14 nominations shared by All About Eve (1950), Titanic (1997), and La La Land (2016). Then came Sinners. Ryan Coogler's southern gothic vampire thriller has rewritten Oscar history, securing a staggering 16 nominations for the 98th Academy Awards — more than any film in the ceremony's nearly century-long run.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominations in January, setting off a wave of industry conversation about whether Hollywood is experiencing its most competitive awards season in a generation.

What Is Sinners?

Set in the Mississippi Delta in 1932, Sinners follows twin brothers Smoke and Stack — both played by Michael B. Jordan — who return to their Jim Crow-era hometown after years running mob operations in Chicago. Their plan to open a juke joint quickly unravels when supernatural evil descends on the community. Coogler, best known for Black Panther and the Creed franchise, described the project as deeply personal, exploring themes of ancestry, Black American identity, and music as cultural resistance.

The film earned an rare CinemaScore of "A" — the highest grade given to a horror film in 35 years — signaling both critical and commercial crossover appeal. Its nominated categories span virtually every discipline in filmmaking: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Jordan), Best Supporting Actor (Delroy Lindo), Best Supporting Actress (Wunmi Mosaku), Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Production Design, Costume Design, Original Score, Original Song, Sound, Visual Effects, Makeup and Hairstyling, and Casting.

The Competition: One Battle After Another

Hot on Sinners' heels is Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another, an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's 1990 novel Vineland, with 13 nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Leonardo DiCaprio, and supporting nods for Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro. The film swept the BAFTAs in February, winning six prizes including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay — giving it strong momentum heading into the final stretch.

Filmed partly in VistaVision — a wide-gauge format largely dormant since the 1960s — Anderson's film has been praised for its technical ambition and ensemble performances. The race between these two films is being described by industry observers as unusually close, with neither holding a commanding lead in predictions.

Voting, Ceremony, and the Stakes

Final Academy balloting opened on February 26 and closes on March 5, giving approximately 10,000 eligible members one week to cast their votes. The 98th Academy Awards ceremony will be held on March 15, 2026, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, broadcast live on ABC. Conan O'Brien returns as host for a second consecutive year, joined by returning producers Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan.

The high stakes extend beyond the two frontrunners. Awards analysts note that the breadth of Sinners' nominations means it could win several technical categories even if it loses Best Picture to Anderson's film — a scenario that would still cement its legacy as one of the most-nominated productions in Oscar history.

A Watershed Moment for Genre Cinema

Perhaps the most significant dimension of this year's race is what it signals about the Academy's evolving tastes. A horror film — however elevated — leading the nominations field would have been unthinkable a decade ago. Coogler's success reflects a broader shift in how the industry and its gatekeepers are rethinking prestige, genre, and whose stories get told at the highest level.

Whether Sinners converts nominations into wins on March 15 remains to be seen. But its place in Oscar history is already secured.