Ryan Coogler’s Southern Gothic vampire tale leads the pack of contenders for the 98th Academy Awards with 16 total nominations, including best picture, setting a record for the most in Oscar history.
“Sinners” crushed the previous record of 14 nominations held by “All About Eve” (1950), “Titanic” (1997) and “La La Land” (2016).
Coogler received nominations for best director and best screenplay. Michael B. Jordan, who stars in a dual role as twin brothers who open up a “juke joint” in the Mississippi Delta in the early 1930s, nabbed a best lead actor nod. Delroy Lindo and Wunmi Mosaku are up for their supporting performances.
The film was also recognized for achievement in cinematography, visual effects, sound, production design, editing, casting, costume design, song, score, and makeup and hairstyling. (The casting category is brand new.)
“Sinners” was widely expected to dominate the list of nominees after impressing critics and dazzling audiences. It was last year’s seventh-highest-grossing title at the North American box office, raking in nearly $280 million. It pulled in another $88 million abroad for a worldwide gross of $368 million.
Warner Bros., the studio that distributed “Sinners,” likewise put up impressive numbers Thursday, notching 13 nominations for Paul Thomas Anderson’s seriocomic thriller “One Battle After Another” and a best supporting actress nod for Amy Madigan’s gleefully deranged performance in the horror film “Weapons.”
Netflix and Paramount Skydance are both vying to take control of Warner Bros., a 102-year-old studio with a sprawling portfolio that includes HBO. In a memo to Warner Bros. Discovery staff members Thursday, CEO David Zaslav hailed the company’s commanding position in the Oscar race.
“This is a truly golden moment for our company and also a powerful validation of our strategy: to believe in movies, to believe in original storytelling, and to believe in the theatrical experience,” Zaslav said in part.
Coogler and Jordan are frequent collaborators, dating back to the director’s feature debut, “Fruitvale Station,” in 2013. Jordan starred in Coogler’s “Creed,” a reboot of the “Rocky” franchise, and he played a key supporting role in Coogler’s culture-conquering Marvel epic “Black Panther.”
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the voting body behind the Oscars, traditionally shies away from recognizing horror films, but that appears to be changing. “The Substance,” a gross-out body-horror satire starring Demi Moore, landed a best picture nomination last year. “Sinners” continues the trend.
In this year’s best picture race, “Sinners” and “One Battle” are facing off against eight other titles: “Bugonia,” “F1,” “Frankenstein,” “Hamnet,” “Marty Supreme,” “The Secret Agent,” “Sentimental Value” and “Train Dreams.”
Here is a full list of the Oscars 2026 nominees:
BEST PICTURE
One Battle After Another (Warner Bros)
Hamnet (Focus Features)
Sinners (Warner Bros)
Sentimental Value (NEON)
Marty Supreme (A24)
Frankenstein (Netflix)
Bugonia (Focus Features)
The Secret Agent (NEON)
Train Dreams (Netflix)
F1 (Apple TV)
BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson — One Battle After Another
Joachim Trier — Sentimental Value
Ryan Coogler — Sinners
Chloé Zhao — Hamnet
Josh Safdie — Marty Supreme
BEST ACTRESS
Jessie Buckley — Hamnet
Renate Reinsve — Sentimental Value
Rose Byrne — If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Emma Stone — Bugonia
Kate Hudson — Song Sung Blue
BEST ACTOR
Timothée Chalamet — Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio — One Battle After Another
Michael B. Jordan — Sinners
Wagner Moura — The Secret Agent
Ethan Hawke — Blue Moon
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Teyana Taylor — One Battle After Another
Amy Madigan — Weapons
Wunmi Mosaku — Sinners
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas — Sentimental Value
Elle Fanning — Sentimental Value
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Stellan Skarsgård — Sentimental Value
Benicio Del Toro — One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi — Frankenstein
Delroy Lindo — Sinners
Sean Penn — One Battle After Another
BEST CASTING
Sinners — Francine Maisler
One Battle After Another — Cassandra Kulukundis
Hamnet — Nina Gold
Marty Supreme — Jennifer Venditti
The Secret Agent — Gabriel Domingues
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
One Battle After Another — Paul Thomas Anderson
Hamnet — Chloé Zhao & Maggie O’Farrell
Bugonia — Will Tracy
Train Dreams — Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar
Frankenstein — Guillermo del Toro
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Sinners — Ryan Coogler
Sentimental Value — Joachim Trier & Eskil Vogt
It Was Just an Accident — Jafar Panahi
Marty Supreme — Ronald Bronstein & Josh Safdie
Blue Moon — Robert Kaplow
BEST FILM EDITING
One Battle After Another — Andy Jurgensen
Sinners — Michael P. Shawver
F1 — Stephen Mirrione
Marty Supreme — Ronald Bronstein
Sentimental Value — Olivier Bugge Coutté
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Sinners — Autumn Durald Arkapaw
One Battle After Another — Michael Bauman
Frankenstein — Dan Laustsen
Marty Supreme — Darius Khondji
Train Dreams — Adolpho Veloso
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Frankenstein — Tamara Deverell (sets: Shane Vieau)
One Battle after Another — Florencia Martin ( sets: Anthony Carlino)
Sinners — Hannah Beachler (sets: Monique Champagne)
Hamnet — Fiona Crombie (sets: Alice Felton)
Marty Supreme — Jack Fisk (sets: Adam Willis)
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Frankenstein — Kate Hawley
Avatar: Fire & Ash — Deborah L. Scott
Hamnet — Małgosia Turzańska
Sinners — Ruth E. Carter
Marty Supreme — Miyako Bellizzi
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Sinners — Ludwig Göransson
One Battle After Another — Jonny Greenwood
Hamnet — Max Richter
Frankenstein — Alexandre Desplat
Bugonia — Jerskin Fendrix
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Golden” — KPop Demon Hunters
“I Lied to You” — Sinners
“Dear Me” — Diane Warren: Relentless
“Train Dreams” — Train Dreams
“Sweet Dreams Of Joy” — Viva Verdi!
BEST SOUND
F1 (Apple/Warner Bros)
Sinners (Warner Bros)
One Battle After Another (Warner Bros)
Frankenstein (Netflix)
Sirāt (NEON)
BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
Kokuho (Kyoko Toyokawa, Naomi Hibino and Tadashi Nishimatsu)
Frankenstein (Mike Hill, Cliona Furey, Jordan Samuel)
Sinners (Ken Diaz, Mike Fontaine, Shunika Terry)
The Smashing Machine (Kazu Hiro, Glen Griffin, Bjoern Rehbein)
The Ugly Stepsister (Thomas Foldberg and Anne Cathrine Sauerberg)
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar: Fire and Ash (20th Century Studios)
F1 (Apple TV)
Sinners (Warner Bros)
The Lost Bus (Apple TV)
Jurassic World Rebirth (Universal Pictures)
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
KPop Demon Hunters (Netflix)
Zootopia 2 (Walt Disney)
Arco (NEON)
Little Amélie or the Character of the Rain (GKIDS)
Elio (Walt Disney/Pixar)
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
The Alabama Solution — Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman
Come See Me in the Good Light — Ryan White, Jessica Hargrave, Tig Notaro and Stef Willen
Cutting through Rocks — Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni
Mr. Nobody Against Putin — TBA
The Perfect Neighbor — Geeta Gandbhir, Alisa Payne, Nikon Kwantu and Sam Bisbee
BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE
Norway — Sentimental Value (NEON)
Brazil — The Secret Agent (NEON)
France — It Was Just an Accident (NEON)
Spain — Sirāt (NEON)
Tunisia — The Voice of Hind Rajab
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
Butcher’s Stain — Meyer Levinson-Blount and Oron Caspi
A Friend of Dorothy — Lee Knight and James Dean
Jane Austen’s Period Drama — Julia Aks and Steve Pinder
The Singers — Sam A. Davis and Jack Piatt
Two People Exchanging Saliva — Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata
BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Butterfly — Florence Miailhe and Ron Dyens
Forevergreen — Nathan Engelhardt and Jeremy Spears
The Girl Who Cried Pearls — Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski
Retirement Plan — John Kelly and Andrew Freedman
The Three Sisters — Konstantin Bronzit
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
All the Empty Rooms — Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones
Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud — Craig Renaud and Juan Arredondo
Children No More: “Were and Are Gone”— Hilla Medalia and Sheila Nevins
The Devil Is Busy — Christalyn Hampton and Geeta Gandbhir
Perfectly a Strangeness — Alison McAlpine
SOURCE: nbcnews.com