'Sinners' makes history, setting Oscars nomination record with 16
Michael B. Jordan, foreground left and center, and Omar Benson Miller star in "Sinners." Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures via AP
"Sinners" broke an all-time record when Oscar nominations were announced Thursday morning, earning 16 nods, including best picture, best actor for Michael B. Jordan and best director for Ryan Coogler.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s offbeat comedy-drama "One Battle After Another" came in second place with 13 nominations, followed by Guillermo del Toro’s lush creature-feature "Frankenstein" and Josh Safdie’s fictional sports biopic "Marty Supreme" with nine nominations each. All three of those titles will also compete for best picture.
But as actors Danielle Brooks and Lewis Pullman took turns reading the nominees at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Los Angeles, it became clear that "Sinners" will lead the way at the upcoming Academy Awards. An original music-themed horror film starring Jordan as identical twins, "Sinners" became a surprise hit upon its release during a sleepy April, earning rave reviews and $368 million at the box office. It has won awards in a range of categories from critics groups and earlier this month won the Golden Globe for cinematic and box office achievement. "Sinners" not only has more Oscar nods than any other film this year, it now has two more than the previous record holders — "All About Eve" (1950), "Titanic" (1997) and "La La Land" (2016) — which each had 14 nominations.
The success of "Sinners," "One Battle After Another" and other Warner Bros. titles may come with a twinge for the storied studio, which is currently up for sale and seems likely to be bought by the streaming platform Netflix, although Paramount Skydance is pursuing it as well. Warner Bros. is the top Oscar-nominated studio this year with 30 nods — proof, perhaps, that it’s still synonymous with Hollywood and the big screen.
As it happens, Netflix came in third place with 16 nominations. Its three highest-profile titles, "Frankenstein" (with nine nods), the rural drama "Train Dreams" (four) and the animated musical "KPop Demon Hunters" (two), received only a limited release into theaters before shifting to streaming. "KPop Demon Hunters" screened for one week in June — just enough to qualify for the Oscars — then returned to theaters for a couple of multiday runs.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hands out the Oscars, seems particularly drawn to original material this year. Like "Sinners," best picture nominees "One Battle After Another" and "Marty Supreme" are both hard-to-pigeonhole films with unusual protagonists. Their stars — Leonardo DiCaprio as a spacey revolutionary and Timothée Chalamet as a narcissistic Ping-Pong champ, respectively — will compete for best actor. Another odd but high-profile contender is "If I Had Legs I’d Kick You," a grim comedy about the mother of an ailing child, which earned a best actress nomination for Rose Byrne. She’ll compete against Jessie Buckley, who plays William Shakespeare’s wife in "Hamnet." (Both won Golden Globes for their performances.)
Meanwhile, Neon, a studio not yet 10 years old (it was launched in 2017), continued its strong awards-season showing after leading the Globes with 21 nominations. At the Oscars, where it came in behind Warner Bros. with 18 nominations, its high-profile contenders include the Brazilian drama "The Secret Agent," whose star Wagner Moura is considered a front-runner for best actor, and "Sentimental Value," whose four main stars — including Stellan Skarsgård and Elle Fanning — are all up for acting awards.
An Oscar statue appears at the 91st Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon, Feb. 4, 2019, in Beverly Hills, Calif. Credit: AP/Danny Moloshok
One surprise was Kate Hudson’s best actress nomination as a Neil Diamond tribute band member in "Song Sung Blue," her first Oscar nod since 2001 for "Almost Famous." Among the notable snubs were Paul Mescal as Shakespeare in "Hamnet," Joel Edgerton as a struggling laborer in "Train Dreams" and Chase Infiniti as a revolutionary’s daughter in "One Battle After Another." Completely shut out of the awards was "Wicked: For Good," whose predecessor, 2024’s "Wicked," earned 10 nominations and won two, for production design and costume design.
The Oscars also introduced a new award for best casting, a category that will include "Hamnet," "Marty Supreme," "One Battle after Another," "The Secret Agent" and "Sinners." It’s the first new Oscar category since the launch of best animated feature in 2001, according to the Academy.
The Oscars will be held on March 15, with Conan O'Brien hosting from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. The ceremony airs on ABC and streams on Hulu, starting at 7 p.m.
Top Nominees
Picture
"Bugonia"
“F1”
“Frankenstein”
“Hamnet”
“Marty Supreme”
“One Battle After Another”
“The Secret Agent”
“Sentimental Value”
“Sinners”
“Train Dreams”
Actress
Jessie Buckley, “Hamnet”
Rose Byrne, “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”
Kate Hudson, “Song Sung Blue”
Renate Reinsve, “Sentimental Value”
Emma Stone, “Bugonia”
Actor
Timothée Chalamet, “Marty Supreme”
Leonardo DiCaprio, “One Battle After Another”
Ethan Hawke, “Blue Moon”
Michael B. Jordan, “Sinners”
Wagner Moura, “The Secret Agent”
Supporting actress
Elle Fanning, “Sentimental Value”
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, “Sentimental Value”
Amy Madigan, “Weapons”
Wunmi Mosaku, “Sinners”
Teyana Taylor, “One Battle After Another”
Supporting actor
Benicio Del Toro, “One Battle After Another”
Jacob Elordi, “Frankenstein”
Delroy Lindo, “Sinners"
Sean Penn, “One Battle After Another”
Stellan Skarsgård, “Sentimental Value”
Director
Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another”
Ryan Coogler, “Sinners”
Josh Safdie, “Marty Supreme”
Joachim Trier, “Sentimental Value”
Chloé Zhao, “Hamnet”
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