Ryan Coogler’s blues-inspired vampire epic ‘Sinners’ led all movies with 16 nominations at the 98th Academy Awards on Thursday, setting a new record for the most ever in Oscar history. The Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences gave ‘Sinners’ more nominations than any film before, beating the previous record of 14 set by ‘All About Eve,’ ‘Titanic,’ and ‘La La Land.’ Along with Best Picture, Coogler was nominated for Best Director and Best Screenplay, and Michael B. Jordan received his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s father-daughter revolutionary story ‘One Battle After Another,’ which was the favourite before nominations, came in second with 13 nominations. Four of its actors – Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, Benicio del Toro, and Sean Penn – were nominated, though newcomer Chase Infiniti was left out of the best actress category. With these two top nominees, the film academy strongly supported two powerful and original American epics that each connect with a tense national moment.
Coogler’s Jim Crow-era film — a rare horror movie favoured by the academy — creates a mythical story about Black life. In ‘One Battle After Another,’ a spirit of rebellion comes alive in a chaotic police state. Both movies are Warner Bros. titles. During a heated sale to Netflix, the 102-year-old studio had its best Oscar nomination morning ever. As Warner Bros., which Netflix is buying for $72 billion, faces a challenge from Paramount Skydance, Hollywood is preparing for possibly the biggest change in the film industry’s history.
The 10 films nominated for best picture are ‘Bugonia,’ ‘F1,’ ‘Frankenstein,’ ‘Hamnet,’ ‘Marty Supreme,’ ‘One Battle After Another,’ ‘The Secret Agent,’ ‘Sentimental Value,’ ‘Sinners,’ and ‘Train Dreams.’ Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Frankenstein,’ Josh Safdie’s ‘Marty Supreme,’ and Joachim Trier’s ‘Sentimental Value’ each received nine nominations. The nine for ‘Marty Supreme’ included a third best actor nomination for 30-year-old Timothée Chalamet, who is the favourite after narrowly missing the win last year for ‘A Complete Unknown.’ Along with Jordan and Chalamet, the nominees are Leonardo DiCaprio for ‘One Battle After Another,’ Ethan Hawke for ‘Blue Moon,’ and Wagner Moura for ‘The Secret Agent.’
Nominated for best actress are the category favourite Jessie Buckley (‘Hamnet’), Rose Byrne (‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’), Kate Hudson (‘Song Sung Blue’), Renate Reinsve (‘Sentimental Value’), and two-time winner Emma Stone, who earned her sixth nomination for ‘Bugonia.’ The first category announced by presenters Danielle Brooks and Lewis Pullman was supporting actress. The nominees are Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter LilIeaas for ‘Sentimental Value,’ Amy Madigan for ‘Weapons,’ Wunmi Mosaku for ‘Sinners,’ and Teyana Taylor for ‘One Battle After Another.’
For supporting actor, the nominees are Jacob Elordi for ‘Frankenstein,’ Sean Penn for ‘One Battle After Another,’ Stellan Skarsgård for ‘Sentimental Value,’ Benicio del Toro for ‘One Battle After Another,’ and Delroy Lindo for ‘Sinners.’ This year, the Oscars are adding a new category for casting. That new award helped ‘Sinners’ and ‘One Battle After Another’ boost their already impressive numbers. Along with those two films, the nominees are ‘Hamnet,’ ‘Marty Supreme,’ and ‘The Secret Agent.’
‘Sinners’ is also among the nominees for original song: ‘Golden’ from ‘Kpop Demon Hunters,’ ‘Train Dreams’ from ‘Train Dreams,’ ‘Dear Me’ from ‘Diane Warren: Relentless,’ ‘I Lied To You’ from ‘Sinners,’ and ‘Sweet Dreams Of Joy’ from ‘Viva Verdi!’
The 98th Academy Awards will be held on March 15 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles and will be broadcast live on ABC and Hulu. YouTube’s new exclusive deal won’t start until 2029. This year, Conan O’Brien will return as host.
