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Ryan Coogler’s blues-steeped vampire epic “Sinners” led all films with 16 nominations to the 98th Academy Awards on Thursday, setting a record for the most in Oscar history.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voters showered “Sinners” with more nominations than they had ever bestowed before, breaking the 14-nomination mark set by “All About Eve”, “Titanic” and “La La Land”. Along with best picture, Coogler was nominated for best director and best screenplay, and double-duty star Michael B. Jordan – who plays a pair of twins – was rewarded with his first Oscar nomination, for best actor.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s father-daughter revolutionary saga “One Battle After Another,” the favourite coming into nominations, trailed in second with 13 of its own. Four of its actors – Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, Benicio del Toro and Sean Penn – were nominated, though newcomer Chase Infiniti was left out in best actress.
In those two top nominees, the film academy put its full force behind a pair of visceral and bracingly original American epics that each connected with a fraught national moment. Coogler’s Jim Crow-era film – the rare horror movie to win the academy’s favour – conjures a mythical allegory of Black life. In “One Battle After Another,” a dormant spirit of rebellion is revived in an out-of-control police state.
Both are also Warner Bros. titles. In the midst of a contentious sale to Netflix, the 102-year-old studio had one of its best Oscar nominations mornings ever.
As the fate of Warner Bros., which Netflix is buying for $72 billion, hangs in the balance amid a challenge from Paramount Skydance, Hollywood is bracing for potentially the largest realignment 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” all scored nine nominations.
The 98th Academy Awards will take place on March 15 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles and will be televised live on ABC and Hulu. YouTube's new deal to exclusively air won't take effect until 2029. This year, Conan O’Brien will return as host.
