Ryan Coogler has rewritten Oscar history. The filmmaker’s supernatural thriller Sinners emerged as the defining story of the 2026 Academy Award nominations after earning a record-breaking 16 nominations, the most ever received by a single film. In doing so, Sinners surpassed the long-standing record of 14 nominations held by All About Eve (1950), Titanic (1997), and La La Land (2016), firmly placing itself in the Oscars record books.
The nominations mark a rare moment where a genre-driven film has not only entered the awards conversation but completely dominated it. Set in the American South and blending supernatural horror with political and social undertones, Sinners received recognition across nearly every major Oscar category, underscoring the Academy’s broad embrace of the film.
Sinners was nominated for best picture, best director for Ryan Coogler, best actor for Michael B. Jordan, best supporting actress for Wunmi Mosaku, and best supporting actor for Delroy Lindo. The film also secured nominations for original screenplay, casting, cinematography, production design, costume design, film editing, makeup and hairstyling, sound, visual effects, original score, and original song for “I Lied to You.”
The scale of recognition places Sinners among the most comprehensively nominated films in Oscar history. Beyond its presence in top categories, its dominance in technical and craft fields highlights how widely the film has been supported across the Academy’s branches.
For Coogler, the nominations carry historic weight beyond the numbers. He becomes only the second Black filmmaker to be nominated in the same year for producing, directing, and original screenplay, following Jordan Peele for Get Out in 2017. Coogler is also just the third filmmaker overall to achieve that combination, joining Peele and Spike Lee, who earned similar recognition for BlacKkKlansman.
Coogler’s best director nomination also places him among a small and notable group. He is now the seventh Black filmmaker to be nominated in the category, alongside John Singleton, Lee Daniels, Steve McQueen, Barry Jenkins, Peele, and Lee. To date, none of them have won the Oscar for best director, making Coogler’s nomination part of an ongoing and closely watched chapter in Academy history.
Several historic firsts also emerged from Sinners’ craft nominations. Cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw made history as the first Filipino woman and the first woman of color ever nominated for cinematography, a category that has traditionally been among the Academy’s most exclusive. Her work on Sinners now stands as a landmark moment for representation in the field.
In production design, Hannah Beachler earned her second Oscar nomination following her win for Black Panther in 2019. Beachler remains the only Black woman ever nominated in the category, further underlining the significance of her continued recognition.
The film’s success also contributed to a strong showing for Warner Bros., which led all studios with 30 nominations overall. The studio’s performance marked a dramatic turnaround after a challenging start to the year that included several box office disappointments and industry speculation about leadership decisions. With Sinners and One Battle After Another both performing strongly with the Academy, Warner Bros. emerged as the clear leader of this year’s nominations.
While Sinners dominated the headlines, the broader nominations reflected an Academy increasingly open to a wide range of storytelling styles. Alongside Coogler’s film, the best picture lineup included titles such as One Battle After Another, Frankenstein, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, Sentimental Value, Train Dreams, F1, Bugonia, and The Secret Agent, representing a mix of studio releases, streaming-backed films, and international productions.
With its unprecedented nomination haul, Sinners now joins a select group of films that entered Oscar night as overwhelming frontrunners. Historically, films with the most nominations have not always secured the most wins, though titles like Ben-Hur, Titanic, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King each went on to win 11 Oscars. Whether Sinners can convert its nominations into victories remains to be seen.
What is already clear, however, is that Sinners has secured its place in Oscar history. By breaking a decades-old record and delivering multiple historic firsts across major categories, Ryan Coogler’s film has become the defining headline of the 2026 Academy Award nominations—one that will be discussed long after the winners are announced.
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