Smoke and Stacks’ dreams of opening a juke joint may have ended in bloodshed, but the sun is shining bright on Sinners. Ryan Coogler’s film broke the record of most Oscar nominations for a film at 16, easily leapfrogging the previous record of 14 held by three films: All About Eve (1950), Titanic (1997), and La La Land (2016). Throughout the season, it seemed Sinners and the second-most nominated film, One Battle After Another (which received 13 nominations itself), would duke it out for which Warner Bros. awards contender could supplant the other for nominations. It turns out, Sinners maxed out in nearly every category it was eligible for (I say “nearly,” as it missed a second Original Song nomination for Last Time I Seen the Sun).
There’s so much to dig into with these nominations, what they mean for the Oscars ceremony, and which film benefits from today’s announcement. It’s been a pleasure tracking the awards season back in July and analyzing every new development.
Sinners Makes and Breaks Records, and Proves Doubters Wrong
Despite missing a BAFTA Longlist mention, Sinners earned a nomination for Best Visual Effects; despite missing Critics’ Choice, Golden Globes, and SAG nomination precursors, Delroy Lindo earned his first nomination in Best Supporting Actor. Coogler becomes the seventh black director nominated for Best Director. Costume designer Ruth E. Carter is the most-nominated black woman in Oscar History. Autumn Durald Arkapaw also made history, becoming the first woman of color nominated for Best Cinematography and the fourth woman overall in the category. It’s notable that a horror film accomplished this record-breaking feat.
Meanwhile, One Battle After Another overperformed in categories like Production Design, yet Chase Infiniti missed for Best Actress. But Warner Bros. shouldn’t fret, as they collected a total of thirty nominations, which includes Amy Madigan in Weapons for Best Supporting Actress, a record-breaking gap for a female performer of 40 years between Weapons and her last nomination for Twice in a Lifetime (1985).
Warner Bros. did an excellent job at supporting the top two contenders this season, as Paul Thomas Anderson walks into Oscar night with 14 nominations, including writing, directing, and producing. Even with Infiniti missing Best Actress and the film failing to join the club of films receiving five acting nominations, between it, Sinners, and Weapons, Warner Bros. has eight of the 20 acting slots.
Now the question is whether or not One Battle After Another can win Best Picture, but why can’t Sinners win it with this nomination performance? The Academy obviously loved Sinners, after all.
To Be, Or Not to Be, That is the Question for Hamnet
Fresh off its Globe Drama win, Hamnet seemed primed to take the Best Picture battle to One Battle After Another, yet after today, is it safe to argue it’s feasibly the number four for Best Picture? The biggest omission is Paul Mescal missing a Supporting Actor nomination, despite getting every precursor. Chloé Zhao’s film also missed Film Editing, a key element for a Best Picture winner. Jessie Buckley still looks in position to win Best Actress, but with Sentimental Value getting all four acting and editing nominations, it’s hard not look at the evidence and suggest Hamnet had a stumble this morning.
Focus Features, still, had an amazing day, as their other contender, Bugonia, got nominations for Picture, Actress for Emma Stone, and a surprise nomination for Jerskin Fendrix’s score. And to their efforts, they got Kate Hudson across the line to her second nomination for Song Sung Blue, 25 years after Almost Famous (2000).
Neon Bounces Back With Sentimental Valueand The Secret Agent, But Was It Just an Accident?
There’s no denying that Neon has a direct pulse as to where the winds go for non-English contenders with every awards season. They came to the Cannes Film Festival with Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value to wide acclaim, winning the Grand Prix. They acquired The Secret Agent and the Palme d’Or winner, It Was Just an Accident. They came into the season with high hopes, and for the most part, succeeded in getting Sentimental Value nominated for nine Oscars, including four acting nominations. (An over-performance, as Elle Fanning missed at SAG and BAFTA Longlist mention, yet still secured an Oscar nomination.)
Secret Agent landed four nominations, including Picture, Actor for Wagner Moura (despite missing a SAG nomination and BAFTA Longlist mention), and became the first international film nominated in the brand new Casting category for Gabriel Domingues. Both films mark Neon’s second and third International Feature contenders nominated for Best Picture.
Yet, something missing from the Best Picture lineup was the Palme d’Or winner, It Was Just an Accident. Since 2019, four Palme d’Or winners have gone on to receive a Best Picture nomination (2020 being the exception since the festival was canceled due to COVID). Many on the Rolling Tape Team feared It Was Just an Accident could miss due to not winning any Golden Globes, one nomination at Critics’ Choice for Foreign Language Film, and missing Best Film and Director mentions for Jafar Panahi on the BAFTA Longlist.
The film still garnered nominations for Original Screenplay and International Feature (in fact, Neon occupied four slots in the International Feature category), yet it’s clear there’s an air of disappointment for Neon not to break the record for most international films nominated for Best Picture. Perhaps it was too much of a task for the indie studio to manage massive campaigns for three films. And that’s not including Park Chan-wook failing to receive a nomination, despite No Other Choice having ecstatic audience and critics’ scores and lighting the box office on fire.
The Wicked Witch of the West is Not Just Dead, It’s Entirely Absent
If you told anyone the night Wicked (2024) won two Oscars from its ten Oscar nominations that the much-anticipated follow-up, Wicked: For Good, would pull a donut and blank on Oscar nomination morning, you would probably be called crazy. But that’s exactly what happened. Collectively, the Academy rejectedWicked: For Good, despite topping the Oscars Shortlists, Ariana Grande receiving precursor nominations, and eight BAFTA Longlist mentions. Not even when it came to categories it won last year, such as Paul Tazewell for Costume and Nathan Crowley for Production Design, Wicked: For Good was usurped by the likes of Avatar: Fire and Ash in Costumes (the first for the franchise, thanks to Titanic Costume Design-winner, Deborah L. Scott).
It’s been a tumultuous road for the follow-up. Its box office failed to match Part One, missing nominations for Cynthia Erivo at Critics’ Choice and SAG, a Best Musical/Comedy Globe nomination, losing four of its five SAG nominations from the previous season, and missing a PGA nomination. In short, Wicked: For Good was on life support. The writing was on the wall, as less favorable sequels face difficulty with the Academy, and For Good had both lower critical and audience scores than last year’s hit. For being released in proximity, the Wicked buzz fizzled by the time Part Two was released, as many branch voters in the Academy may have felt the need not to reward the second half of a film that was split into two.
Misreading The Academy On Blockbusters
Every year, there’s at least one film that’s broadly populist, which can appeal to audiences and Oscar voters alike. I label them as “Dad-Core” movies, as they have an easier barrier to entry for anyone, are technically well-made, and tickle that mainstream yet high-prestige sensibility.
F1: The Movie has been underestimated all season, as it racked over $600 million globally, boasting respectable critic and audience scores, hitting nearly every industry guild under the sun, winning two awards at Critics’ Choice, and landing a PGA nomination. It’s an original blockbuster that avoids the baggage that sequels, such as Wicked: For Good and Avatar: Fire Ash, have of being inferior to a prior film; it’s produced by Oscar-winning producers, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner (F1 marks their third collaborative Best Picture nomination in the last five years).
If there’s any lesson this year has taught us is that we over-projected the extent to which the Academy is international in its votership. No doubt, films like Secret Agent and Sentimental Value garnering many nominations show the consistent growth and representation of what global cinema can offer. However, this is only the third year in which two international films have received a Best Picture nomination. The Academy always tries to diversify its Picture nominee slates, being a mixture of commerce and art, having F1 represented from its four technical categories in Editing, Sound, and Visual Effects, which spotlights the breadth of the Academy above and below the line. There will be a day when more international films break into Best Picture.
Netflix and Focus Flexing Their Awards Muscles
Netflix returned to form, reminiscent of their early days when they had a streak of getting two Best Picture nominations between 2019 and 2021. This year, Frankenstein and their Sundance pickup, Train Dreams, gained a total of 13 nominations. Even with their early contender, Jay Kelly, goose-egging, Netflix can hold their heads high, as Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar tally is now up to eight. Jacob Elordi made history as the first actor to receive an Oscar nomination for playing Frankenstein’s Monster, and the second Euphoria cast member to receive an Oscar Nomination (Colman Domingo being the first). Additionally, Train Dreams writers Clint Bently and Greg Kwedar are back in Adapted Screenplay after their previous nominations for Sing Sing (2024).
Focus Features has had its best season yet, on top of nabbing two Best Picture slots, the first time since the 2018 Oscars, when Phantom Thread (2017) and Darkest Hour (2017) were nominated. Chloé Zhao solidified a director nomination, making her the first woman of color to receive a second director nomination, and second overall behind Jane Campion. Steven Spielberg received his twenty-fourth Oscar nomination as a producer (his third for producing a film he didn’t direct). Another producer, Sam Mendes, received his fifth overall nomination. Emma Stone walks away with her second producing nomination and fifth acting nomination for Bugonia. Yorgos Lanthimos earned his seventh nomination overall as a producer.
The Kids Will Be Alright
Despite Elle Fanning getting her first nomination at the age of 27, Chase Infiniti and Odessa A’zion, both 25, failed to secure Oscar nominations for their performances, despite getting nominations from Critics’ Choice, Globe, SAG, and BAFTA Longlist mentions. Instead, it can be posited that industry veterans, such as Kate Hudson and Delroy Lindo, usurped their positions due to their decade-long stances in the industry. Fanning has been working in prominent films since Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere (2010). Fanning has worked tirelessly in art films, such as 20th Century Women (2016), mainstream films, like A Complete Unknown (2024), and Predator: Badlands (2025). Her nomination was a culmination of a decades-long career. Yet, this awards season has secured Infiniti and A’zion as actors to look out for on the horizon, as their films have elevated their stature. This season is a stepping stone for their next awards-worthy performance.
The 98th Academy Awards will take place on Sunday, March 15, 2026.
Analysis Courtesy of Amritpal Rai
Feature Image Credit to Warner Bros.