Sinners came out on top of the 2026 Academy Awards nominations race, scoring 16 nods.
Nominations for the Oscars were revealed on Thursday, January 22, where Sinners racked up honors in the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Casting, Best Original Song, Best Original Score, Best Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound and Best Production Design categories. In addition, Michael B. Jordan, Delroy Lindo and Wunmi Mosaku each were recognized in respective acting categories.
Coogler, who previously directed the Black Panther movies, helmed the supernatural epic about twin brothers Smoke and Stack (both played by Jordan) who relocate to 1930s-era Mississippi and unleash a vampiric evil in their hometown.
“This movie was, like, all about dichotomy, and that’s something that I’ve been dealing with my whole life, you know, this feeling of not totally fitting in or things not totally squaring with each other?” Coogler told NPR in April 2025. “Coming up, I was Black. I was from Oakland. I was middle-class, and I was in these neighborhoods where my parents were kind of outliers. They got married young, and they went to college, but they stayed in their neighborhood, you know? So I constantly, as a kid, would feel like I was living in two different worlds.”
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Keep scrolling to read more about Sinners’ newly held Oscar record:
What Movie Last Held the Record for Most Oscar Nominations?
All About Eve (1950) was the first film to receive the largest number of Academy Awards nods with 14 apiece. Titanic (1997) and La La Land (2016) later tied the record.
Gone With the Wind (1939), From Here to Eternity (1953), Mary Poppins (1964), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), Forrest Gump (1994), Shakespeare in Love (1998), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), Chicago (2002) and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) all earned 13.
What Movies Have the Most Oscar Wins?
Out of its 14 nominations, All About Eve won six trophies, while Titanic took home 11 Oscar statues. La La Land, for its part, won in seven categories.
Titanic’s wins further tied the James Cameron brainchild as one of the most awarded films, alongside Ben-Hur (1959) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
West Side Story (1961) won 10, while The English Patient (1996) and The Last Emperor (1987) and Gigi (1958) each earned nine trophies, followed by Slumdog Millionaire (2008), Amadeus (1984), Gandhi (1982), Cabaret (1972), My Fair Lady (1964), On the Waterfront (1954), From Here to Eternity (1953) and Gone With the Wind (1939) with eight wins.
Does ‘Sinners’ Have Any First-Time Nominees?
Michael B. Jordan, Wunmi Mosaku and Delroy Lindo all received their first Oscar accolades in the respective categories of Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor. As for Ryan Coogler, he earned his first Best Director nod. (Coogler was first recognized by the Academy in 2021 as a producer on Judas and the Black Messiah.)
How Has the ‘Sinners’ Crew Reacted to the Oscar Nominations?
“Thank you to the Academy for this incredible recognition. This is a historic moment for the casting community,” casting director Francine Maisler told Us Weekly in a statement. “I am honored to be a part of it and humbled to share it with my fellow nominees whose work I deeply admire. To receive this acknowledgement for this film is beyond special. It was the experience of a lifetime to collaborate with Ryan and the producers on Sinners, and to bring this amazing ensemble of actors together. I am especially thrilled for Michael, Wunmi and Delroy for their most deserving nominations!”
