Ryan Coogler’s vampire epic ‘Sinners’ breaks Oscar nominations record

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 Pictures 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 received his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

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.”

Senior editor at Variety, Marc Malkin, was struck by the diversity across the nominations – and the cheers from the room each time “Sinners” racked up a nod in a new category.

“You have everything from ‘One Battle After Another,’ ‘Sentimental Value,’ ‘Song Sung Blue,’ ‘Bugonia,’ ‘Weapons’ – a horror movie, ‘Sinners’ – an epic horror movie,” he said.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s father-daughter revolutionary saga “One Battle After Another,” the favorite coming into nominations, trailed in second with 13 nominations 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 favor — 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.

Malkin expects Hollywood to be on the lookout to repeat Coogler’s achievement on screen.

“I think what you see now is Hollywood is very reactionary, they’re very knee-jerk. So they see ‘Sinners’ getting all these nominations, you know what’s happening, everyone right now in Hollywood is going, ;Find me the next ‘Sinners,’ find me next ‘Sinners.” But the thing is, ‘Sinners’ is just so original. It is a Ryan Coogler original. You can’t just duplicate it.”

Malkin said several of the nominations announced Thursday came as no surprise, including the acting categories.

Notable for its absence in any category, Malkin said, is “Wicked: For Good.”

“I think the big standout this year is ‘Wicked: For Good.’ ‘Wicked: For Good’ got zero nominations. This has to be a letdown. I mean, the first ‘Wicked’ got so many nominations. I know Ariana Grande really wanted a nomination. And ‘Wicked,’ nothing.”

There was also an Oscar snub for Miley Cyrus, Malkin said, with her “Dream As One,” from “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” missing from the original song category.

“Miley Cyrus, she literally went up to James Cameron at the Oscars and said, ‘Hey, I’m looking for work’. He gave her this song, she created this song for ‘Avatar,’ but no nomination.”

“Sinners” can be found among the nominees for original song – “I Lied To You” from the movie is nominated along with: “Golden” from “Kpop Demon Hunters,” “Train Dreams” from “Train Dreams,” “Dear Me” from “Diane Warren: Relentess” and “Sweet Dreams Of Joy” from “Viva Verdi!”

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.