Sinners Stuns Hollywood With Record Number of Oscar Nominations

With 16 nominations, Sinners topped the record held by ‘All About Eve’, ‘Titanic’ and ‘La La Land’, and Coogler got his first nominations of his life as a director and screenwriter.

The genre-busting drama by Ryan Coogler scored 16 Oscar nominations in the morning, the most ever obtained by a movie in history, surpassing the previous record that was held by 1950s All About Eve, 1997s Titanic or 2016s La La Land.

The count goes over one above-the-line nomination, best picture, lead actor (Michael B. Jordan), supporting actor (Delroy Lindo), supporting actress (Wunmi Mosaku), director, and original screenplay (both Coogler) and reflects grave strength compared to the perceived leader One Battle After Another, which trails close behind with nominations in the two digits and has won the best picture awards at the Critics Choice and Golden Globe Awards.

Soon after its release in April, Sinners was already the highest-grossing original film in the United States in 15 years, returning to Christopher Nolan and his Inception theatrical debut, when it faced theatrical release before industry critics and controversy. The movie not only suppressed critics but also proved to be the cinematic sensation of the spring in North America, creating universal critical praise and award buzz among industry veterans on and off-screen.

The filmmaker has had an undisputed career as both critics and the audience have welcomed his small-scale debut, Fruitvale Station, as well as his other franchise aspirations in his Creed and Black Panther. 

He went into this awards season with two previous Oscar nominations, as a producer of the best picture nominee, Judas and the Black Messiah, by Shaka King, and as a co-writer of the song Life Me Up, by Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. (Black Panther also had a nomination in the category of best picture, although Coogler was not the film producer and therefore not nominated in the category as well.

This is to say Sinners is the first time Coogler has ever been nominated in both the directing and screenplay categories (Oscar), and is currently the 7th Black filmmaker to be nominated in the best director category. This was the most recent, Spike Lee, seven years in the case of BlackkKlansman. 

Michael B. Jordan, in his turn, has been nominated to receive his first Oscar nomination, which is perhaps appropriate considering that he had a role of two characters, twins, Smoke and Stack Moore. The lead role Jordan gets in the movie is her first time in 12 years; Fruitvale Station by Coogler was the initial lead role in her career; therefore, the success of Sinners can be considered a true full-circle moment for the two. 

Sinners is deemed a contender in the original screenplay race and will definitely be below-the-line, although one category of special interest to the film is brand new: best casting.