Sinners makes history with 16 Oscar nominations
Ryan Coogler’s Sinners led the 98th Academy Awards nominations with a record 16 nods, the most ever for a single film (surpassing the long-standing record of 14). What matters about “16” isn’t just the headline — it’s where the nominations landed. Sinners didn’t just show up in one lane; it hitacting, writing, directing, and the deep crafts (sound, editing, cinematography, production design, etc.), which is basically the Academy saying: multiple peer groups across the industry saw real difficulty and excellence here.
The 16 nominations, grouped by what they signal
Best Picture** (Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian, Ryan Coogler)
Directing** (Ryan Coogler)
Writing (Original Screenplay) (Ryan Coogler)
Performances (actors voting on actors)
Actor in a Leading Role
Actor in a Supporting Role (Delroy Lindo)
Actress in a Supporting Role (Wunmi Mosaku)
Cinematography (Autumn Durald Arkapaw)
Film Editing** (Michael P. Shawver)
Sound (Chris Welcker, Benjamin A. Burtt, Felipe Pacheco, Brandon Proctor, Steve Boeddeker)
Production Design (Hannah Beachler; Set Decoration: Monique Champagne)
Costume Design (Ruth E. Carter)
Makeup and Hairstyling (Ken Diaz, Mike Fontaine, Shunika Terry)
Visual Effects (Michael Ralla, Espen Nordahl, Guido Wolter, Donnie Dean)
Music (Original Score) (Ludwig Göransson)
Music (Original Song) — “I Lied To You” (Raphael Saadiq, Ludwig Göransson)
Casting (Francine Maisler)
How Oscar nominations work (and why they read like “peer review”)
The Oscars aren’t decided by a single committee. They’re decided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and the key detail is this:
1) Eligibility is a gate before “taste” even enters
For most feature categories, a film must meet theatrical qualification rules (including a 7-day consecutive run in a qualifying U.S. metro area, with required daily screenings), and a film can’t have its first public release be non-theatrical (streaming/TV first) if it wants to be eligible.
2) Some categories go through shortlists first
Before final nominations are set, the Academy publishes shortlists in 12 categories (a kind of pre-nomination cut). For the 98th Oscars, nomination voting ran Jan. 12–16, 2026, and nominations were announced Jan. 22, 2026.
3) Nominations are mostly decided by specialized branches (the “peer” part)
During nominations:
Actors nominate actors
Directors nominate directors
Costume designers nominate costume designers, etc
And all active members are eligible to select Best Picture nominees. Some categories (like Animated Feature, International Feature, and shorts) are decided by opt-in voters across branches who meet eligibility requirements. This is why a crafts-heavy nomination haul reads as unusually meaningful: it’s not one crowd loving the movie — it’s multiple expert peer groups saying, “Yes, this is hard, and they pulled it off.”
4) Ballots are secret and independently tabulated. All rounds are conducted by secret online ballot and counted by an independent accounting firm (PwC).
5) Final voting is broader than nomination voting
Once nominees are set, all eligible members can vote in all categories for winners (not just their branch). And as of this Oscars cycle, the Academy has also tied eligibility to vote in a category to watching the nominated films in that category, to reduce “voting by reputation.”
Why the “16” lands as a statement about difficulty
If a film racks up nominations across editing + sound + cinematography + production design + costumes + makeup + VFX, it’s basically the industry’s way of saying: this wasn’t just a good idea; it was executed at a high level by a whole army of craftspeople. And when it also lands Picture/Director/Screenplay and acting nominations, it signals rare alignment: story, vision, performance, and the machinery of filmmaking all working at once.