'Sinners' sets record for Oscar nominations in 2026

The horror film 'Sinners' is making headlines by leading the Oscar nominations list with 16 nominations. Meanwhile, Leonardo DiCaprio and Timothée Chalamet are two prominent contenders in the Best Actor race. And 'F1', starring Brad Pitt, is surprisingly in contention for Best Picture.

'Sinners' leads the 2026 Oscar nominations.

Sinners received 16 nominations at the 2026 Oscars.

PHOTO: WARNER BROS. PICTURE

On the evening of January 22nd (Vietnam time), the list of nominees for the 98th Academy Awards was officially announced by actors Danielle Brooks and Lewis Pullman at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California (USA).

Ryan Coogler's horror film Sinners has set a new record with 16 nominations in this year's Oscar race. This is the most nominations in the history of the awards, surpassing the previous record of 14 nominations held by All About Eve (1950), Titanic (1997), and La La Land (2016). The film, a bold and bloody vampire story set in the American South, is competing in key categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and more.

Before gaining attention at the Oscars, Sinners was included in the list of the top 10 films of 2025 by the National Critics' Council and the American Film Institute. The film also won 4 awards at the Critics' Choice Awards and had 2 wins at the recent Golden Globes.

After the Golden Globes, Leonardo DiCaprio and Timothée Chalamet continue their competition at the Oscars.

PHOTO: WARNER BROS. PICTURE, A24

Meanwhile, One Battle After Another – the film that just won big at the 2026 Golden Globes – continues to be a strong contender in this year's Oscar race, nominated in 13 categories. The race for Best Actor remains a fierce competition between the two most prominent candidates this season: Leonardo DiCaprio ( One Battle After Another ) and Timothée Chalamet ( Marty Supreme ), alongside Ethan Hawke ( Blue Moon ), Michael B. Jordan ( Sinners ), and Wagner Moura ( The Secret Agent ).

The Best Actress category sees Jessie Buckley ( Hamnet ) competing against a host of rivals: Rose Byrne ( If I Had Legs I'd Kick You ), Kate Hudson ( Song Sung Blue ), Renate Reinsve ( Sentimental Value ), and Emma Stone ( Bugonia ).

Chloé Zhao, who won the Oscar for Best Director for Nomadland , received another nomination for Hamnet . Other prominent contenders in this category include Ryan Coogler ( Sinners ), Paul Thomas Anderson ( One Battle After Another ), Joachim Trier ( Sentimental Value ), and Josh Safdie ( Martyr Supreme ).

Surprises at the 2026 Oscars

F1 joins the race for Best Picture at the 2026 Oscars.

PHOTO: WARNER BROS. PICTURE

The race for Best Picture at the 2026 Oscars sees the appearance of F1 (a high-speed racing film starring Brad Pitt). This is considered one of the surprises of this year's nominations. The film will compete with Sinners, One Battle After Another, Frankenstein, Bugonia, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, Sentimental Value, Train Dreams , and The Secret Agent in this fierce competition.

Another shocking surprise is that Wicked: For Good received no nominations at this year's Oscars, despite winning 10 nominations last year. Notably, the film had previously been shortlisted in 8 categories. Furthermore, Paul Mescal, who received much praise for his portrayal of William Shakespeare in Hamnet , was also not nominated for acting.

In addition, this year marks the first time the Oscars have honored directors for their casting choices through the Best Casting category. The initial list of nominees includes Nina Gold ( Hamnet ), Jennifer Venditti ( Marty Supreme ), Cassandra Kulukundis ( One Battle After Another ), Francine Maisler ( Sinners ), and Gabriel Domingues ( The Secret Agent ).

Comedian Conan O'Brien will continue to host the 2026 Oscars.

PHOTO: AFP

The 98th Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled to take place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, USA, on March 15th. This year's event will once again be hosted by comedian Conan O'Brien.

According to Variety , the 2026 Oscars are taking place against the backdrop of the American film industry grappling with the impact of corporate mergers, as legendary studios like MGM, 20th Century Fox, and now Warner Bros. are being sold to larger corporations. The event is also being held when box office revenue has yet to recover to pre-Covid-19 levels, compounded by the threat from new technologies like artificial intelligence, which are expected to lead to job cuts in some areas of the industry.

Before the nominations were announced, the President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Lynette Howell Taylor, alluded to these far-reaching changes. "We deeply believe that the heart of cinema has always been, and will always be, human," she said.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/sinners-lap-ky-luc-de-cu-oscar-2026-185260123084839819.htm