‘One Battle’ Looks Unstoppable with a Commanding 13 Oscar Nominations, but It Was ‘Sinners’ That Made Oscar History — Analysis

Oscar nominations morning was a good day for Warner Bros., which took home a total 30 nominations. Mighty Best Picture frontrunner “One Battle After Another” racked up 13 nominations, including Picture, Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, Supporting Actors Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro, Supporting Actress Teyana Taylor, and Paul Thomas Anderson for Director and Adapted Screenplay. (One significant miss: newcomer Chase Infiniti for Best Actress, a calculated risk designed to give Taylor a shot at winning Supporting Actress.)

But it was Ryan Coogler’s audacious period horror musical “Sinners” that landed 16 nominations (breaking the Oscar record of 14 set by “Titanic,” “All About Eve,” and “La La Land”), including Picture, Actor Michael B. Jordan, Supporting Actor Delroy Lindo (who knocked out “Hamnet” star Paul Mescal), Supporting Actress Wunmi Mosaku, and Coogler for Directing and Original Screenplay. The two music categories and Casting helped to put it over the top.

The comeback narrative for Hollywood scion Kate Hudson (musical “Song Sung Blue”) was too strong for the Academy Actors Branch to deny. Focus Features also had a good day, with 13 nominations, including Chloé Zhao’s Shakespeare family drama “Hamnet” (eight). The BAFTAs should prove a strong boost for the movie, which missed a Paul Mescal nod, but did score Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Casting, and Actress (frontrunner Jessie Buckley), but not Editing or Cinematography. And Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Bugonia” landed four slots: Best Picture, Producer and Actress (Emma Stone), Original Score, and Adapted Screenplay nominations. At 37, Stone is the youngest woman to earn seven nominations.

Five movies — the period pictures that landed the Actor Awards ensemble, DGA, and PGA nominations — dominated the field: “Sinners” (16), “One Battle After Another” (13), A24’s “Marty Supreme” (nine), Netflix’s “Frankenstein” (nine), and “Hamnet” (eight), along with Norway’s Oscar entry “Sentimental Value” (nine). Besides being hugely entertaining, all delivered emotional stories and political subtext. And “Hamnet” and “Sentimental Value” dealt with fractured families and the healing power of art. But “One Battle After Another” has been on a winning streak that shows no signs of slowing.

Another genre film, “Weapons,” gave veteran Amy Madigan her second nomination after 40 years (“Twice in a Lifetime”).

Next in the nominations derby was gorgeously wrought “Frankenstein,” with nine nominations, scoring Best Picture and Adapted Screenplay slots, plus Supporting Actor Jacob Elordi, but not Director for DGA nominee Guillermo del Toro. The elevated horror film will win big in the crafts. Netflix totaled 18 nominations, including two for Animated Feature and Song frontrunner “KPop Demon Hunters,” four for Best Picture and Adapted screenplay contender “Train Dreams,” one for documentary nominee “The Perfect Neighbor,” and two shorts (“All the Empty Rooms” and “The Singers”).

‘Frankenstein’©Netflix/Courtesy Everett Collection

Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, and Editing nominee Josh Safdie challenged Sean Baker and Warren Beatty for the most nominations for one movie for “Marty Supreme” (A24), which landed nine nominations, including Picture nominee (also as a producer) and Best Actor frontrunner Timothée Chalamet, who played table tennis like a pro. SAG nominee Odessa A’zion did not make the cut.

The international vote (24 percent of Academy voters) spoke loud with a total 18 nominations for Neon, which released European Film Awards winner “Sentimental Value,” with nine nods: Picture, Actress Renate Reinsve, Supporting Actor Stellan Skarsgård, and Supporting Actresses Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, along with Director Joachim Trier, Best International Feature, and Original Screenplay for Trier and Eskil Vogt (they were previously nominated for “The Worst Person in the World”). Clearly, the Actors Branch supports this movie.

Joachim Trier, Elle Fanning, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Renate Reinsve, and Stellan SkarsgårdWireImage

Neon continued celebrating with a Best Picture nomination for Brazilian Oscar entry “The Secret Agent,” which also landed in Best Casting, Actor (Cannes and Globes winner Wagner Moura), and International Feature; Iranian Jafar Panahi’s “It Was Just an Accident” (France), which missed Best Picture and Director but nabbed Original Screenplay and International slots; and Oliver Laxe’s “Sirāt” (Spain), which did not wind up in the Best Picture race, but placed in International and Best Sound. Neon filled four of the five International slots with its Cannes prize-winners. Park Chan-wook’s stylish Venice contender “No Other Choice” did not make it. The fifth feature was emotional “The Voice of Hind Rajab” (Willa).

PGA nominee “F1” (Apple Original Films) grabbed the 10th Best Picture spot, voted in by the surviving steak eaters in the Academy. The movie landed three craft nominations: Editing, Sound, and VFX.

The signs were strong that two box-office hit sequels that did not surpass their prior iterations, “Wicked: For Good” and “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” would see diminishing returns this time around. “Wicked” wound up empty-handed; even Ariana Grande did not land a Supporting Actress berth. Auteur James Cameron had to settle for Costume Design, Sound, and VFX, which will win.