- 8 months ago
Ryan Coogler's vampire epic is making Oscar history with 16 nominations! Join us as we examine why this supernatural period piece deserves the Academy's highest honor. From its groundbreaking cinematography to its powerful performances and racial themes, "Sinners" has redefined what a Best Picture winner can be.
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00:00I'm supposed to be a bad blues man.
00:05Prezy boy, where you at?
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo.
00:08And today we're counting down our picks for the reasons why Ryan Coogler's Vampire Bonanza Sinners
00:13is poised to make the most of its record-breaking 16 Oscar nominations.
00:17But listen, I think also maybe watch out for Michael B. Jordan.
00:2116 nominations is nothing to scoff at.
00:24Number 10.
00:26It's the kind of original hit the Academy loves to rally around.
00:29Look at that, Sky.
00:31That's a mighty fine day to be free, ain't it?
00:35Our own juke joint.
00:37For us and by us.
00:39Just like we always wanted.
00:40In a year dominated by sequels, reboots, and cinematic universe installments,
00:45Sinners immediately stood out as something different.
00:47A big, expensive, original movie that people actually showed up for.
00:51The film's $48 million opening weekend in North America wasn't just a strong debut.
00:55It was one of the best openings for an original non-IP studio film in years.
01:00That kind of performance changes how a movie is perceived inside the industry.
01:03See, we talk to numbers now.
01:06And numbers always gotta be in conversation with each other.
01:09You understand?
01:10You gotta negotiate.
01:12Now, 10 cents just won't work for you.
01:15Historically, films like Get Out, Gravity, and Mad Max Fury Road
01:19benefited from that same combination of originality and box office momentum.
01:23When voters see a movie that feels both important and widely embraced,
01:27it becomes much easier to justify checking it off on a Best Picture ballot.
01:31I love you.
01:33I love you too.
01:33Be careful.
01:34I will.
01:35Number 9.
01:36Its racial and historical themes put it squarely in the Academy's sweet spot.
01:40I thought y'all was dead set on buying the place.
01:43More time I spend with y'all, the less sure I am.
01:45You boys are serious about it.
01:48Ain't no boys here.
01:50I just grown men.
01:52For grown men money and grown men bullets.
01:54Set in 1932 Clarksdale, Mississippi,
01:57Sinners uses its setting as much more than window dressing.
02:00Kugler roots the story in the realities of Jim Crow segregation,
02:04racial violence, and economic exploitation in the Deep South,
02:07giving the film a political and historical weight that goes far beyond genre thrills.
02:12This is exactly the kind of subject matter that the Academy has consistently responded to,
02:16from 12 Years a Slave, to Moonlight, to Green Book, to Judas and the Black Messiah.
02:21By weaving race, power, and history directly into the emotional core of the story,
02:26Sinners positions itself as more than entertainment.
02:28It becomes a film that feels socially and culturally urgent.
02:33You wouldn't mind us coming in now, would you?
02:35I think y'all in the wrong place.
02:38Well, make me say that.
02:40Number 8.
02:41Autumn Durald-Archipa's stunning cinematography.
02:44For me, like, being on a dolly with a big camera and, you know, having scope is something that I enjoy.
02:51And I've progressed, obviously, and I've shot with all these smaller cameras and digital cameras,
02:55but where I thrive is with a film camera.
02:58And kind of, like, the bigger it is or the kind of heavier it is, doesn't really bother me.
03:03Durald-Archipa's Best Cinematography nod made history.
03:06She is the first woman of color to be nominated in the category.
03:10Her work is exactly the kind of bold, unmistakable visual statement that cinematography branch voters love.
03:16Um, I think for me, with the IMAX camera, you have to figure out a way to kind of work with it,
03:23with your own body and how you operate.
03:25And I'm a left eye operator.
03:27So the eyepiece is very close to the body.
03:30Yep.
03:30And I'm looking at it, and it maybe seems like it's a little farther away now,
03:35but mostly people operate with their dominant eye.
03:39Shooting large portions of the film in IMAX,
03:42she transforms the Mississippi Delta into something mythic and operatic,
03:46using deep blues, fiery oranges, and long-flowing camera moves
03:50that give the movie a sense of scale and atmosphere.
03:52The Academy often gravitates towards cinematography
03:55that feels both technically impressive and emotionally expressive.
03:58Between the IMAX milestone and the film's striking visual identity,
04:02it's hard to imagine Archipa's name not being read on Oscar night.
04:06So that's real.
04:08So that's the shot that we got in camera.
04:10No sky replacement?
04:11Yeah, and that's the thing is the camera jammed, right?
04:15And so the camera jams, and we're like freaking out,
04:18and we got it fixed in enough time to do that.
04:22Get the shot. Iconic. Gorgeous.
04:25It was really, I love that shot.
04:26Number 7. The period authenticity supercharges its Crafts category chances.
04:32You always say you would tell me what happened to your daddy when I got older.
04:36Well, I guess I'm older.
04:40Y'all really kill him?
04:47Nah, we ain't kill him.
04:51Smoke did.
04:51Despite the supernatural elements,
04:54Sinners is meticulously grounded in its early 1930s setting.
04:58From the dusty streets of Clarksdale to the interiors of juke joints,
05:01chain gangs, and segregated businesses,
05:04the film's production design and costumes do a huge amount of storytelling work.
05:08These two gonna be playing down at the old sawmill.
05:11It's the grand opening of our new joint,
05:13Club Juke.
05:14We gonna have us a battle of the blues.
05:18It's gonna be a real ring-a-ding-ding.
05:21Just for us.
05:23This kind of immersive period world building is exactly what the Academy's Crafts branches reward.
05:28Films like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,
05:30The Favourite, and Lincoln all racked up nominations partly because they made their eras feel fully lived in.
05:36Sinners does the same,
05:37giving voters in production design,
05:39costume design,
05:40and even makeup and hairstyling plenty to admire.
05:43Those kinds of below-the-line nominations often strengthen a movie's overall best picture profile.
05:48Y'all ready to eat?
05:49Yes!
05:50Y'all ready to drink?
05:51Yes!
05:52Y'all ready to sweat till y'all stink?
05:54Yes!
05:56Alright.
05:57You gonna get funky like a Mississippi donkey, y'all.
06:00Number six.
06:01Ludwig Gorenson's score feels built for the Oscars.
06:04There are legends of people born with the gift of making music so true,
06:11it can pierce the veil between life and death,
06:16conjuring spirits from the past and the future.
06:22In ancient Ireland, they were called Philly.
06:25Ludwig Gorenson has become one of the Academy's go-to composers,
06:29with past wins for Kugler's Black Panther and Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer,
06:32the latter a best picture winner itself.
06:35His work on Sinners feels like a natural continuation of that awards-friendly trajectory.
06:39While you're here, Smoke,
06:41what you want with me?
06:46We was hoping to serve food to you tonight.
06:51We want you to cook for us.
06:54Elijah.
06:55The score blends period blues influences with modern orchestral and atmospheric elements,
07:00making the music feel both historically grounded and emotionally sweeping.
07:04More importantly, the film treats music as a core narrative and spiritual force,
07:09not just background texture.
07:11More on that later on.
07:12Given Gorenson's track record and how central the score is to the film's identity,
07:16it wouldn't be surprising at all to see him take the award yet again.
07:20This gift can bring healing to their communities,
07:25but it also attracts evil.
07:30Number 5.
07:31The performances give it serious acting cred.
07:34You hogwood?
07:39You boys twins?
07:42Nah, we cousins.
07:43Michael B. Jordan's dual performance as Smoke and Stack Moore
07:47is the kind of ambitious acting showcase that tends to get serious attention during awards season.
07:51Playing twin brothers with distinct personalities,
07:54physicality, and emotional arcs,
07:56Jordan gives voters a very obvious acting achievement to latch onto.
08:00When you was selling ass out in Little Rock,
08:02you ever let a job pay with a goddamn promissory note?
08:04Hell no.
08:07But see, I wasn't selling ass in the Delta.
08:10But the strength of the ensemble matters just as much.
08:13When Mimasaku brings emotional gravity as Annie,
08:15while Delroy Lindo's Delta Slim adds texture and lived-in authenticity.
08:20And both were nominated.
08:21Performances of this caliber help position Sinners
08:24as a serious actor-friendly best picture contender.
08:27You give us our instruments back, they tell us to play.
08:30Stack we played, preaching work we played, you hear me?
08:34Music was coming out the windows.
08:36People's on the street was stopping to come on in.
08:39Number 4.
08:39It beat the Jara bias.
08:41What was in the jar?
08:43Pickle garlic.
08:44These ain't hains.
08:48They're vampires.
08:49Let's be real.
08:50Horror and supernatural films traditionally struggle at the Oscars.
08:53In fact, The Silence of the Lambs stands as the only horror film to take the top prize.
08:58But Sinners didn't just overcome that bias, it steamrolled it.
09:02Now we need garlic, wood, silver, and holy water.
09:12She might not kill him, but it's long there.
09:16By landing nominations in picture, director, actor, supporting actor, screenplay, and multiple crafts categories,
09:22Sinners has effectively forced the Academy to treat it as prestige cinema first, genre film second.
09:28That kind of barrier-breaking matters.
09:31It positions Sinners as a statement film for what serious Oscar movies can look like in 2026.
09:36That narrative often plays well when voters want to feel like they're rewarding something bold and forward-looking.
09:41I am your way out.
09:46This world already left you for dead.
09:49Won't let you build.
09:52Won't let you fellowship.
09:53We will do just that.
09:55Together.
09:58Forever.
09:58It's better this way, baby.
10:01Number three.
10:02It dominated a crowded, prestigious field.
10:04We now know who will be up for the gold.
10:07Box office hit Sinners is now a record-breaker with 16 nominations.
10:11That film's widely expected to be neck and neck with One Battle After Another, another hit movie.
10:17There are no two ways about it.
10:19This was a stacked year for movies.
10:21One Battle After Another earned 13 nominations.
10:25Frankenstein, Marty Supreme, and Sentimental Value each landed nine.
10:29Hamnet picked up eight.
10:30And yet Sinners still towered over all of them with 16 out of 17 possible categories.
10:36Which, by the way, is the most nominations for a single film in Oscar history.
10:40The most ever.
10:40The most ever.
10:41And it is so exciting.
10:43There was certainly momentum headed into the nominations announcement this morning.
10:48You know, it is an original IP.
10:49It's not based on anything.
10:50So in some ways, that is like the big, oh my goodness, you know, it's original, it's fresh,
10:57and it's got a lot of momentum behind it.
10:59But 16 nominations is really remarkable.
11:02That margin is important.
11:04It shows that even in a year packed with heavyweight contenders and prestige auteurs,
11:08Sinners emerged as the Academy's clear favorite.
11:11When a film wins that kind of internal popularity contest, it becomes very hard to ignore on the final
11:17ballot.
11:17The La La Land Moonlight comparisons has been kind of bugging me the last few weeks.
11:22And I really think Sinners has what it takes to maybe take this in the end.
11:26I think it is a cultural moment.
11:29I think it will put the Academy on the map in a big way.
11:33And I think it's not so clear cut for one battle the way many of us assumed early on in the season.
11:39Number two, it's a celebration of music throughout the ages.
11:43Blues wasn't forced on us like that religion.
11:47No, I saw.
11:48We brought this with us from home.
11:51It's magic what we do.
11:54It's sacred.
11:56It's beam.
11:57If you've seen Sinners, you know that it's an unabashed love letter to generations of black music.
12:03Kugler and Goranson strove for not only accuracy, but a sense of organic authenticity.
12:09The latter outlined the challenge of coordinating the film's score and soundtrack as asking,
12:13what did it really sound like back then?
12:15How do we make the audience today feel like they're hearing something fresh, yet true to the time?
12:20There are legends of people born with the gift of making music so true,
12:26it can pierce the veil between life and death,
12:31conjuring spirits from the past.
12:33Somebody take me in.
12:37And the future.
12:38Kugler sent Goranson contemporary music from the period,
12:41particularly bluesmen Robert Johnson and Tommy Johnson,
12:44for a crash course in 30s American music.
12:47As such, their efforts paid off,
12:49and Sinners effectively depicts music as a spiritual, transcendental, unifying force.
12:55If you see our ritual,
12:57we heal our people,
13:06and we be free.
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13:23Finally, there's the campaign narrative around Ryan Coogler himself.
13:33His unprecedented deal,
13:35including Final Cut,
13:36First Dollar Gross,
13:37and Eventual Ownership,
13:39reinforces his status as one of Hollywood's most respected and powerful filmmaker auteurs.
13:43The Academy frequently rewards directors whose careers represent artistic independence within the studio system.
13:50Coogler's trajectory, combined with Sinners' success,
13:53creates a compelling storyline,
13:55a major studio trusting a filmmaker's vision,
13:58and that gamble paying off artistically and commercially.
14:00That narrative alone helps position Sinners as a film the Academy can rally around
14:05as a statement about the future of prestige studio filmmaking.
14:08Did you see Sinners?
14:10How do you think it'll fare at the 98th Academy Awards?
14:13Be sure to let us know in the comments.
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