'One Battle After Another' and 'Sinners' Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection (2) Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment What are the topline takeaways from Thursday morning's Oscar nominations? 1) As Netflix and Paramount fight for Warner Bros., two Warner Bros. films will fight for the top Oscars Sinners landed 16 noms, besting by two the record of 14 that was previously shared by 1950's All About Eve, 1997's Titanic and 2016's La La Land (so no, its nom in the newly created casting category was not the difference-maker). Moreover, it landed a nom in every category in which it had a plausible chance, whereas each of the other top contenders had at least one glaring miss: One Battle After Another missed Chase Infiniti for best actress; Hamnet missed Paul Mescal for best supporting actor, as well as cinematography and film editing; Frankenstein missed Guillermo del Toro for best director, as well as VFX; Marty Supreme missed makeup/hairstyling; The Secret Agent missed original screenplay; etc. Related Stories Movies How Will Jacob Elordi Celebrate His First Oscar Nomination? "Hang Out With My Mom and My Dog" Movies 'Sinners' Star Wunmi Mosaku on Being a First-Time Oscar Nominee, Gratitude for Ryan Coogler: "He Hasn't Been Tainted by Capitalism" All in all, it's a remarkable achievement for Sinners. But is it enough to jolt the widely held belief that One Battle After Another is the film to beat for best picture? Over the 16 seasons since the Academy returned to a preferential/ranked-choice ballot to determine its best picture winner, the film with the most noms (or one of the films that tied for the most noms) went on to win best picture only six times (Oppenheimer, Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Shape of Water, Birdman, The King's Speech and The Hurt Locker). So having the most noms, in and of itself, is not a game-changer. But 16 noms - three more than the second-most-nominated film (One Battle) and seven ahead of the third (Frankenstein, Marty Supreme and Sentimental Value tied with nine) - is quite a statement. And a number of smart industry insiders told me this morning - both at and after the nominations announcement - that they think Sinners is well-positioned moving forward. Its success was less assured; it provokes a less uncomfortable conversation about race; and it's likely to win the best ensemble Actor Award, which could further fuel its momentum. Regardless, it will be interesting to see how these two films - both from great filmmakers who are telling largely original stories, even if One Battle is technically adapted from Thomas Pynchon's 1990 novel Vineland - are promoted during phase two, not least because they share the same distributor, Warner Bros., which, largely because of them, led all studios by far with 30 noms ... and is now, ironically enough, in the process of being sold. (Fun fact: It has been more than a half-century since we last had a best picture race in which there were two clear frontrunners and both hailed from the same studio - Paramount's Chinatown vs. The Godfather Part II, which co-led the field with 11 noms each, 51 years ago!) I expect that Warners will give its two films equal treatment - as it has done thus far, as best as I can tell, with FYC ads, billboards, etc. - and let the chips fall where they may. (Indeed, even at award shows, studio co-chiefs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy split up so that one can sit with the One Battle folks and the other can sit with the Sinners folks.) But this won't stop personal reps from going all out on behalf of their respective clients. 2) It's a small world after all At a time when the leadership of the United States is projecting an "America first" attitude, the L.A.-based Academy is doing the opposite. Indeed, feature-length films that are primarily or entirely in a language other than English collectively landed 22 noms, tying a record set in 2023 and matched in 2024, with those noms spread among Sentimental Value (nine), The Secret Agent (four), It Was Just an Accident (two), Sirāt (two), Arco (one), Cutting Through Rocks (one), Kokuho (one), Little Amelie or the Character of Rain (one) and Mr. Nobody Against Putin (one). Moreover, there is at least one non-English-language film represented in every Oscar category for just the second time (2024 was the first); there are two in the best picture category, The Secret Agent and Sentimental Value, tying the record set in 2025, and marking the eighth consecutive year in which the top category includes at least one; and, of the 20 slots for acting noms, an unprecedented four, or 20 percent, went to non-English-language performances: The Secret Agent's lead actor Wagner Moura and Sentimental Value's lead actress Rentate Reinsve, supporting actor Stellan Skarsgård and supporting actress