Michael B. Jordan in 'Sinners' and Denzel Washinton in 'Highest 2 Lowest.' Warner Bros., A24 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 began as one battle after another for Warner Bros. movie chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy has transformed into an embarrassment of riches. On Thursday, the studio landed a jaw-dropping 30 nominations, tying its own record set in 2005. This time, the bounty was led by Ryan Cooger's Sinners with 16 - the most nominations ever awarded to a single film. The previous record was 14 (All About Eve, Titanic, La La Land.) Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, followed with 13, the second-best showing of the day. Both are original films that many in Hollywood said would never work because they weren't commercial enough. Even Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav was worried, with Abdy and De Luca coming under intense scrutiny in the early part of 2025 after several misses. Then came a box office winning streak that sent naysayers scurrying. Both films worked, as did Zach Cregger's Weapons, from Warners' New Line division. Related Stories Movies 'Frank & Louis' Director Hopes Her Sundance Movie Shines a Light on the Role of Caretaking in Prison Movies 'Awards Chatter' Pod: Listen to Episodes With 25 of 2026's Oscar Nominees, From A (or B, as in Bruckheimer) to Z (Zhao) "This is a truly golden moment for our company and also a powerful validation of our strategy: to believe in movies, to believe in original storytelling, and to believe in the theatrical experience," Zaslav said in a note to staff, adding that the total count for WBD was 33 when including all divisions. "I want to congratulate Mike and Pam, and their teams across Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema, for the vision, leadership, and creative conviction that made this possible." He continued, "This is a special moment for our company, for our filmmaking partners, and for audiences everywhere who love great storytelling. We should all take great pride and keep raising the bar." A special moment on many levels. Not only did Sinners shake up a race that had One Battle in pole position to win, the Oscar nominations were announced amid plans to sell Warner Bros. to Netflix unless David Ellison - the relatively new owner of Paramount - can succeed in a hostile takeover. Ellison was stunned when the WBD board turned down bid after bid in favor of going with Netflix, where top boss Ted Sarandos is not considered exactly theatrically friendly. Sarandos, however, has long wanted an Oscar, earning numerous nominations over the years, including topping the 2025 list of nominations by distributor. Netflix is pushing hard for Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein, which picked up nine nominations, the same count a A24's Timothée Chalamet vehicle Marty Supreme and Neon's Sentimental Value (tied with nine). In recent years, the major legacy studios have held their own against streamers and the indie or specialty companies who live for awards season. That isn't the case this time out, outside of Warner Bros. In a shocking turn, neither Universal's Wicked: For Good nor Disney/20th Century's Avatar: Fire & Ash landed a spot in the best picture category. It is the first time an Avatar film hasn't been nominated, much less only walk away with two below-the-line nominations. And Jon M. Chu's second installment of Wicked was altogether overlooked (last year, Universal was the most-nominated studio, thanks to the first Wicked, which was graced with 10 nominations). Disney did prevail in landing two spots in the race for best animated feature; Zootopia 2 and Elio. After Warner Bros., the toast of Thursday was Tom Quinn's Neon, home of several best picture winners, including last year's Anora. The company picked up a record 18 nominations for its 2025 slate, followed by Netflix with 16. And Universal's specialty division Focus Features, home of awards darling Hamnet, landed an impressive 13. Netflix walked away with the most nominations of any distributor a year ago any after Emilia Pérez landed a spot in 13 categories, the most of any film last year that set a record for a non-English-language film. One caveat: Universal's film empire was No. 1 overall with 18 noms when including Focus or its animation divisions. Disney also has multiple silos, and is home of Searchlight, which has is a seasoned Oscar player. This year, it will have to sit out the Oscar race. Here is the Academy's nominee count by individual distributor. Below that is the same list for year, which shows how dramatically the landscape can change. 2026 NOMINATION COUNT BY DISTRIBUTOR Warner Bros. - 30Sinners, One Battle after Another, Weapons Neon - 18Sentimental Value, The Secret Agent, It Was Just an Accident, Sirāt, Netflix - 16Frankenstein,