Vampire horror film Sinners has broken the record for the most Oscar nominations received by a single film, after being nominated for 16 of Hollywood’s most coveted honours.
The film beat the previous record of 14 nominations, and emerged ahead of its nearest rival this year, Leonardo DiCaprio’s thriller One Battle After Another, which is up for 13 awards.
Sinners’ contenders include its star Michael B Jordan and his British co-stars Wunmi Mosaku and Delroy Lindo.
Other big names up for trophies include Timothée Chalamet, who is hoping for third time lucky after two previous nominations, and Irish actress Jessie Buckley, who is the frontrunner to win best actress for Hamnet.
However, there was no space for her co-star Paul Mescal, who starred opposite Buckley as William Shakespeare in Hamnet; while Wicked: For Good and its stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande missed out completely.
The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Hollywood on 15 March.
The leading films:
- Sinners – 16
- One Battle After Another – 13
- Marty Supreme – 9
- Frankenstein – 9
- Sentimental Value – 9
- Hamnet – 8
Sinners ‘more than just a horror’
Sinners has exceeded expectations and bucked the trend that normally means horror films don’t perform well at award ceremonies.
It beat the previous record total of 14 nominations, achieved by All About Eve in 1951, Titanic in 1998 and La La Land in 2018.
Michael B Jordan is nominated for best actor for playing twin brothers who return home to Mississippi in the 1930s to set up a juke joint, which is set upon by blood-sucking vampires.
Other Sinners cast members to be nominated include British-Nigerian actress Wunmi Mosaku and co-star Delroy Lindo, who grew up in London, and the pair are carrying Britain’s hopes for acting awards this year.
Ryan Coogler is nominated for directing, writing and producing Sinners, with the film also shortlisted for the Oscars’ top prize, best picture.
BBC Radio 1 film critic Ali Plumb said: “The last time anything to do with a horror won best picture was The Silence of the Lambs in the early 1990s. That is a long time ago.”
He said it was good to see Sinners get “this broad a series of accolades and thumbs up from across the whole industry”.
It is “more than just a horror”, he added. “Although obviously vampires are obviously involved, there’s so much more to it.”
BBC culture editor Katie Razzall said: “It is to my mind the perfect blend of revenge thriller and sexy, decadent, musical journey through America’s race issues, good against evil, the power of music – and redemption.
“Who knew that combining vampires, KKK racists, ex-gangster twins (both played by Michael B Jordan), Mississippi delta folklore and blues history would pay off so spectacularly?”
