Historically, horror has fared poorly at the Academy Awards. Only seven horror films have ever been nominated for Best Picture, a statistic that suggests not a lack of worthy contenders, but the Academy’s longstanding reluctance to take the genre seriously.
Last year, Demi Moore seemed poised to win her first Oscar for her role in Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance.” Her performance was widely regarded as one of the strongest of the season. She ultimately lost to Mikey Madison for “Anora,” reinforcing a familiar pattern in which horror films generate critical momentum but fail to translate it into awards recognition.
However, something in the air is shifting this year. Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” emerged as the most nominated film in Academy Awards history, receiving 16 nominations at the 98th Oscars.
The nominations span nearly every major technical category, including Best Production Design, Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, Best Original Song for “I Lied to You,” and Best Original Score. The film also received nods for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, and Best Cinematography. In the Academy’s newest category, Best Casting, “Sinners” was recognized for its ensemble, which includes Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Jack O’Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, Jayme Lawson, Omar Miller, and Delroy Lindo.
In the acting categories, Lindo was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, while Mosaku secured one of the five Supporting Actress slots in a competitive field that notably excluded Ariana Grande for “Wicked: For Good.” Jordan received his first Best Actor nomination, placing him alongside Timothée Chalamet for “Marty Supreme.” Coogler was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture, producing the film with Zinzi Coogler and Sev Ohanian.
Are Academy voters scared of Horror?
The broader context makes the scale of this recognition unusual. In the 2020s, only two horror films have been nominated for Best Picture: “The Substance” and “Sinners.” In contrast, biographical films have continued to dominate the category, with eight nominations in the same period, including a win for “Oppenheimer” in 2024.
The Academy’s seeming indifference to horror has long been a point of contention among critics and audiences. Despite the genre’s influence on contemporary filmmaking and its consistent attention to form, performance, and production design, it has often been treated as peripheral to serious cinema. With voters drawn from 17 branches of the industry, the prevailing perception is that horror remains associated with popular appeal rather than artistic merit.
This attitude has produced a series of notable omissions. Toni Collette’s performance in Ari Aster’s “Hereditary,” Florence Pugh in “Midsommar,” Lupita Nyong’o in “Us,” and even Naomi Scott in “Smile 2.”
Against this backdrop, the reception of “Sinners” suggests a change less in the genre itself than in how it is being evaluated. The film’s recognition across technical, acting, and top-tier categories places it within the same critical framework typically reserved for prestige dramas and biopics.
Whether this shift holds will only become clear on Oscar night on March 16. The question is not just if “Sinners” will win, but if the Academy is finally ready to give its flowers to the most consistently overlooked genre in its own history.
The industry finds itself in a familiar state of suspense: waiting to see whether horror will finally be rewarded on its own terms, or if the ceremony will repeat its oldest trick – praising the craft, celebrating the impact, and still finding a way to deny the genre its due.
See the full list of the 98th Academy Awards nominations below.
Best Sound
- F1
- Frankenstein
- One Battle After Another
- Sinners
- Sirât
Best Production Design
- Frankenstein
- Hamnet
- Marty Supreme
- One Battle After Another
- Sinners
Best Live Action Short
- Butcher’s Stain
- A Friend of Dorothy
- Jane Austen’s Period Drama
- The Singers
- Two People Exchanging Saliva
Best Cinematography
- Frankenstein
- Marty Supreme
- One Battle After Another
- Sinners
- Train Dreams
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
- Frankenstein
- Kokuho
- The Smashing Machine
- Sinners
- The Ugly Stepsister
Best Costume Design
- Avatar: Fire and Ash
- Frankenstein
- Hamnet
- Marty Supreme
- Sinners
Best Visual Effects
- Avatar: Fire and Ash
- F1
- Jurassic World Rebirth
- Sinners
- The Lost Bus
Best Film Editing
- F1
- Sentimental Value
- Marty Supreme
- One Battle After Another
- Sinners
Best Casting
- Hamnet
- Marty Supreme
- One Battle After Another
- The Secret Agent
- Sinners
Best International Feature
- It Was Just an Accident
- The Secret Agent
- Sentimental Value
- Sirât
- The Voice of Hind Rajab
Best Documentary Feature
- Cutting Through Rocks
- The Alabama Solution
- The Perfect Neighbor
- Come See Me in the Good Light
- Mr. Nobody Against Putin
Best Documentary Short
- All the Empty Rooms
- Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud
- Children No More: Were and Are Gone
- The Devil Is Busy
- Perfectly a Strangeness
Best Original Score
- Bugonia
- Frankenstein
- Hamnet
- One Battle After Another
- Sinners
Best Original Song
- “Dear Me,” from “Diane Warren: Relentless”
- “Golden,” from “KPop Demon Hunters”
- “I Lied to You,” from “Sinners”
- “Sweet Dreams of Joy,” from “Viva Verdi”
- “Train Dreams,” from “Train Dreams”
Best Animated Short
- The Three Sisters
- Butterfly
- Forevergreen
- The Girl Who Cried Pearls
- Retirement Plan
Best Adapted Screenplay
- Will Tracy, “Bugonia”
- Guillermo Del Toro, “Frankenstein”
- Maggie O’Farrell and Chloé Zhao, “Hamnet”
- Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another”
- Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar, “Train Dreams”
Best Original Screenplay
- Robert Kaplow, “Blue Moon”
- Jafar Panahi, “It Was Just an Accident”
- Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie, “Marty Supreme”
- Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt, “Sentimental Value”
- Ryan Coogler, “Sinners”
Best Animated Feature Film
- Arco
- Elio
- KPop Demon Hunters
- Little Amelie or the Character of Rain
- Zootopia 2
Best Supporting Actor
- Benicio Del Toro, “One Battle After Another”
- Jacob Elordi, “Frankenstein”
- Delroy Lindo, “Sinners”
- Sean Penn, “One Battle After Another”
- Stellan Skarsgård, “Sentimental Value”
Best Supporting Actress
- Elle Fanning, “Sentimental Value”
- Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, “Sentimental Value”
- Amy Madigan, “Weapons”
- Wunmi Mosaku, “Sinners”
- Teyana Taylor, “One Battle After Another”
Best Actor
- Timothée Chalamet, “Marty Supreme”
- Leonardo DiCaprio, “One Battle After Another”
- Ethan Hawke, “Blue Moon”
- Michael B. Jordan, “Sinners”
- Wagner Moura, “The Secret Agent”
Best Actress
- Jessie Buckley, “Hamnet”
- Rose Byrne, “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”
- Kate Hudson, “Song Sung Blue”
- Renate Reinsve, “Sentimental Value”
- Emma Stone, “Bugonia”
Best Director
- Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another”
- Ryan Coogler, “Sinners”
- Josh Safdie, “Marty Supreme”
- Joachim Trier, “Sentimental Value”
- Chloé Zhao, “Hamnet”
Best Picture
- Bugonia
- F1
- Frankenstein
- Hamnet
- Marty Supreme
- One Battle After Another
- The Secret Agent
- Sentimental Value
- Sinners
- Train Dreams
