LOS ANGELES,
Warner Bros is expected to emerge as the dominant force at this year’s Academy Award nominations, with Sinners and One Battle After Another widely tipped to lead the field when nominees are announced on Thursday.
The studio, which is facing an uncertain future amid takeover speculation, is forecast by awards analysts to secure a sweeping presence across major categories, including best picture, directing, acting and the Academy’s newly introduced best casting award. Both films are expected to collect double-digit nominations, a rare achievement in an increasingly fragmented Hollywood awards landscape.
The unusual strength of Warner Bros’ awards slate comes at a moment of corporate upheaval. The studio is reportedly the subject of a fierce bidding contest involving Paramount, Skydance and Netflix, even as its parent company, Warner Bros Discovery, continues to grapple with financial pressures. Yet creatively, the studio has enjoyed one of its strongest years in decades, backing original, director-driven films at a time when much of the industry has leaned heavily on sequels and franchise fare.
Leading the charge is Sinners, a period horror film directed by Ryan Coogler, set in the segregated American South during the 1930s. The film blends supernatural terror with racial history and social commentary, and stars Michael B. Jordan in a dual role as twin brothers confronting both violent racism and vampiric evil. Jordan is considered a near certainty for a best actor nomination, while the film is also expected to contend strongly in screenplay, score and technical categories.
Awards analyst Clayton Davis of Variety has suggested that Sinners could challenge the long-standing record for the most Oscar nominations earned by a single film, currently held by All About Eve, Titanic and La La Land, which each received 14. Davis wrote that Coogler’s achievement this season places him “in a statistical stratosphere no filmmaker has ever touched ”.
Running alongside Sinners is One Battle After Another, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, whose career includes Boogie Nights and There Will Be Blood. The film, a high-energy political thriller, follows a former revolutionary searching for his teenage daughter amid a volatile landscape of extremist violence, immigration raids and white supremacist groups. It has already dominated precursor awards, breaking records for nominations from the Screen Actors Guild.
Leonardo DiCaprio, who leads the film, is widely expected to secure his seventh acting nomination from the Academy, further strengthening Warner Bros’ grip on this year’s awards conversation.
Netflix, which is itself rumoured to be interested in acquiring Warner Bros, enters the race with several high-profile contenders, including Guillermo del Toro’s gothic reimagining of Frankenstein, the frontier drama Train Dreams and the animated musical hit K-Pop Demon Hunters. By contrast, Paramount is expected to feature far less prominently when nominations are revealed.
Elsewhere, Hamnet, a literary adaptation imagining William Shakespeare’s grief following the death of his son, is forecast to secure multiple nominations. Jessie Buckley is considered a frontrunner for best actress for her portrayal of Agnes, Shakespeare’s wife. She is expected to face competition from Emma Stone, who stars in the enigmatic conspiracy drama Bugonia, and Norwegian actor Renate Reinsve for Sentimental Value.
The Academy’s growing international membership has also boosted the prospects of non-English-language films. Sentimental Value is among several international titles being discussed as potential best picture nominees, alongside Persian-language Palme d’Or winner It Was Just An Accident and Brazilian political thriller The Secret Agent. Analysts caution, however, that limited slots may prevent all three from making the final list.
Wagner Moura, who stars in The Secret Agent as a scientist fleeing Brazil’s 1970s military dictatorship, is expected to feature in the best actor race, though the category’s current frontrunner is Timothée Chalamet. His performance as an ambitious and volatile ping pong prodigy in the 1950s New York drama Marty Supreme has already earned him a Golden Globe and a Critics Choice Award.
This year’s ceremony will also mark the introduction of a new Oscar for best casting, recognising the work of casting directors. With no historical benchmark, it remains unclear how Academy voters will interpret the category or what criteria will prove decisive.
The Oscar nominations will be announced at 5.30am local time (1330 GMT) in Los Angeles on Thursday. The 98th Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled to take place on March 15.
