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The Real Reason ‘Sinners’ Landing 16 Oscar Nominations Matters
Courtesy of Warner Bros.
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Ryan Coogler’s deal, and the success that followed, speaks volumes about betting on yourself.
After earning over $368 million at the global box office, Ryan Coogler’s Michael B. Jordan-led Jim Crow-era vampire tale Sinnershas done the unthinkable by breaking the Oscars’ all-time nomination record earlier today. Its history-making 16 nominations beat the previous record of 14 nominations held by 1950’s All About Eve, James Cameron’s 1997 opus Titanic, and 2016’s La La Land.
In an interview with Variety after the Oscar nominations were announced, Coogler said he was “very impressed by everything that my collaborators were doing every day, so I’m so happy that everybody got recognized by their peers.” After admitting his bias, Coogler made a valuable point: “I think these folks I work with are some of the best in the world. I feel really fortunate. Because it doesn’t always go that way.”
The list of Sinners nominations includes: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor (Jordan), Best Supporting Actress (Wunmi Mosaku), and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Delroy Lindo), as well as Best noms in Casting, Cinematography, Original Score, Original Song (for “I Lied to You”), Film Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Sound, Visual Effects, Production Design and Costume Design. That last nomination carries dual weight, as it made legendary costume designer Ruth E. Carter (Malcolm X, Black Panther, Amistad) the most-nominated Black woman in Oscar history across any category, with this Sinners nomination being her fifth. This batch of nominations also ties the record for the most Black artists nominated for a single film, sharing that distinction with 2021’s Judas and the Black Messiah, which received 10 nominations for Black artists.
The hits don’t stop there. Sinners is the first film since 2021’s Dune to be nominated in every technical category, and only the seventh film with that distinction—when you exclude Original Song, that is; if you include the category of Original Song, Sinners and Titanic are the only films to hold that distinction. Coogler is also only the second Black filmmaker to receive nominations for Directing, Original Screenplay, and Producing in the same year; Jordan Peele was the first with 2017’s Get Out. And when you look at Black directors who have been nominated for Best Director, Coogler is seventh after Peele, Spike Lee, John Singleton, Lee Daniels, Steve McQueen, and Barry Jenkins. If Coogler wins for Best Director, he would be the first Black director to do so.
We truly could go on, and it would be warranted. Say what you will about the chances Sinners has against the other favorites—namely Marty Supreme and One Battle After Another—Coogler even earning these 16 nominations, after what felt like an industry-wide plot to play him for wanting to maintain ownership of his IP, speaks volumes for the work he’s put in over the almost 13 years since the release of Fruitvale Station.
Keep in mind, Sinners is Coogler’s sixth feature film. The Oakland native went from a football scholarship at Saint Mary’s College to getting his MFA at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, finding his passion for filmmaking after an injury had him questioning his football future. That eventually led to revitalizing the Rocky franchise with 2015’s Creed, which itself grossed almost $174 million at the box office on a budget of $35-40 million and earned Sylvester Stallone a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Three years later, Coogler joined the MCU and turned the late Chadwick Boseman into the Wakandan King T’Challa. And while the care Coogler and his crew took in bringing Africa to life on screen was absolutely astounding, some may have forgotten how well Black Panther did.
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That first Black Panther film was a record-breaking monster, at the time having the largest ticket pre-sale for a Marvel film, the largest opening weekend for a Black director, the highest-grossing first week of any Marvel film, the top-grossing opening weekend for a film with a predominately Black cast, the biggest February opening ever (yes, shattering the records Deadpool made in 2016), the highest grossing superhero film in the U.S., and much, much more. Coogler’s career defined the term “moving from strength to strength,” with his 2022 Black Panther sequel pulling in almost $860 million at the global box office (which was under the $1.35 billion the 2018 Black Panther made, but Wakanda Forever was released during the COVID-19 pandemic, which crippled most theatrical releases). Yet somehow, many in the industry considered Coogler’s deal with Warner Bros. for Sinners, which allowed Warner Bros. distribution rights to Sinners while giving Coogler the rights to the film in 25 years (as well as receiving final cut and more of the box office revenue upfront), to be the death of the industry.
Why? Could the Hollywood machine really not stand having a Black director bring an original idea to them, creating the project for them to distribute, then retaining that original idea after the distributor made its money? In an evolving Hollywood landscape, where AI threatens to steal the jobs of many within the industry and churn out content most consumers seemingly don’t want to consume, those in power would rather hold onto all copyrights and ideas. They spend more time trying to control how people watch their mid content and far less cultivating and nurturing the Cooglers of tomorrow.
All of this explains why anonymous industry executives were quoted in Vulture calling the Sinners deal “very dangerous,” and saying it could be “the end of the studio system.” Coogler was willing to negotiate and had the filmography (and box office receipts!) to play hard ball. Good thing he did, as Sinners went on to receive critical praise for Jordan’s dual performance as Smoke and Stack, the promise of newer actor Miles Canton, and even for that “I Lied to You” scene, which continues to resonate with fans of the film.
Ben Affleck recently spoke about Coogler’s Sinners deal with the All The Smoke podcast and mentioned that the real money for these feature films is in the “tail” end of their life, when, after the theatrical and Blu-ray releases, the film is licensed for television or other streaming services. That’s money that, over time, will go to Coogler’s pocket (and children) instead of Warner Bros’s coffers—and that may be the studios’ biggest fear. Directors having motion is one thing; Coogler, who is headstrong about what he wants and can deliver to the tune of 16 Academy Award nominations? The industry may be greedy, but it isn’t stupid. Someone was going to say yes to Coogler’s demands because they knew what we all now know: Coogler delivers.
