The red carpet for the 81st Academy Awards in 2009, 17 years later, the 88th Academy Awards is just a month away. Photo by Greg Hernandez courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, CC by 2.0.
Sinners set an Oscars record with the most nominations in history, with the results to be decided March 15, 2026, at the 98th Academy Awards on ABC, hosted by Conan O’Brien.
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By Alyssa Cortes
On Jan. 22 at 8 a.m., the academy hosted a livestream with actors Danielle Brooks, a past Academy Award nominee, and Lewis Pullman to reveal the nominees for the 98th Academy Awards this March.
Among those nominated were One Battle After Another with 13 total nominations, including best picture and four acting nominations. Frankenstein, Marty Supreme, and Sentimental Value received nine nominations each.
With the most nominations this year, Sinners made history, becoming the most nominated film in Oscars history with a total of 16 nominations, including best picture, directing, and three acting nominations. Sinners beat the previous record of 14 total nominations, once a three-way tie between All about Eve (1950), Titanic (1997), and La La Land (2016).
Ruth E. Carter made history with her nomination for Sinners, becoming the most-nominated Black woman in the Oscars’ almost centennial history, with five nominations.
“That number (five nominations) seems a little small, especially since the most nominated white woman has seven times that, with 35 nominations,” said Gabriela Amador, a senior psychology major at The University of Tampa.
Amador is referencing Edith Head, a costume designer for films such as All About Eve (1950), Roman Holiday (1953), and The Sting (1973). She holds the record as the most-nominated woman in Oscar history with 35 nominations and eight wins.
Amador points to the lack of opportunities given to people of color, “that lessens the opportunity for nominations.”
“Carter’s nomination is nothing short of a step in the right direction,” said Jay Davis, a sophomore, an allied health major and film and media arts minor at UTampa. “I believe her representation shows that, as Ke Huy Quan said after winning an Oscar at the 95th annual Oscars, ‘This is the American Dream.’”
The love for films like Sinners, Frankenstein, and Weapons shocked many horror fans who are used to these films being overlooked.
Davis said they believe Sinner’s success is due to the originality of mixing genres, allowing audiences of all kinds to enjoy the film. They hope to see storytellers take this mindset to their future films.
“(Sinners) was easily my favorite film among this year’s nominees, ” said Taylor Quinn, a UTampa alumna. “In a time when many films rely on familiar themes and storylines, Sinners felt refreshing, bringing new ideas to the table and presenting them in a way that was very compelling for a horror film.”
One of the many genres Sinners uses is musicals. Quinn said the film’s music is one of its best strengths.
In Nov. 2025, Taylor Quinn is pictured alongside Buddy Guy, who played Sammie in the film’s finale. “I got to talk with him about his music and the movie, and even met his son, who was really kind,” said Quinn. Photo courtesy of Taylor Quinn.
“Rather than just supporting the story, the music carries the film from beginning to end,” said Quinn.
She mentions the film’s music montage scene, where the character Sammie performs: “I Lied to You.” According to Screenrant, it is a “triumph in filmmaking.”
“This sequence captures what makes the film so unique and memorable,” said Quinn. “By traveling through time in this single sequence, intertwining multiple generations through sound and movement, Sinners highlights the lasting impact of Black music on storytelling and cinema.”
Buddy Guy is a legendary guitarist and owner of Buddy Guy’s Legends, a bar with live music and blues in Chicago, Illinois. Photo courtesy of Taylor Quinn.
With the highs must also come the lows, and this year, many films that fans expected to be recognized weren’t.
A shock to many fans, Wicked: For Good (2025) received zero nominations this year, despite the film earning 30% more domestically than its predecessor, Wicked (2024).
The film received multiple nominations at this year’s Critics’ Choice and the Golden Globes. Yet the film was not recognized by the Academy for costume and production design, which were the categories Wicked won last year.
Snubs that upset UTampa students were Superman (2025) for editing or visual effects, Guillermo del Toro for directing Frankenstein (2025), Lost in Starlight (2025) for animated film, Ethan Hawke and Andrew Scott for Blue Moon (2025), and No Other Choice (2025) in the foreign film category.
Taylor Curry, associate professor of film, animation, and new media at UTampa, hasn’t seen any of the films nominated this year.
“If I decide to go to the theater and watch a film, I know my teeny tiny little ticket is adding to your film,” said Curry. “I’m very conscious of what I see, (and) what I fund.”
“There is a lot of authority and power in choosing to purchase a ticket and put your butt in that seat,” said Curry. She asks herself, “How it’s made, how it’s funded, how I feel.”
In 2023, Angela Bassett was nominated for her role in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, but lost to her white counterpart, Jamie Lee Curtis, for her role in Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Are you rewarding their body of work or the individual role? Does it change person to person?
The following year, Bassett received an honorary Oscar at the Governor’s Award. Two years prior, Samuel L. Jackson was honored at the same ceremony.
Black creators don’t deserve an ornamental award, said Curry in reference to Bassett’s snub and subsequent honorary award. She earned it, honor that, but there seems to be a resistance against the idea, and has been since the beginning.
In 1940, Hattie McDaniel became the first black person to win an Academy Award for her role in Gone With the Wind (1939). To accept the award, she had to walk from the back of the room past her castmates seated together at the front of the room, up to the stage.
“Patty McDaniel was an actress in the early 20th century who was always typecast into roles like the nanny or the maid,” said Brenton Boyd, the director of Black studies and assistant professor of English and writing at UTampa. “She didn’t write that (role) for herself. She didn’t want to be in that role, but that’s what she won for.”
Hollywood has a history of only wanting to see black people in certain roles, said Boyd, and he thinks Sinners is a good direction away from that.
The 98th Academy Awards is the first year that academy voters will be required to watch all nominated films. The academy previously held an honor system, meaning it was not required to watch the films before voting. This new rule was established in April 2025.
“If you take anything from people who study African American history and culture, we don’t want things to be in our favor; we just want it to be equal and fair,” said Boyd. “If this takes us a step forward to being fair, that’s what I think is the win.”