For those curious minds, we’ve compiled a list of the most-nominated films in Oscar history. We ranked them by total wins, breaking ties at 14 and 13 nominations by considering whether they won Best Picture and the percentage of eligible categories for which they were recognized. Here are the 17 films with the most Oscar nominations.

Each film on this list was the most-nominated in its Oscar year, except for one anomaly in 2026. That year, “One Battle After Another” received nominations for Best Picture, direction and screenplay by Paul Thomas Anderson, and performances by Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, Benicio del Toro, and Sean Penn. It also gained recognition for Jonny Greenwood’s score, production design by Florencia Martin and Anthony Carlino, casting by Cassandra Kulukundis, cinematography by Michael Bauman, editing by Andy Jurgensen, and the sound team’s contributions.

Historically, no film with 13 or more nominations has ever left the Oscars empty-handed. The film “Emilia Pérez” came closest to this unfortunate record.

Even that impressive haul, however, was not enough to match “Sinners,” which had one fewer acting nod, but got into four categories — original song, costume design, makeup and hairstyling, and visual effects — where “One Battle After Another” didn’t show up. Still, second place against the most-nominated movie ever is not too shabby.

There’s still no case in Oscar history of a movie earning 13 or more nominations and winning no awards. But, if ever a film came close to that dubious achievement, it was “Emilia Pérez.”

The 2024 Mexico-set French musical rode its initial wave of award season enthusiasm to a lead in nominations. On the table at first were best picture, directing for Jacques Audiard, actress for Karla Sofia Gascón, supporting actress for Zoe Saldaña, adapted screenplay for Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, Léa Mysius, and Nicolas Livecchi, international feature film, original score for Clément Ducol and Camille, original song for “El Mal” and “Mi camino,” cinematography for Paul Guillaume, film editing for Juliette Welfling, and sound plus makeup and hairstyling for multi-person teams.

Momentum didn’t last, however. Mired in controversy (acknowledged by Conan O’Brien in a brutal monologue joke) and critical skepticism, “Emilia Pérez” walked away from the Oscars with only two wins, for Saldaña and “El Mal,” while losing best picture to “Anora” and international feature to Brazil’s “I’m Still Here.”

David Fincher’s only incursion into fantasy, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” was the most-nominated film at the 81st Oscars in 2009. The Academy honored the film itself, Fincher’s directing, Brad Pitt’s and Taraji P. Henson’s performances, Eric Roth and Robin Swicord’s adapted screenplay, Alexandre Desplat’s score, Donald Graham Burt and Victor J. Zolfo’s art direction, Claudio Miranda’s cinematography, Greg Cannom’s makeup, Jacqueline West’s costume design, Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall’s editing, and the work of the sound mixing and visual effects teams.

It was a mighty performance, covering every category save for actress, supporting actor, original song, and sound editing. Unluckily for “Benjamin Button,” however, 2009 was the year of the “Slumdog Millionaire” mega-sweep, best picture included. Only three awards went to Fincher’s film in the end: art direction, makeup, and visual effects.

Trilogy closer “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” is notable for winning every single Academy Award it was nominated for, registering the Oscars’ greatest clean sweep ever at 11 wins. But it was not the most nominated “The Lord of the Rings” movie. That honor belongs to “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.”

The first chapter in Peter Jackson’s legendary trilogy of J. R. R. Tolkien adaptations was nominated for best picture, directing, supporting actor for Ian McKellen, adapted screenplay for Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens, original score for Howard Shore, original song for “May It Be,” art direction for Grant Major and Dan Hennah, cinematography for Andrew Lesnie, makeup for Peter Owen and Richard Taylor, costume design for Taylor and Ngila Dickson, film editing for John Gilbert, and sound and visual effects for multi-person teams. It only missed actor, actress, supporting actress, and sound editing. Out of those 13 nods, “Fellowship” won score, cinematography, makeup, and VFX, but lost best picture to “A Beautiful Mind.”

Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water” holds the unfortunate distinction of being one of the two best picture winners to lose the most Oscars. At the 2018 ceremony, it won four of its 13 bids, tying with the nine defeats suffered by Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rebecca” in 1941.

The 13 nominations received by del Toro’s romantic fantasy included picture, directing, actress for Sally Hawkins, supporting actress for Octavia Spencer, supporting actor for Richard Jenkins, original screenplay for del Toro and Vanessa Taylor, original score for Alexandre Desplat, cinematography for Dan Laustsen, costume design for Luis Sequeira, film editing for Sidney Wolinsky, sound editing for Nathan Robitaille and Nelson Ferreira, and sound mixing and production design for three-person teams.

Out of those, “The Shape of Water” won picture, directing, score, and production design. The only categories where it missed a nomination were best actor, original song, makeup and hairstyling, and visual effects — the latter two somewhat surprising, considering it’s centered around an amphibian-man creature.

Two years prior to “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” Disney’s “Mary Poppins” also had one of the best Oscar showings ever for a film that didn’t win best picture. At the 1965 ceremony, Robert Stevenson’s beloved musical fantasy was up for picture, directing, actress for Julie Andrews, screenplay for Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, original score for Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, scoring adaptation or treatment for Irwin Kostal, song for “Chim Chim Cheer-ee” by the Shermans, sound for Robert O. Cook, cinematography (color) for Edward Colman, costume design (color) for Tony Walton, film editing for Cotton Warburton, art direction (color), and special visual effects.

“Mary Poppins” ultimately lost best picture to rival musical “My Fair Lady” (a film featuring Audrey Hepburn in a role that, ironically, Julie Andrews had originated on stage). But Andrews prevailed in best actress, the Sherman brothers won both of their music categories, and the movie counted additional wins for editing and visual effects in recognition of its landmark technical exuberance, totaling five statuettes from 13 nods.

Befitting its status as an intense close-quarters adaptation of the eponymous Edward Albee stage play, 1966’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” showed up in all four acting categories at the Oscars, with nods for Elizabeth Taylor in best actress, Richard Burton in best actor, Sandy Dennis in best supporting actress, and George Segal in best supporting actor.

In addition to those, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” had nominations for best picture, best directing for Mike Nichols, best adapted screenplay for Ernest Lehman, best original score for Alex North, best sound for George Groves, best art direction (black-and-white) for Richard Sylbert and George James Hopkins, best cinematography (black-and-white) for Haskell Wexler, best costume design (black-and-white) for Irene Sharaff, and best film editing for Sam O’Steen. Its only misses were in best song, sound effects, and special visual effects. In the end, it lost the big one to “A Man for All Seasons,” but still won five Oscars: acting awards for Taylor and Dennis, and all three black-and-white craft fields.

The 2002 Rob Marshall musical “Chicago” managed the rare feat of taking home best picture without winning awards for directing, writing, or lead acting — despite collecting nominations for Rob Marshall, Bill Condon, and Renée Zellweger, respectively, in each of those fields.

Its 13-nomination haul also included mentions for Queen Latifah and Catherine Zeta-Jones in supporting actress, John C. Reilly in supporting actor, the original song “I Move On” by John Kander and Fred Ebb, Dion Beebe’s cinematography, John Myhre and Gordon Sim’s art direction, Colleen Atwood’s costumes, Martin Walsh’s editing, and the sound mixing team. Actor, original score, sound editing, makeup, and visual effects, meanwhile, were all misses.

Ultimately, despite its uncharacteristic defeats in the top-shelf categories, the film’s campaign all the way to best picture was strengthened by Oscars for Zeta-Jones, the art direction, the sound mixing, the editing, and the costumes.

With its novel combination of playful historical dramedy and cutting-edge VFX, “Forrest Gump” led the 1995 Oscars at 13 total nominations. The film itself, Robert Zemeckis’ direction, Tom Hanks’ and Gary Sinise’s acting, Eric Roth’s screenplay, Alan Silvestri’s score, Rick Carter and Nancy Haigh’s art direction, Don Burgess’ cinematography, Arthur Schmidt’s editing, Randy Thom and Gloria S. Borders’ sound effects editing, and the work of the sound mixing, makeup, and visual effects teams all made it into contention.

After hitting in 13 out of 17 possible categories (missing only actress, supporting actress, original song, and costume design), “Forrest Gump” won six statuettes — for best picture, directing, actor, adapted screenplay, film editing, and visual effects. The merit of some of those wins, beating “Pulp Fiction” and “The Shawshank Redemption,” is often debated by cinephiles, but best VFX is pretty undeniable when you look at what “Forrest Gump” looks like without special effects.

The 1998 historical romantic comedy “Shakespeare in Love” is sometimes remembered by movie buffs as a somewhat lightweight best picture Oscar winner, but not everyone realizes what an awards juggernaut it actually was.

Gwyneth Paltrow (best actress), Judi Dench (best supporting actress), Geoffrey Rush (best supporting actor), John Madden’s direction, Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard’s original screenplay, Stephen Warbeck’s score, Martin Childs and Jill Quertier’s art direction, Richard Greatrex’s cinematography, Lisa Westcott and Veronica Brebner’s makeup, Sandy Powell’s costumes, David Gamble’s editing, and the work of the sound mixing team all received recognition from the Academy. Only best actor, best original song, best sound effects editing, and best visual effects were beyond the movie’s grasp.

Going into Oscar night as the most-nominated film ahead of “Saving Private Ryan” (which had 11 nods), “Shakespeare in Love” beat it for best picture, and collected additional awards for Paltrow, Dench, best original screenplay, best musical or comedy score, best art direction, and best costume design. Along with “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” it’s one of the only two non-musical comedies to reach the mark of seven Oscar wins.

Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” dominated the 2024 Academy Awards. First, it had the most nods: Best picture, directing and adapted screenplay for Nolan, actor for Cillian Murphy, supporting actress for Emily Blunt, supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr., original score for Ludwig Göransson, production design for Ruth De Jong and Claire Kaufman, cinematography for Hoyte van Hoytema, makeup and hairstyling for Luisa Abel, costume design for Ellen Mirojnick, film editing for Jennifer Lame, and sound for a four-person team.

Then, on Oscar night, “Oppenheimer” continued to thrive by taking home seven statuettes — for Nolan’s direction, Murphy, Downey Jr., Göransson, van Hoytema, Lame, and best picture on top of it all. It was the biggest Oscar sweep in 15 years, tied with “Gravity” (which lost best picture) and “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” But “Oppenheimer” also had a greater nomination haul than those two films, missing only best actress, visual effects, and original song.

14 years after “Gone with the Wind,” Fred Zinnemann’s 1953 war drama “From Here to Eternity” made a similar showing at the Oscars, also winning eight awards from 13 nominations. Those nominations included a jackpot in the acting categories, as Deborah Kerr (in best actress), Montgomery Clift and Burt Lancaster (in best actor), Donna Reed (in best supporting actress), and Frank Sinatra (in best supporting actor) all earned a spot in their respective categories.

In addition to those five nods, “From Here to Eternity” also contended for best picture, directing for Zinnemann, screenplay for Daniel Taradash, score for Morris Stoloff and George Duning, sound recording for John P. Livadary, cinematography (black-and-white) for Burnett Guffey, costume design (black-and-white) for Jean Louis, and film editing for William Lyon. It only missed best song and best art direction. In the end, Zinnemann, Reed, Sinatra, Taradash, Livadary, Guffey, Lyon, and the film itself all won, tying “Gone with the Wind” for most statuettes at the time.

The Oscars were still in their youth when “Gone With the Wind” set an intimidating benchmark for total nominations. At the 12th Academy Awards in 1940, the highest-grossing movie ever adjusted for inflation was up for outstanding production (the equivalent of best picture at the time), best directing for Victor Fleming, actress for Vivien Leigh, actor for Clark Gable, supporting actress for both Hattie McDaniel and Olivia de Havilland, screenplay for Sidney Howard, original score for Max Steiner, sound recording for Thomas T. Moulton, art direction for Lyle R. Wheeler, cinematography (color) for Ernest Haller and Ray Rennahan, film editing for Hal C. Kern and James E. Newcom, and special effects.

Out of these then-unprecedented 13 nominations, “Gone with the Wind” won eight, also a record at the time: Picture, directing, actress for Leigh, supporting actress for McDaniel, screenplay, art direction, cinematography, and film editing. It also very nearly swept the available nods, missing only best song (where it had no candidates) and supporting actor.

Prior to “Sinners,” the movie to fare the best with Oscar nominations in the 21st century was “La La Land.” Damien Chazelle’s bittersweet Los Angeles-based romantic musical scored almost every nod it could, getting into best picture, best directing, best actress for Emma Stone, best actor for Ryan Gosling, best original screenplay for Chazelle, best original score for Justin Hurwitz, best cinematography for Linus Sandgren, best production design for David Wasco and Sandy Reynolds-Wasco, best costume design for Mary Zophres, best film editing for Tom Cross, best sound editing, and best sound mixing. It also had two original song nods, for “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” and “City of Stars,” thus equaling the then-record of 14 nominations.

The only categories “La La Land” missed in the nomination stage were supporting actor, supporting actress, makeup and hairstyling, and visual effects. At the Oscars proper, meanwhile, it snagged six statuettes — for Stone, Sandgren, Hurwitz’s score, the Reynolds-Wascos, “City of Stars,” and Chazelle’s direction — but lost best picture to “Moonlight” after being mistakenly announced as the winner.

One of the most iconic of all Golden Age Hollywood movies, 1950’s “All About Eve” managed the incredible feat of scoring 14 nominations at a time when there were fewer technical categories to bolster a movie’s tally. In addition to Joseph L. Mankiewicz’ direction and screenplay (which includes an iconic movie line you’ve been misquoting), Alfred Newman’s score, Thomas T. Moulton’s sound recording, Milton Krasner’s cinematography, Edith Head and Charles LeMaire’s costumes, Barbara McLean’s editing, the art direction team, and best picture, “All About Eve” also scored a whopping five acting nods.

Ultimately, only George Sanders in supporting actor prevailed, while both Bette Davis and Anne Baxter lost the best actress trophy, and Celeste Holm and Thelma Ritter lost supporting actress. (The female-centric film had no best actor or best song contenders, making those, plus best special effects, the only categories where it blanked altogether.) Even so, “All About Eve” managed to take home best picture, directing, screenplay, sound recording, and costume design (black-and-white) to emerge as the night’s big winner.

Prior to the triumph of “Sinners,” a single movie simultaneously held the three-way joint records for most Oscar nominations and most Oscar wins: “Titanic.” James Cameron’s historical romance disaster epic rode its record-breaking box office to 14 nominations at the 1998 ceremony. It ended nods for best picture, directing for Cameron, actress for Kate Winslet, supporting actress for Gloria Stuart, dramatic score for James Horner, song for “My Heart Will Go On” by Horner and Will Jennings, cinematography for Russell Carpenter, art direction for Peter Lamont and Michael D. Ford, costume design for Deborah Lynn Scott, and visual effects, sound effects editing, sound, makeup, and film editing for multi-person teams.

In other words, “Titanic” swept the technicals; the only nominations it missed were for best actor (where Leonardo DiCaprio was notoriously snubbed), best supporting actor, and best original screenplay. Then, come Oscar night, the movie prevailed in 11 out of its 14 bids (missing only actress, supporting actress, and makeup), tying with 1959’s “Ben-Hur” (and later 2001’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King”) for most wins. No wonder Cameron felt like the king of the world.

It took 98 years for a movie to break the 14-nomination ceiling at the Oscars, but, in 2026, it finally happened. And “Sinners” didn’t just break the ceiling — it positively shattered it. Ryan Coogler’s most ambitious movie yet collected a gobsmacking 16 nods, placing it as the most-nominated movie ever at the Academy Awards by a comfortable margin.

What’s especially stunning about the achievement of “Sinners” is that, thanks to its one-of-a-kind combination of grand drama, stirring music, crackling action, attentive period recreation, and gory vampire business, it collected nominations in every single category where it could have. “Sinners” managed to score nods for Coogler’s direction and screenplay, Michael B. Jordan’s, Wunmi Mosaku’s, and Delroy Lindo’s performances, Ludwig Göransson’s score, Francine Maisler’s casting, Autumn Durald Arkapaw’s cinematography, Hannah Beachler and Monique Champagne’s production design, Ruth E. Carter’s costumes, Michael P. Shawver’s editing, the VFX, sound, and makeup and hairstyling teams, and the centerpiece song “I Lied to You” by Göransson and Raphael Saadiq — all crowned, of course, by a best picture nomination.

The only eligible category where “Sinners” technically “missed” was best actress, because it didn’t have a lead actress in contention (Hailee Steinfeld campaigned in Supporting). Otherwise, it literally cleared the board.