The nominees for the 2026 Oscars were unveiled last week, and unsurprisingly, Sinners earned several nominations. Well, that’s not fair; it seems like a given that the latest Ryan Coogler flick will be recognized in certain categories. The real shock is 16 nominations—which includes Best Picture, acting for Michael B. Jordan, Wunmi Mosaku, and Delroy Lindo, and Costume Design for Ruth E. Carter—set a record-breaking moment in its own right, making it the most nominated film in the history of the Academy.

Although Sinners Shut out of the awards conversation, however, it doesn’t capture how much of an event it felt throughout 2025 and quickly cemented itself as one of the biggest films of the year. Once it is announced as a original project involving Jordan and vampiresstudios are chomping at the bit for it; you know it has to be something good, and whenever we see a sign of itit looks like something nice. With five films in 12 years, Coogler has established himself as a director who deserves attention: he has a good track record, his films are profitable and well recognized by critics and audiences, and they remain in the conversation well after release.

Not many directors these days have that kind of juice (or manage to keep it up), let alone those whose filmography mostly consists of biopics and established IP, because it would be considered contract work or “sales.” but creed and Black Panther proved to be beneficial for everyone: the studios must express a hot new talent that offers them legitimacy beyond the box office, the audience must understand what makes a movie by Ryan Coogler, and above all, he got his skills in a strong safety net. It is also difficult to label Black Panther as the worst things Marvel has ever done (the even-numbered Thor films and at least one Deadpool movie anyway), and he’s clearly a man who doesn’t want to rest on his laurels. Coogler may not make his movies like it’s the last movie he’ll ever make, but he sure makes them look like he’s enjoying making them.

In time Sinners Coming around, his voice and profile are enough to make you curious about what he can cook himself without a force like Sylvester Stallone or Kevin Feige watching his back. Even if you don’t connect the dots between his own life and Sammie who is in danger of being absorbed into a vast apparatus of white men who seek to exploit him, the film is certainly informed by his previous films in a thematic or visual level. (The debut of Talokan sa Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a mini-horror movie all by itself, with its hypnotic siren song feeling like a test run for what’s to come.) If the mark of a good movie is that it leaves you with something to talk about, then Coogler’s movies leave a tangible cultural impact before any digital ink about them is spilled. No one can accuse his work as “industrial plants”; people really like his work, and it resonates with them, through a general Black lens or their own individuality.

And that’s really the main thing about Ryan Coogler: he’s just become a regular guy, who seems to be loved by all kinds of people. For cinephiles, the arc of his career acts as real-time validation for parasocial investment; at 39 years old, he is an outlier from MCU contemporaries like James Gunn or Taika Waititi in that he has gotten to “grow” behind the camera for everyone to see rather than entering with a large body of work under his belt. Part of the reason people react the way they do to legacy outlets sinners early box office because they felt that they had suddenly chosen a (metaphorical) child who at that moment had done nothing to really warrant it, whose great crime… he owns the film he made in 2050, past its sell-by date, and whose ownership he wanted because it was inspired by his late uncle and grandfather.

Regardless of what a parasocial wants, it cannot be denied that people are gradually coming to terms with the fact that the older generation of filmmakers we have grown up not around anymore in the coming years. So they want a new crop of directors, writers, and actors to get excited about, a position they think Coogler can fill alongside the likes of James Gunn, Celine Song, and whoever else. Intentionally or not, these three make themselves personal through interviews. The song is a fan of Zootopia, he saw it 10 times, which practically makes him a grown-up Disney. Gunn uses his online presence to dismiss the rumours and put the readers in comics which heralds the DC films.

In Coogler’s case, his magic trick is being like a guy you know who just knows things: you watch him. sketch a fight scene or talk aspect ratioshis words were etched into your mind as he turned your ear off, partly because of his thick, distinct accent. We may have to wait until March to find out how Sinners fare to the Oscars, but things seem to speak for themselves: people like Ryan Coogler, and they will ride for him until he gives them a reason not to.

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