Warner Bros Spent $30M on ‘Sinners’ and ‘One Battle’ Oscar Campaigns

Remember when Netflix spent a record $25 million-plus in its bid to land Best Picture for “Roma”? Oscar campaigns ain’t cheap — and in 2026, when you’re the studio behind the top two Best Picture frontrunners, you spend. Big.

Sources tell Variety that Warner Bros. shelled out roughly $30 million on Oscar campaigns for “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another.” The budgets were nearly identical, landing somewhere between $14 million and $16 million per film, so there was no clear favored horse in the race.

The payoff? “Sinners” landed a record-breaking 16 Oscar nominations, while “One Battle After Another” followed closely behind with 14, the second-most nods this year. By most accounts, the Best Picture race has narrowed to these two films — money well spent, it seems, as Warner Bros. is poised to claim its first Best Picture win since 2012’s Argo when the envelopes are opened on March 15.

Now, the million-dollar question: is spending this much money just to win a Best Picture Oscar actually worth it? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Winning rarely pays off directly in box office or streaming revenue, but studios have long seen it as worth it for prestige, industry influence, and long-term brand value. In other words, it’s like buying a $30 million trophy you can’t hang on your wall—but everyone in Hollywood will treat you like you did.