TheAcademy Award for Best Picture is one of theAcademy Awards (also known as Oscars) presented annually by theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to theproducers of the film and is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible to submit a nomination and vote on the final ballot.[1] The Best Picture category is traditionally the final award of the night and is widely considered the most prestigious honor of the ceremony.[2][3][4]
The Grand Staircase columns at theDolby Theatre inHollywood, where the Academy Awards ceremonies have been held since 2002, showcase every film that has won the Best Picture title since the award's inception.[5] There have been 611 films nominated for Best Picture and 97 winners.[6]
At the1st Academy Awards ceremony held in 1929 (for films made in 1927 and 1928), there were two categories of awards that were each considered the top award of the night: "Outstanding Picture" and "Unique and Artistic Picture", the former being won by the war epicWings, and the latter by the art filmSunrise. Each award was intended to honor different and equally important aspects of superior filmmaking. In particular,The Jazz Singer was disqualified from both awards, since its use ofsynchronized sound made the film asui generis item that would have unfairly competed against either category, and the Academy granted the film an honorary award instead.[7]
The following year, the Academy dropped theUnique and Artistic Picture award, deciding retroactively that the award won byWings was the highest honor that could be awarded, and allowed synchronized sound films to compete for the award.[8] Although the award kept the titleOutstanding Picture for the next ceremony, the name underwent several changes over the years, as seen below. Since 1962, the award has been simply calledBest Picture.[6]
Until 1950, this award was presented to a representative of the production company. That year the protocol was changed so that the award was presented to all credited producers. This rule was modified in 1999 to apply a maximum limit of three producers receiving the award, after the five producers ofShakespeare in Love had received the award.[9][10][11]
As of 2020[update], the "Special Rules for the Best Picture of the Year Award" limit recipients to those who meet two main requirements:[12]
Those withscreen credit of "producer" or "produced by", explicitly excluding those with the screen credit "executive producer, co-producer, associate producer, line producer, or produced in association with"
those three or fewer producers who have performed the major portion of the producing functions
The rules allow abona fide team of not more than two people to be considered a single "producer" if the two individuals have had an established producing partnership as determined by theProducers Guild of America Producing Partnership Panel. Final determination of the qualifying producer nominees for each nominated picture will be made by the Producers Branch Executive Committee, including the right to name any additional qualified producer as a nominee.[12]
The Academy can make exceptions to the limit, as whenAnthony Minghella andSydney Pollack were posthumously included among the four producers nominated forThe Reader.[13] As of 2014[update] the Producers Branch Executive Committee determines such exceptions, noting they take place only in "rare and extraordinary circumstance[s]."[12]
Steven Spielberg currently holds the record for most nominations at thirteen, winning one, whileKathleen Kennedy holds the record for most nominations without a win at eight.Sam Spiegel andSaul Zaentz tie for the most wins with three each. During the time when the Oscar was given to production companies instead,Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer received the most, with five wins and 40 nominations.
On June 24, 2009, theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) announced that the number of films to be nominated in the Best Picture award category would increase from 5 to 10, starting with the82nd Academy Awards (2009).[15] Although the Academy never officially said so, many commenters noted the expansion was likely in part a response to public criticism ofThe Dark Knight andWALL-E (both 2008) (and, in previous years, other blockbusters and popular films) not being nominated for Best Picture.[16][17][18] Officially, the Academy said the rule change was a throwback to the Academy's early years in the 1930s and 1940s, when 8 to 12 films were nominated each year. "Having 10 Best Picture nominees is going to allow Academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize," AMPAS PresidentSid Ganis said in a press conference. "I can't wait to see what that list of 10 looks like when the nominees are announced in February."[15]
At the same time, the voting system was switched fromfirst-past-the-post toinstant runoff voting (also known as preferential voting).[19] In 2011, the Academy revised the rule again so that the number of films nominated was between 5 and 10; nominated films must earn either 5% of first-place rankings or 5% after an abbreviated variation of thesingle transferable vote nominating process.[20] Bruce Davis, the Academy executive director at the time, said, "A Best Picture nomination should be an indication of extraordinary merit. If there are only eight pictures that truly earn that honor in a given year, we shouldn't feel an obligation to round out the number."[21] This system lasted until 2021, when the Academy reverted back to a set number of ten nominees from the94th Academy Awards onward.[22]
Since 1968, most Best Picture winners have been rated R under theMotion Picture Association'srating system.Oliver! is the only G-rated film andMidnight Cowboy is the only X-rated film (what is categorized as an NC-17 film today), so far, to win Best Picture; they won in back-to-back years, 1968 and 1969. The latter has since been changed to an R rating. Eleven films have won with a PG rating: the first wasPatton (1970) and the most recent wasDriving Miss Daisy (1989). Eleven more films have won with a PG-13 rating (which was introduced in 1984): the first wasThe Last Emperor (1987) and the most recent wasCODA (2021). For unrated films,A Room with a View (1985) is the first film to not be rated by the MPA and be nominated Best Picture, though no unrated films have won Best Picture.
Three animated films have been nominated for Best Picture:Beauty and the Beast (1991),Up (2009), andToy Story 3 (2010). The latter two were nominated after the Academy expanded the number of nominees, but none have won.
No comic book film has won, although three have been nominated:Skippy (1931),Black Panther (2018), andJoker (2019).[27]
No documentary has been nominated for Best Picture, althoughChang: A Drama of the Wilderness was nominated in theUnique and Artistic Picture category at the 1927/28 awards. ABest Documentary Feature category was introduced in 1941.
Toy Story 3,Mad Max: Fury Road, andTop Gun: Maverick are the only sequels to be nominated without any predecessors being nominated.The Godfather Part II andThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King are the only sequels to have won the award, and their respective trilogies are the only series to have three films nominated.The Godfather series is the only film series with multiple Best Picture winners, with thefirst film winning the award for 1972 and thesecond film winning the award for 1974.[23]
Another nominee,Broadway Melody of 1936, was a follow-up of sorts to previous winnerThe Broadway Melody, but beyond the title and some music, the two films have mutually independent stories.The Silence of the Lambs was adapted from the sequel novel toRed Dragon. The latter had been adapted for film asManhunter by a different studio, and the two films have different casts and creative teams and were not presented as a series.[29] Conversely, 2024'sWicked uses iconography and characters who appeared in 1939'sThe Wizard of Oz and otherOz films, but is not a direct prequel to any film.
Clint Eastwood'sLetters from Iwo Jima was a companion piece to his filmFlags of Our Fathers that was released earlier the same year. These two films depict the same battle from the different viewpoints of Japanese and United States military forces; the two films were shot back-to-back.
Along similar lines to sequels, there have been few nominees and winners that are either remakes or adaptations of the same source materials or subjects.
Four of the nominees for the94th ceremony were based on source material previously made into films:CODA,Dune,Nightmare Alley, andWest Side Story. The 2021 version ofWest Side Story became the second adaptation of the same source material for a previous Best Picture winner to be nominated for the same award after 1962'sMutiny on the Bounty.[32] For that same ceremony,CODA became the second remake of a non-English-language or international film to win.
Wings (1927), winner of the first Oscar for Best Picture
At the1st Academy Awards, the Best Picture award (then named "Academy Award for Outstanding Picture") was presented to the 1927silent filmWings.
The Artist (2011) was the first essentially silent (with the exception of a single scene of dialogue, and a dream sequence with sound effects) film sinceWings to win Best Picture. It was the first silent nominee since 1928'sThe Patriot and the first Best Picture winner to be produced entirely inblack-and-white since 1960'sThe Apartment. (Schindler's List, the 1993 winner, was predominantly black-and-white but contains some color sequences.)[26]
The 1928 filmThe Patriot is the only Best Picture nominee that is lost (about one-third is extant).[35]The Racket, also from 1928, was believed lost for many years until a print was found inHoward Hughes' archives. It has since been restored and shown onTurner Classic Movies.[36] The only surviving complete prints of 1931'sEast Lynne and 1934'sThe White Parade exist within theUCLA film archive.[37]
The Academy has established a set of "representation and inclusion standards", called Academy Aperture 2025, which a film is now required to satisfy in order to compete in the Best Picture category, starting with the96th Academy Awards for films released in 2023.[38][39] There are four general standards, of which a film must satisfy two to be considered for Best Picture: (a) on-screen representation, themes and narratives; (b) creative leadership and project team; (c) industry access and opportunities; and (d) audience development.[38] As explained byVox, the standards "basically break down into two big buckets: standards promoting more inclusive representation and standards promoting more inclusive employment".[40] The standards are intended to provide greater opportunities for employment, in cast, crew, studio apprenticeships and internships, and development, marketing, publicity, and distribution executives, among underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, women, LGBTQ+ people, and persons withcognitive orphysical disabilities, or who aredeaf or hard of hearing.[38][41]
These standards only apply to the Best Picture category and do not affect a film's eligibility in other Oscar categories.[38] For the94th and95th Academy Awards (films released in 2021 and 2022), filmmakers were required to submit a confidential Academy Inclusion Standards form to be considered for Best Picture but were not required to fulfill the standards.[40]
In 2013, the selection ofThe Greatest Show on Earth rather thanHigh Noon at the25th Academy Awards was listed byTime among the 10 most controversial Best Picture races.[43] Retrospectively,The Greatest Show on Earth has been considered by some to be one of the worst Best Picture winners in history.[44]
In general, the awardees of that category have been criticized for disproportionately recognizing films about white men over those of women or non-white people.[45] In opposition, the Academy's decision to favor Best Picture winning films with depiction of race relations among people of color—most primarilyDriving Miss Daisy,Crash, andGreen Book, all of which were directed by white filmmakers—led to significant backlash over racism against the Academy.[46]
In 2005,Brokeback Mountain losing the Best Picture toCrash was heavily criticized, with some critics such asKenneth Turan accusing the Academy members of homophobia and benefitting from making a non-groundbreaking choice inCrash,[47][48] considered as one of the most notable Oscars upsets.[49][50][51] After announcing the award, presenterJack Nicholson was caught on camera mouthing the word "whoa" out of apparent surprise at the result.[52] The film's use of moral quandary as a storytelling medium was widely reported as ironic, since many saw it as the "safe" alternative toBrokeback Mountain, which is about agay relationship (the other nominees,Good Night, and Good Luck,Capote, andMunich also tackle heavy subjects ofMcCarthyism, homosexuality, andterrorism, respectively).[53]
Though there have been exceptions likeBarry Jenkins'sMoonlight, films likePrecious andGet Out have been seen as potentially being shut out of the Best Picture race because of older and white Academy voters choosing not to see them.[54] From 2018 onwards, the Academy made an effort to add more younger, female, non-white, and non-American voters, and to create a non-voting "emeritus" status for people who had not worked in the film industry after a certain length of time, in order to diversify and rejuvenate their voter bloc.
Saving Private Ryan was immediately pegged as a favorite for the category by many members and fans of Spielberg's films, but it lost toShakespeare in Love. The Academy's decision was widely criticized.[55][56][57] The choice was seen as one of the biggest upsets in the awards history, and led toDreamWorks executives (including Terry Press) and many industry pundits accusingMiramax Films and one of theShakespeare in Love producers,Harvey Weinstein, of winning due to their award campaign's negative messaging againstSaving Private Ryan rather than their own film's merits. Press stated that Weinstein and Miramax "tried to get everybody to believe thatSaving Private Ryan was all in the first 15 minutes".[58][59]
Katzenberg (pictured in 2006) was responsible forBeauty and The Beast being nominated in the Best Picture category.
The category ofBest Animated Feature was created for the74th Academy Awards to ensure the recognition of animated films; prior to its creation, the only animated film ever nominated for Best Picture was 1991'sBeauty and the Beast. However, the award has since received criticism on the grounds that it discourages animated films from being eligible to win Best Picture. While the Academy rules allow for a film to be nominated in both categories,[60] only two animated films (Up andToy Story 3) have been nominated for Best Picture since the creation of the two categories.
Critics and audiences criticizedExtremely Loud & Incredibly Close's nomination for Best Picture, with some calling the film one of the worst Best Picture nominees ever.[71] Chris Krapek ofThe Huffington Post wrote very negatively about the film's nomination, calling the film "not only the worst reviewed Best Picture nominee of the last 10 years, [but] easily the worst film of 2011".[72]Paste Magazine's Adam Vitcavage called the film's consensus for a Best Picture nominee "certainly the worst for at least 28 years",[73] and David Gritten ofThe Telegraph called the nomination "mysterious".[74]
The nomination ofEmilia Pérez for Best Picture, among other categories, was heavily criticized. Critics took issue with the film's potrayal of trans characters,[75] and its portrayal ofMexican culture, including directorJacques Audiard's claims about theSpanish language being "a language of developing countries, it's a language of countries of few means, of poor people, of migrants."[76]
Karla Sofía Gascón, who plays the titular role, accused the team of fellow Best Picture nomineeI'm Still Here (as well as its lead, fellowBest Actress nomineeFernanda Torres) of running asmear campaign against her andEmilia Pérez,[77] which is explicitly against AMPAS's rules of campaigning.[78] The accusations were found to be baseless and itself perceived as an attempt to smear Torres's andI'm Still Here's reputation. As attention grew around Gascón, a series oftweets in which she made several bigoted comments, of racist and islamophobic nature,[79] were unearthed byCanadian journalist Sarah Hagi.[80] The majority of Oscar pundits agreed that they marked the end ofEmilia Pérez's, the year's most nominated film, chances of winning Best Picture.[81]
In the list below, winners are listed first in the gold row, followed by the other nominees.[6] Except for the early years (when the Academy used a non-calendar year), the year shown is the one in which the film first premiered inLos Angeles County, California; normally this is also the year of first release, but it may be the year after first release (as withCasablanca and, if the film-festival premiere is considered,Crash andThe Hurt Locker). This is also the year before the ceremony at which the award is given; for example, a film exhibited theatrically during 2005 was eligible for consideration for the 2005 Best PictureOscar, awarded in 2006. The number of the ceremony (1st, 2nd, etc.) appears inparentheses after the awards year, linked to the article on that ceremony. Each individual entry shows the title followed by nominee.
Until 1950, the Best Picture award was given to the production company; from 1951 on, it has gone to the producer or producers. The Academy used the producer credits of theProducers Guild of America (PGA) until 1998, when all five producers ofShakespeare in Love made speeches after its win.[9][10] A three-producer limit has been applied some years since.[10][11] There was controversy over the exclusion of some PGA-credited producers ofCrash andLittle Miss Sunshine.[11] The Academy can make exceptions to the limit, as whenAnthony Minghella andSydney Pollack were posthumously among the four nominated forThe Reader.[13] However, now any number of producers on a film can be nominated for Best Picture, should they be deemed eligible.
For the first ceremony, three films were nominated for the award. For the following three years, five films were nominated for the award. This was expanded to eight in 1933, to ten in 1934, and to twelve in 1935, before being dropped back to ten in 1937. In 1945, it was further reduced to five. This number remained until 2009, when the limit was raised to ten; it was adjusted from 2011 to 2020 to vary between five and ten, but has been a full ten since 2022.
For the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years. For example, the 2nd Academy Awards presented on April 3, 1930, recognized films that were released between August 1, 1928, and July 31, 1929. Starting with the 7th Academy Awards, held in 1935, the period of eligibility became the full previous calendar year from January 1 to December 31. This has been the rule every year since except 2020, when the end date was extended to February 28, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and 2021, which was correspondingly limited to March 1 to December 31.
Since 2023, the category's winners and nominees from the 1927/28 and 1928/29 ceremonies have entered thepublic domain.[82]
^The 2nd Academy Awards is unique in being the only occasion where there were no official nominees. Subsequent research by AMPAS has resulted in a list ofde facto nominees, based on records of which films were evaluated by the judges at the time.
^The Academy also announced thatA Farewell to Arms came in second, andLittle Women third.
^The Academy also announced thatThe Barretts of Wimpole Street came in second, andThe House of Rothschild third.
^The Academy also announced thatThe Informer came in second, andCaptain Blood third.
^ab"Who gets the Oscar?".Sydney Morning Herald. Associated Press. February 4, 2005.Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. RetrievedOctober 23, 2013.
^abc"92ND ACADEMY AWARDS OF MERIT"(PDF). Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 2019. p. 23.Archived(PDF) from the original on April 24, 2019. RetrievedApril 26, 2020.
^"The Broadway Melody".AFI Catalog of Feature Films.American Film Institute.Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. RetrievedJuly 7, 2014.The Technicolor footage for this sequence has since been lost, and only a black-and-white version is now available.
^"Oscar's Most Wanted". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived fromthe original on October 1, 2012. RetrievedMay 24, 2012.
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