Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers 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] Best Picture is the final award of the night and is considered the most prestigious honor of the ceremony.[2][3][4]
| Academy Award for Best Picture | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Best Picture of the Year |
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) |
| First awarded | May 16, 1929 (for films released during the 1927/1928 film season) |
| Most recent winner | Parasite (2019) |
| Website | oscars |
The Grand Staircase columns at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, 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 563 films nominated for Best Picture and 92 winners.[6]
History
Category name changes
At the 1st Academy Awards ceremony (for 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 epic Wings, and the latter by the art film Sunrise. Each award was intended to honor different and equally important aspects of superior filmmaking.
The following year, the Academy dropped the Unique and Artistic Picture award, and decided retroactively that the award won by Wings was the highest honor that could be awarded.[7] Although the award kept the title Outstanding Picture for the next ceremony, the name underwent several changes over the years as seen below. Since 1962, the award has been simply called Best Picture.[6]
Recipients
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 limit of three producers receiving the award, after the five producers of Shakespeare in Love had received the award.[8][9][10]
As of 2020, the "Special Rules for the Best Picture of the Year Award" limit recipients to those who meet two main requirements:[11]
- Those with screen 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 bona fide team of not more than two people shall be considered to be a single “producer” if the two individuals have had an established producing partnership as determined by the Producers 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.[11]
The Academy can make exceptions to the limit, as when Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack were posthumously included among the four producers nominated for The Reader.[12] As of 2014 the Producers Branch Executive Committee determines such exceptions, noting they take place only in "rare and extraordinary circumstance[s]."[11]
Steven Spielberg currently holds the record for most nominations at ten, winning one, while Kathleen Kennedy holds the record for most nominations without a win at eight. Sam Spiegel and Saul Zaentz tie for the most wins with three each. As for the time when the Oscar was given to production companies instead, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer holds the record with five wins and 40 nominations.
Best Picture and Best Director
The Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director have been closely linked throughout their history. Of the 92 films that have won Best Picture, 66 have also been awarded Best Director. Only five films have been awarded Best Picture without receiving a Best Director nomination: Wings (1927/28), Grand Hotel (1931/32), Driving Miss Daisy (1989), Argo (2012), and Green Book (2018). The only two Best Director winners to win for films that did not receive a Best Picture nomination were during the early years of the awards: Lewis Milestone for Two Arabian Knights (1927/28), and Frank Lloyd for The Divine Lady (1928/29).[13]
Nomination limit increased
On June 24, 2009, AMPAS announced that the number of films to be nominated in the Best Picture award category would increase from five to ten, starting with the 82nd Academy Awards (2009).[14] Although the Academy never officially said so, many commenters noted the expansion was likely in part a response to public criticism of The Dark Knight (2008) (and, in previous years, other blockbusters and popular films) not being nominated for Best Picture.[15][16][17] Officially, the Academy said the rule change was a throwback to the Academy's early years in the 1930s and 1940s, when eight 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 President Sid 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."[14]
At the same time, the voting system was switched from first-past-the-post to instant runoff voting (also known as preferential voting).[18] Two years after this change, the Academy revised the rule again so that the number of films nominated was between five and ten; nominated films must earn either 5% of first-place rankings or 5% after an abbreviated variation of the single transferable vote nominating process.[19] 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."[20]
Language and country of origin
Only eleven non-English language films have been nominated in the category: La Grande Illusion (French, 1938); Z (French, 1969); The Emigrants (Swedish, 1972); Cries and Whispers (Swedish, 1973); The Postman (Il Postino) (Italian/Spanish, 1995); Life Is Beautiful (Italian, 1998); Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Mandarin Chinese, 2000); Letters from Iwo Jima (Japanese, 2006, but ineligible for Best Foreign Language Film, as it was an American production); Amour (French, 2012); Roma (Spanish/Mixtec, 2018); and Parasite (Korean, 2019).[21] Parasite became the first film not in English to win Best Picture.[22]
Only ten films wholly financed outside the United States have won Best Picture, eight of which were financed, in part or in whole, by the United Kingdom: Hamlet (1948), Tom Jones (1963), A Man for All Seasons (1966), Chariots of Fire (1981), Gandhi (1982), The Last Emperor (1987), Slumdog Millionaire (2008), and The King's Speech (2010). The ninth film, The Artist (2011), was financed by France and the tenth film, Parasite (2019), was financed by South Korea.[23]
Genres
Some genres of film (or mediums in the case of an animation) have received few or no nominations or awards. Only three animated films have been nominated — Beauty and the Beast (1991), Up (2009) and Toy Story 3 (2010). The latter two were nominated after the Academy expanded the number of nominees, but none have won. No comic book or superhero film has won, and only two have ever been nominated — Black Panther (2018), and Joker (2019). Only two fantasy films have won — The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and The Shape of Water (2017), although more have been nominated. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) is the only horror film to win Best Picture, and only five others have been nominated for Best Picture: The Exorcist (1973), Jaws (1975), The Sixth Sense (1999), Black Swan (2010), and Get Out (2017). No science fiction film has won the award, though eleven films have been nominated: A Clockwork Orange, Star Wars, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Avatar, District 9, Inception, Gravity, Her, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, and Arrival.
No documentary feature has yet been nominated for Best Picture, although Chang was nominated in the "Unique and Artistic Production" category at the 1927/28 awards.
Several musical adaptations based on material previously filmed in non-musical form have won Best Picture, including Gigi, West Side Story, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Oliver!, and Chicago.
Sequel nominations and winners
Few sequels have been nominated for Best Picture and just two have won: The Godfather Part II (the film before that, The Godfather, also won the award; the third film in the installment The Godfather Part III, was nominated as well but did not win the award) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (the films before that, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers were both nominated for the award but did not win). Other nominees include The Bells of St. Mary's (the sequel to the 1944 winner, Going My Way), Toy Story 3, and Mad Max: Fury Road.[21]
Another nominee, Broadway Melody of 1936, was a follow-up of sorts to previous winner The Broadway Melody. But, beyond the title and some music, there is no story connection to the earlier film. The Silence of the Lambs was adapted from the sequel novel to Red Dragon. The latter had been adapted for film as Manhunter by a different studio. Best Picture nominee The Lion in Winter features Peter O'Toole as King Henry II, a role he had played previously in the film Becket. But Winter is not a sequel to Becket. Clint Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima was a companion piece to his film Flags of Our Fathers, 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. In addition, Black Panther is a continuation on the events that occurred in Captain America: Civil War and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Silent film winners
At the 1st Academy Awards, the Best Picture award – then named "Academy Award for Outstanding Picture" – was presented to the 1927 silent film Wings.
The Artist (with the exception of a single scene of dialogue, and dream sequence with sound effects) was the first silent film since Wings to win Best Picture. It was the first silent nominee since 1928's The Patriot. It was the first Best Picture winner to be shot entirely in black-and-white since 1960's The Apartment. (Schindler's List, the 1993 winner, was predominantly black-and-white but it did contain some color sequences).[23]
Version availability
No Best Picture winner has been lost, though a few such as All Quiet on the Western Front and Lawrence of Arabia exist only in a form altered from their original, award-winning release form. This has usually been due to editing for reissue (and subsequently partly restored by archivists). Other winners and nominees, such as Tom Jones (prior to its 2018 reissues by The Criterion Collection and the British Film Institute) and Star Wars, are widely available only in subsequently altered versions. The Broadway Melody originally had some sequences photographed in two-color Technicolor. This footage survives only in black and white.[24]
The 1928 film The Patriot is the only Best Picture nominee that is lost (about one-third is extant).[25] The Racket, also from 1928, was believed lost for many years until a print was found in Howard Hughes' archives. It has since been restored and shown on Turner Classic Movies.[26] The only surviving complete prints of 1931's East Lynne and 1934's The White Parade exist within the UCLA film archive.[27]
Ceremony mistake
In 2017, at the 89th Academy Awards, presenter Faye Dunaway read La La Land as the winner of the award. However, she and Warren Beatty had mistakenly been given the duplicate envelope for the "Best Actress in a Leading Role" award, which Emma Stone had won for her role in La La Land moments prior. When the mistake was realized, the show's producers rushed onstage to correct it; in the resulting chaos, it was La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz who finally announced that Moonlight was the real winner.[28]
Winners and nominees
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 in Los Angeles County, California; normally this is also the year of first release, however, it may be the year after first release (as with Casablanca and, if the film-festival premiere is considered, Crash). 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 Picture Oscar, awarded in 2006. The number of the ceremony (1st, 2nd, etc.) appears in parentheses 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 the Producers Guild of America (PGA) until 1998, when all five producers of Shakespeare in Love made speeches after its win.[8][9] A three-producer limit has been applied some years since.[9][10] There was controversy over the exclusion of some PGA-credited producers of Crash and Little Miss Sunshine.[10] The Academy can make exceptions to the limit, as when Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack were posthumously among the four nominated for The Reader.[12] 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 and later adjusted in 2011, to vary between five and ten.
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.
1920s
| Year | Film | Film Studio |
|---|---|---|
| 1927/28 (1st) | ||
| Wings | Famous Players-Lasky | |
| The Racket | The Caddo Company | |
| 7th Heaven | Fox | |
| 1928/29 (2nd) [lower-alpha 1] | ||
| The Broadway Melody | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
| Alibi | Feature Productions | |
| Hollywood Revue | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
| In Old Arizona | Fox | |
| The Patriot | Paramount Famous Lasky |
1930s
1940s
| Year | Film | Film Studio |
|---|---|---|
| 1940 (13th) | ||
| Rebecca | Selznick International Pictures | |
| All This, and Heaven Too | Warner Bros. | |
| Foreign Correspondent | Walter Wanger (production company) | |
| The Grapes of Wrath | 20th Century-Fox | |
| The Great Dictator | Charles Chaplin Productions | |
| Kitty Foyle | RKO Radio | |
| The Letter | Warner Bros. | |
| The Long Voyage Home | Argosy-Wanger | |
| Our Town | Sol Lesser (production company) | |
| The Philadelphia Story | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
| 1941 (14th) | ||
| How Green Was My Valley | 20th Century-Fox | |
| Blossoms in the Dust | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
| Citizen Kane | Mercury | |
| Here Comes Mr. Jordan | Columbia | |
| Hold Back the Dawn | Paramount | |
| The Little Foxes | Samuel Goldwyn Productions | |
| The Maltese Falcon | Warner Bros. | |
| One Foot in Heaven | Warner Bros. | |
| Sergeant York | Warner Bros. | |
| Suspicion | RKO Radio | |
| 1942 (15th) | ||
| Mrs. Miniver | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
| The Invaders | Ortus | |
| Kings Row | Warner Bros. | |
| The Magnificent Ambersons | Mercury | |
| The Pied Piper | 20th Century-Fox | |
| The Pride of the Yankees | Samuel Goldwyn Productions | |
| Random Harvest | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
| The Talk of the Town | Columbia | |
| Wake Island | Paramount | |
| Yankee Doodle Dandy | Warner Bros. | |
| 1943 (16th) | ||
| Casablanca | Warner Bros. | |
| For Whom the Bell Tolls | Paramount | |
| Heaven Can Wait | 20th Century-Fox | |
| The Human Comedy | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
| In Which We Serve | Two Cities Films | |
| Madame Curie | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
| The More the Merrier | Columbia | |
| The Ox-Bow Incident | 20th Century-Fox | |
| The Song of Bernadette | 20th Century-Fox | |
| Watch on the Rhine | Warner Bros. | |
| 1944 (17th) | ||
| Going My Way | Paramount | |
| Double Indemnity | Paramount | |
| Gaslight | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
| Since You Went Away | Selznick International Pictures | |
| Wilson | 20th Century-Fox | |
| 1945 (18th) | ||
| The Lost Weekend | Paramount | |
| Anchors Aweigh | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
| The Bells of St. Mary's | Rainbow Productions | |
| Mildred Pierce | Warner Bros. | |
| Spellbound | Selznick International Pictures | |
| 1946 (19th) | ||
| The Best Years of Our Lives | Samuel Goldwyn Productions | |
| Henry V | Two Cities Films | |
| It's a Wonderful Life | Liberty Films | |
| The Razor's Edge | 20th Century-Fox | |
| The Yearling | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
| 1947 (20th) | ||
| Gentleman's Agreement | 20th Century-Fox | |
| The Bishop's Wife | Samuel Goldwyn Productions | |
| Crossfire | RKO Radio | |
| Great Expectations | J. Arthur Rank-Cineguild | |
| Miracle on 34th Street | 20th Century-Fox | |
| 1948 (21st) | ||
| Hamlet | J. Arthur Rank-Two Cities Films | |
| Johnny Belinda | Warner Bros. | |
| The Red Shoes | J. Arthur Rank-Archers | |
| The Snake Pit | 20th Century-Fox | |
| The Treasure of the Sierra Madre | Warner Bros. | |
| 1949 (22nd) | ||
| All the King's Men | Columbia | |
| Battleground | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
| The Heiress | Paramount | |
| A Letter to Three Wives | 20th Century-Fox | |
| Twelve O'Clock High | 20th Century-Fox |
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
Individuals with multiple wins
Individuals with multiple nominations
Production companies with multiple nominations and wins
| Production Company | Nominations | Wins |
|---|---|---|
| 20th Century Studios | 62 | 9 |
| Columbia Pictures | 56 | 12 |
| Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | 40 | 9 |
| Universal Pictures | 34 | 9 |
| Warner Bros. Pictures | 25 | 9 |
| Paramount Pictures | 20 | 11 |
| Searchlight Pictures | 18 | 4 |
| Miramax Films | 15 | 4 |
| DreamWorks | 13 | 4 |
| Walt Disney Studios | 13 | 0 |
| RKO Pictures | 11 | 1 |
| Focus Features | 10 | 0 |
| Plan B Entertainment | 8 | 3 |
| Samuel Goldwyn Productions | 8 | 1 |
| Orion Pictures | 6 | 4 |
| The Weinstein Company | 6 | 2 |
| Selznick International Pictures | 5 | 2 |
| Annapurna Pictures | 5 | 0 |
| A24 | 3 | 1 |
| J. Arthur Rank-Two Cities Films | 3 | 1 |
| Cosmopolitan | 3 | 0 |
| Netflix | 3 | 0 |
| Pixar Animation Studios | 2 | 0 |
| The Caddo Company | 2 | 0 |
| Walter Wanger (production company) | 2 | 0 |
| Mercury | 2 | 0 |
See also
- BAFTA Award for Best Film
- Independent Spirit Award for Best Film
- Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Picture
- Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama
- Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
- Producers Guild of America Award for Best Theatrical Motion Picture
- Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
- List of actors who have appeared in multiple Best Picture winners
- List of superlative Academy Award winners and nominees
- List of presenters of the Academy Award for Best Picture
- List of Big Five Academy Award winners and nominees
- Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture
- List of Academy Award-winning films
- List of film production companies
- List of films considered the best
- Lists of films
Notes
- 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 of de facto nominees, based on records of which films were evaluated by the judges at the time.
- The Academy also announced that A Farewell to Arms came in second, and Little Women third.
- The Academy also announced that The Barretts of Wimpole Street came in second, and The House of Rothschild third.
- The Academy also announced that The Informer came in second, and Captain Blood third.
References
- "How the Oscar Voting System Works". People.com. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
- "Oscars 2017: La La Land didn't win Best Picture. But should it have?". Vox. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
- "Moonlight wins Best Picture, not La La Land, after Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway gaffe". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
- "The Best Picture Winners of the 21st Century". Indiewire. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
- "The Oscars home is now the Dolby Theatre". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 2012-05-05. Retrieved 2012-05-24.
- "Academy Awards Database – Best Picture Winners and Nominees". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 2012-07-01. Retrieved 2012-05-24.
- "Why SUNRISE: A SONG OF TWO HUMANS is Essential". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on 2012-04-05. Retrieved 2012-05-24.
- "Who gets the Oscar?". Sydney Morning Herald. Associated Press. February 4, 2005. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved October 23, 2013.
- "Academy restricts Oscar winners". BBC. June 26, 2001. Archived from the original on December 14, 2013. Retrieved October 23, 2013.
- McNary, Dave (January 21, 2008). "PGA avoids credit limit". Variety. Archived from the original on October 24, 2013.
- "92ND ACADEMY AWARDS OF MERIT" (PDF). Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 2019. p. 23. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
- Yamato, Jen (January 27, 2009). "Academy Makes Exceptions for Pollack, Minghella Does this mean more Oscar sympathy for surprise nominee The Reader?". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on October 27, 2013. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
- "Best Director Facts – Trivia (Part 2)". Filmsite. Archived from the original on 2009-09-01. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
- Joyce Eng (24 June 2009). "Oscar Expands Best Picture Race to 10 Nominees". TV Guide Online. Archived from the original on 8 December 2012. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
- Buchanan, Kyle (2020-01-22). "10 Years Later, an Oscar Experiment That Actually Worked". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
- Rogers, Nathaniel (2018-07-18). "How a Dark Knight Best Picture snub forced the Oscars to change". Polygon. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
- Phipps, Keith (2020-01-30). "A Decade Ago, the Oscars Looked Down on Superhero Movies. Now One Might Win Best Picture". The Ringer. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
- Poll: Vote on the Oscars Like an Academy Member Archived 2012-11-12 at the Wayback Machine, Rob Richie, Huffington Post, 16 February 2011
- Steve Pond (2011-06-22). "New Best Picture Rules Could Discard Large Number of Oscar Ballots (Exclusive)". The Wrap. Archived from the original on March 4, 2014. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
- Nikki Finke (2011-06-14). "OSCAR SHOCKER! Academy Builds Surprise & Secrecy Into Best Picture Race: Now There Can Be Anywhere From 5 To 10 Nominees". Deadline Hollywood. MMC. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved June 15, 2011.
- "Best Pictures – Facts & Trivia (part 2)". Filmsite.org. Archived from the original on 2010-01-09. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
- Shoard, Catherine (2020-02-10). "Parasite makes Oscars history as first foreign language film to win best picture". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-02-10.
- "Best Pictures – Genre Biases". Filmsite.org. Archived from the original on 2010-01-10. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
- "The Broadway Melody". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 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 from the original on 2012-10-01. Retrieved 2012-05-24.
- "The Racket – Progressive Silent Film List". Silent Era. Archived from the original on 2012-03-31. Retrieved 2012-05-24.
- "East Lynne Trivia". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on 2013-12-15. Retrieved 2012-05-24.
- Rothman, Michael; Edison Hayden, Michael (February 27, 2017). "'Moonlight' wins best picture after 'La La Land' mistakenly announced". ABC News. Archived from the original on February 27, 2017. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
- "BEST PICTURE FACTS: MOST NOMINATIONS AND AWARDS" (PDF). oscars.org. Retrieved 2020-01-13.
External links
- Oscars.org (official Academy site)
- Oscar.com (official ceremony site)
- The Academy Awards Database (official site)
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