History
Category name changes
At theRecipients
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 of ''Shakespeare in Love'' had received the award. , the "Special Rules for the Best Picture of the Year Award" limit recipients to those who meet two main requirements: * Those with motion picture credits, 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 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. 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 (2008 film), The Reader.'' the Producers Branch Executive Committee determines such exceptions, noting they take place only in "rare and extraordinary circumstance[s]." Steven Spielberg currently holds the record for most nominations at eleven, winning one, while Kathleen Kennedy (producer), 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 Academy Award for Best Director, Best Director have been closely linked throughout their history. Of the 94 films that have won Best Picture, 67 have also been awarded Best Director. Only six films have been awarded Best Picture without receiving a Best Director nomination: ''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). 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 (film), The Dark Knight'' (2008) (and, in previous years, other blockbusters and popular films) not being nominated for Best Picture. 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." At the same time, the voting system was switched from first-past-the-post to Instant-runoff voting, instant runoff voting (also known as preferential voting). In 2011, 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. 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." This system lasted until 2021, when the Academy reverted back to a set number of ten nominees from the 94th Academy Awards onward.Language and country of origin
Only thirteen non-English language films have been nominated in the category: ''La Grande Illusion'' (French, 1938); ''Z (1969 film), Z'' (French, 1969); ''The Emigrants (film), The Emigrants'' (Swedish, 1972); ''Cries and Whispers'' (Swedish, 1973); ''Il Postino: The Postman, The Postman (Il Postino)'' (Italian/Spanish, 1995); ''Life Is Beautiful'' (Italian, 1998); ''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'' (Standard Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, 2000); ''Letters from Iwo Jima'' (Japanese, 2006, but ineligible for Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, Best Foreign Language Film, as it was an American production); ''Amour (2012 film), Amour'' (French, 2012); Roma (2018 film), ''Roma'' (Spanish/Mixtec, 2018); ''Parasite (2019 film), Parasite'' (Korean, 2019); ''Minari (film), Minari'' (Korean, 2020, but ineligible for Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, Best International Feature Film, as it was an American production), and ''Drive My Car (film), Drive My Car'' (Japanese, 2021). ''Parasite'' became the first film not in English to win Best Picture. 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 film), Hamlet'' (1948), ''Tom Jones (1963 film), Tom Jones'' (1963), ''A Man for All Seasons (1966 film), A Man for All Seasons'' (1966), ''Chariots of Fire'' (1981), ''Gandhi (film), Gandhi'' (1982), ''The Last Emperor'' (1987), ''Slumdog Millionaire'' (2008), and ''The King's Speech'' (2010). The ninth film, ''The Artist (film), The Artist'' (2011), was financed in France and the tenth film, ''Parasite (2019 film), Parasite'' (2019), was financed in South Korea.Rating
Since 1968, most Best Picture winners have been R-rated. Oliver! (film), ''Oliver!'' is the only G-rated film and ''Midnight Cowboy'' is the only X-rated (now NC-17) film, so far, to win Best Picture. The latter has since been downgraded to an R rating. Only eleven films have won with a PG rating, the first was ''Patton (film), Patton'' and the last was ''Driving Miss Daisy''. Only nine films have won with a PG-13 rating, the first was ''The Last Emperor'' and the last was ''CODA (2021 film), CODA''.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 film), Beauty and the Beast'' (1991), ''Up (2009 film), 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 three have ever been nominated — ''Skippy (film), Skippy'' (1931), ''Black Panther (film), Black Panther'' (2018), and ''Joker (2019 film), 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 (film), 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 (film), The Exorcist'' (1973), ''Jaws (film), Jaws'' (1975), ''The Sixth Sense'' (1999), ''Black Swan (film), Black Swan'' (2010), and ''Get Out'' (2017). No science fiction film has won the award, although several films have been nominated, including ''A Clockwork Orange (film), A Clockwork Orange'', ''Star Wars (film), Star Wars'', ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'', ''Avatar (2009 film), Avatar'', ''District 9'', ''Inception'', ''Gravity (2013 film), Gravity'', ''Her (film), Her'', ''The Martian (film), The Martian'', ''Arrival (film), Arrival'', ''Mad Max: Fury Road'', ''Don't Look Up'' and ''Dune (2021 film), Dune''. No documentary feature has yet been nominated for Best Picture, although ''Chang (film), 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 (1958 film), Gigi'', ''West Side Story (1961 film), West Side Story'', ''My Fair Lady (film), My Fair Lady'', ''The Sound of Music (film), The Sound of Music'', ''Oliver! (film), Oliver!'', and ''Chicago (2002 film), Chicago''. Several epic film, epics or historical epic films have won Best Picture, including the first recipient ''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''), ''The Queen (2006 film), The Queen'' (sequel to the 2003 television film, ''The Deal (2003 film), The Deal''), ''Toy Story 3,'' and ''Mad Max: Fury Road.'' 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 (film), The Silence of the Lambs'' was adapted from the sequel novel to ''Red Dragon (novel), Red Dragon.'' The latter had been adapted for film as ''Manhunter (film), Manhunter'' by a different studio. ''The Lion in Winter (1968 film), The Lion in Winter'' features Peter O'Toole as Henry II of England, King Henry II, a role he had played previously in the film ''Becket (1964 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 (film), Flags 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. In addition, ''Black Panther (film), Black Panther'' is a continuation of the events that occurred in ''Captain America: Civil War'' and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.Remake nominations and winners
Along similar lines to sequels, there have been few winners that are either remakes or adaptations of the same source materials or subjects. 1959's ''Ben-Hur (1959 film), Ben-Hur'' is a remake of the Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925 film), 1925 silent film with a similar title and both were adapted from Lew Wallace's 1880 novel ''Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ''. 2006's ''The Departed'' is a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong cinema, Hong Kong film ''Infernal Affairs'' and was the first remake of a non-English language or international film to win. Other nominees include 1963's ''Cleopatra (1963 film), Cleopatra'' about the Cleopatra, title last queen of Egypt following the Cleopatra (1934 film), 1934 version, 2018's ''A Star Is Born (2018 film), A Star is Born'' following the A Star Is Born (1937 film), 1937 film of the same name, and 2019's ''Little Women (2019 film), Little Women'' following the Little Women (1933 film), 1933 film of the same name with both being adaptations of the Little Women, 1868 novel. 2010's ''True Grit (2010 film), True Grit'' was the second adaptation of Charles Portis's True Grit (novel), 1968 novel following the True Grit (1969 film), 1969 film of the same name. Four of the nominees for the 94th Academy Awards, 94th ceremony were based on source material previously made into films: ''CODA (2021 film), CODA'', ''Dune (2021 film), Dune'', ''Nightmare Alley (2021 film), Nightmare Alley'', and ''West Side Story (2021 film), West Side Story''. 2021's ''West 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's ''Mutiny on the Bounty (1962 film), Mutiny on the Bounty''. For that same ceremony, ''CODA'' became the second remake of a non-English language or international film to win.Silent film winners
At theVersion availability
No Best Picture winner has been lost film, lost, though a few such as ''All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film), All Quiet on the Western Front'' and ''Lawrence of Arabia (film), 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 (film), Star Wars,'' are widely available only in subsequently altered versions. ''The Broadway Melody'' originally had some sequences photographed in Technicolor#Process 3, two-color Technicolor. This footage survives only in black and white. The 1928 film ''The Patriot (1928 film), The Patriot'' is the only Best Picture nominee that is lost (about one-third is extant). ''The Racket (1928 film), 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. The only surviving complete prints of 1931's ''East Lynne (1931 film), East Lynne'' and 1934's ''The White Parade'' exist within the UCLA film archive.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 "Academy Award for Best Actress, Best Actress in a Leading Role" award, which Emma Stone had won for her role in ''La La Land'' moments prior. In the resulting chaos, it was ''La La Land'' producer Jordan Horowitz who finally announced—two minutes and twenty-seven seconds later—that ''Moonlight (2016 film), Moonlight'' was the real winner.Winners and nominees
In the list below, winners are listed first in the gold row, followed by the other nominees. 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 (film), Casablanca'' and, if the film-festival premiere is considered, ''Crash (2004 film), 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 Academy Awards, Oscar, awarded in 2006. The number of the ceremony (1st, 2nd, etc.) appears in Bracket, 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. A three-producer limit has been applied some years since. There was controversy over the exclusion of some PGA-credited producers of ''Crash (2004 film), Crash'' and ''Little Miss Sunshine''. The Academy can make exceptions to the limit, as when Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack were posthumously among the four nominated for ''The Reader (2008 film), The Reader''. 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
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
Individuals with multiple wins
;3 wins * Sam Spiegel * Saul Zaentz ;2 wins * Clint Eastwood * Arthur Freed * Dede Gardner * Jeremy Kleiner * Branko Lustig * Albert S. Ruddy * Robert WiseIndividuals with multiple nominations
;11 nominations * Steven Spielberg ;9 nominations * Scott Rudin ;8 nominations * Kathleen Kennedy (producer), Kathleen Kennedy ;6 nominations * Eric Fellner * Dede Gardner * Stanley Kramer ;5 nominations * Tim Bevan * Francis Ford Coppola * Clint Eastwood * Jeremy Kleiner * Frank Marshall (producer), Frank Marshall ;4 nominations * Warren Beatty * James L. Brooks * David Brown (producer), David Brown * Coen brothers, Ethan Coen * Bradley Cooper * Megan Ellison * Donna Gigliotti * Peter Jackson * Norman Jewison * Graham King * Sydney Pollack * David Puttnam * Sam Spiegel * George Stevens * Irwin Winkler ;3 nominations * Paul Thomas Anderson * Lawrence Bender * Jason Blum * Iain Canning * Ceán Chaffin * Robert Chartoff * Coen brothers, Joel Coen * Bruce Cohen * Christian Colson * Michael De Luca * Steve Golin * Brian Grazer * David Heyman * Alejandro González Iñárritu * Emma Tillinger Koskoff * Kristie Macosko Krieger * Stanley Kubrick * Robert Lorenz * Ismail Merchant * Barrie M. Osborne * Brad Pitt * Marc Platt (producer), Marc Platt * Martin Scorsese * Emile Sherman * Hal B. Wallis * Fran Walsh * Robert Wise * Saul Zaentz * Richard D. Zanuck ;2 nominations * Buddy Adler * Robert Altman * Kathryn Bigelow * Mark Boal * John Boorman * John Knatchbull, 7th Baron Brabourne, John Brabourne * Lisa Bruce * Dana Brunetti * Jim Burke (film producer), Jim Burke * James Cameron * Peter Chernin * Alfonso Cuarón * J. Miles Dale * Guillermo del Toro * Cecil B. DeMille * Finola Dwyer * John Foreman (producer), John Foreman * Gray Frederickson * Arthur Freed * Richard N. Gladstein * Jonathan Gordon * Ed Guiney * Jerome Hellman * Grant Heslov * Grant Hill (producer), Grant Hill * Ron Howard * Stanley R. Jaffe * Dan Janvey * Dan Jinks * Mark Johnson (producer), Mark Johnson * Ross Katz * A. Kitman Ho * Arnold Kopelson * Gary Kurtz * Jon Landau (film producer), Jon Landau * Ang Lee * Ernest Lehman * Daniel Lupi * Branko Lustig * Michael Mann * Anthony McCarten * Frank McCarthy (producer), Frank McCarthy * Adam McKay * Barry Mendel * Kevin Messick * Arnon Milchan * George Miller (director), George Miller * Doug Mitchell (film producer), Doug Mitchell * Gil Netter * Patrick J. Palmer * Mary Parent * David Parfitt * Amy Pascal * Jordan Peele * Julia Phillips * Michael Phillips (producer), Michael Phillips * Amanda Posey * Sean McKittrick * Christopher Nolan * Fred Roos * Albert S. Ruddy * Tracey Seaward * Ronald L. Schwary * JoAnne Sellar * Michael Shamberg * Stacey Sher * Bernard Smith (editor), Bernard Smith * Peter Spears * Ray Stark * Oliver Stone * Emma Thomas * Jenno Topping * Douglas Urbanski * Jerry Wald * Jack L. Warner * Harvey Weinstein * Douglas Wick * John and James Woolf, James Woolf * John and James Woolf, John Woolf * William Wyler * Peter Yates * Sam Zimbalist * Fred Zinnemann * Edward ZwickProduction companies with multiple nominations and wins
Note
* Only three film studios held the most records; Columbia Pictures holds the most wins with 12, 20th Century Studios holds the most nominations with 62, and Focus Features holds the most nominations without a win with 10.See also
* BAFTA Award for Best Film * Golden Pyramid Award * 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 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 * Academy Aperture 2025Notes
References
External links