The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards (also known as Oscars) presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted on May 16, 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. The Best Picture category is traditionally the final award of the night and is widely considered the most prestigious honor of the ceremony.
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. There have been 621 films nominated for Best Picture and 98 winners.
History Category name changes At the 1st 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 epic Wings, and the latter by the art film Sunrise. 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 of synchronized sound made the film a sui generis item that would have unfairly competed against either category, and the Academy granted the film an honorary award instead.
The following year, the Academy dropped the Unique and Artistic Picture award, deciding retroactively that the award won by Wings was the highest honor that could be awarded, and allowed synchronized sound films to compete for the award. 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.
1927/28–1928/29: Academy Award for Outstanding Picture 1929/30–1940: Academy Award for Outstanding Production 1941–1943: Academy Award for Outstanding Motion Picture 1944–1961: Academy Award for Best Motion Picture 1962–present: Academy Award for Best Picture
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 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 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 a 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 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). the Producers Branch Executive Committee determines such exceptions, noting they take place only in "rare and extraordinary circumstance[s]."
Steven Spielberg holds the record for most nominations at fourteen, 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. During the time when the Oscar was given to production companies instead, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer received the most, 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 98 films that have won Best Picture, 71 have also been awarded Best Director.
* Winners that were not nominated for the other category
+List of Discrepancies between Best Picture and Best DirectorYearBest Picture WinnerBest Picture DirectorBest Director FilmBest Director Winner1927-28WingsWilliam A. Wellman7th Heaven (Dramatic Picture)Frank BorzageTwo Arabian Knights (Comedy Picture)Lewis Milestone1928-29The Broadway MelodyHarry BeaumontThe Divine Lady Frank Lloyd1930-31CimarronWesley RugglesSkippyNorman Taurog1931-32Grand HotelEdmund GouldingBad GirlFrank Borzage1935Mutiny on the BountyFrank LloydThe InformerJohn Ford1936The Great ZiegfeldRobert Z. LeonardMr. Deeds Goes to TownFrank Capra1937The Life of Emile ZolaWilliam DieterleThe Awful TruthLeo McCarey1940RebeccaAlfred HitchcockThe Grapes of WrathJohn Ford1948HamletLaurence OlivierThe Treasure of the Sierra MadreJohn Huston1949All the King's MenRobert RossenA Letter to Three WivesJoseph Mankiewicz1951An American in ParisVincente MinnelliA Place in the SunGeorge Stevens1952The Greatest Show on EarthCecil B. DeMilleThe Quiet Man John Ford1956Around the World in 80 DaysMichael AndersonGiantGeorge Stevens1967In the Heat of the NightNorman JewisonThe GraduateMike Nichols1972The GodfatherFrancis Ford CoppolaCabaretBob Fosse1981Chariots of FireHugh HudsonRedsWarren Beatty1989Driving Miss DaisyBruce BeresfordBorn on the Fourth of JulyOliver Stone1998Shakespeare in LoveJohn MaddenSaving Private RyanSteven Spielberg2000GladiatorRidley ScottTrafficSteven Soderbergh2002ChicagoRob MarshallThe PianistRoman Polanski2005CrashPaul HaggisBrokeback MountainAng Lee2012ArgoBen AffleckLife of PiAng Lee201312 Years a SlaveSteve McQueenGravityAlfonso Cuarón2015SpotlightTom McCarthyThe RevenantAlejandro G. Iñárritu2016MoonlightBarry JenkinsLa La LandDamien Chazelle2018Green BookPeter FarrellyRomaAlfonso Cuarón2021CODASian HederThe Power of the DogJane Campion
Nomination limit increased On June 24, 2009, the Academy 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 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 and WALL-E (both 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 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 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 (also known as preferential voting)."Poll: Vote on the Oscars Like an Academy Member" , Rob Richie, HuffPost, February 16, 2011. 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 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 Twenty-one 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 because it was an American production); Amour (French, 2012); Roma (Spanish/Mixtec, 2018); Parasite (Korean, 2019); Minari (Korean, 2020, but ineligible for Best International Feature Film because it was an American production); Drive My Car (Japanese/Korean/Mandarin Chinese/German/Korean Sign Language, 2021), All Quiet on the Western Front (German, 2022), Anatomy of a Fall (French, 2023), Past Lives (Korean, 2023, but ineligible for Best International Feature Film because it was an American production), The Zone of Interest (German/Polish/Yiddish, 2023), Emilia Pérez (Spanish, 2024), I'm Still Here (Portuguese, 2024), The Secret Agent (Portuguese, 2025), and Sentimental Value (Norwegian, 2025). Parasite became the first film not in English to win Best Picture."Everything to Know about Nominee 'Minari (March 15, 2021). Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 11, 2021.
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 in France, and the tenth film, Parasite (2019), was financed in South Korea.
Rating Since 1968, most Best Picture winners have been rated R under the Motion Picture Association's rating system. Oliver! (1968) is the only G-rated film and Midnight Cowboy (1969) is the only X-rated film (what is categorized as an NC-17 film today), so far, to win Best Picture. The latter has since been changed to an R rating. Eleven films have won with a PG rating: the first was Patton (1970) and the most recent was Driving Miss Daisy (1989). Eleven more films have won with a PG-13 rating (which was introduced in 1984): the first was The Last Emperor (1987) and the most recent was CODA (2021). For unrated films, A Room with a View (1985) is the first film to not be rated by the MPA and be nominated for Best Picture, though no unrated films have won Best Picture.
Genres and mediums
Three animated films have been nominated for Best Picture: 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 film has won, although three have been nominated: Skippy (1931), Black Panther (2018), and Joker (2019).
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/thriller film to win Best Picture. Eight others have been nominated: The Exorcist (1973), Jaws (1975), The Sixth Sense (1999), Black Swan (2010), Get Out (2017), The Substance (2024), Frankenstein (2025), and Sinners (2025).
Several science-fiction films have been nominated for Best Picture, though Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) was the first one to win.
Titanic (1997) is the only disaster film to win Best Picture, though other such films have been nominated, including Airport (1970) and The Towering Inferno (1974).