Academy Award for Best Picture facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Academy Award for Best Picture
The 98th recipients: Paul Thomas Anderson (pictured), Adam Somner (p.n.), and Sara Murphy
Presented by	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)
Country	United States
First awarded	May 16, 1929; 96 years ago (1929-05-16) (for films released during the 1927/1928 film season)
Currently held by	One Battle After Another (2025)

The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the most important awards given out each year at the Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has presented this award since May 16, 1929. It honors the best film of the year and is given to the people who produced it. This is a special award because every member of the Academy can suggest films and vote for the winner. It's usually the last award announced at the ceremony and is seen as the biggest honor a film can receive.

The Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, where the Oscars are held, has columns that show every film that has won Best Picture. So far, 98 films have won this amazing award, out of 621 films that were nominated.

History of the Best Picture Award

How the Award Name Changed Over Time

When the first Academy Awards happened in 1929, there were two main awards for films: "Outstanding Picture" and "Unique and Artistic Picture." Wings won "Outstanding Picture," and Sunrise won "Unique and Artistic Picture." These awards were meant to celebrate different kinds of great movies. A special film called The Jazz Singer got an honorary award because it used sound in a new way, which made it different from other films competing.

The next year, the "Unique and Artistic Picture" award was removed. The Academy decided that the award won by Wings was the highest honor. Films with sound were then allowed to compete. The award's name changed a few times over the years. Since 1962, it has simply been 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

Who Receives the Best Picture Award?

At first, the award went to the film production company. But in 1950, the rules changed. Now, all the credited producers of a film receive the award. In 1999, a new rule was added to limit the number of producers to a maximum of three. This happened after five producers for Shakespeare in Love all received the award.

Today, the rules say that only producers who have a "producer" or "produced by" credit on screen can receive the award. They must also have done most of the producing work. Sometimes, a team of two people who always work together can be counted as one producer. The Academy can make exceptions in special cases. For example, Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack were included among the four nominated producers for The Reader after they had passed away.

Steven Spielberg has been nominated for Best Picture 14 times, which is a record! He has won once. Kathleen Kennedy has the most nominations without a win, with eight. Sam Spiegel and Saul Zaentz have each won three times, which is the most for individuals. When the award went to companies, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer won five times and was nominated 40 times.

Best Picture and Best Director Awards

The awards for Best Picture and Best Director often go hand-in-hand. Out of 97 films that have won Best Picture, 70 also won Best Director. Only six films have won Best Picture without their director being nominated for Best Director. These include Wings (1927/28) and CODA (2021).

More Films Nominated for Best Picture

On June 24, 2009, the Academy announced that the number of films nominated for Best Picture would increase from 5 to 10. This change started with the 82nd Academy Awards (for films released in 2009). Many people thought this change happened because popular movies like The Dark Knight and WALL-E (both from 2008) weren't nominated for Best Picture. The Academy said it was a way to go back to how things were in the early days, when 8 to 12 films were nominated.

Sid Ganis, who was the Academy President then, said that having 10 nominees would allow voters to recognize more great movies. At the same time, the voting system changed to a "preferential voting" method. In 2011, the rule changed again, allowing between 5 and 10 nominees. This system lasted until 2021. Since the 94th Academy Awards (for films released in 2021), there have been a set number of ten nominees again.

Films from Around the World

Many films not in English have been nominated for Best Picture. For example, La Grande Illusion (French, 1938), Life Is Beautiful (Italian, 1998), and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Mandarin Chinese, 2000) were all nominated. Parasite (Korean, 2019) made history by becoming the first non-English film to win Best Picture!

Some films made outside the United States have also won Best Picture. Eight of these were from the United Kingdom, like Hamlet (1948) and The King's Speech (2010). The Artist (2011) was from France, and Parasite (2019) was from South Korea.

Film Ratings of Best Picture Winners

Since 1968, most Best Picture winners have been rated R. This means they are for mature audiences. Oliver! (1968) is the only G-rated film to win, meaning it's suitable for everyone. Midnight Cowboy (1969) was the only X-rated film to win, which is now called NC-17 (for adults only). It was later changed to an R rating.

Eleven films with a PG rating (parental guidance suggested) have won, such as Patton (1970) and Driving Miss Daisy (1989). Eleven more films with a PG-13 rating (parents strongly cautioned) have won, like The Last Emperor (1987) and CODA (2021).

Different Types of Films That Won

• Animated Films: Three animated movies have been nominated for Best Picture: Beauty and the Beast (1991), Up (2009), and Toy Story 3 (2010). None of them have won.
• Comic Book Films: No comic book film has won, but three have been nominated: Skippy (1931), Black Panther (2018), and Joker (2019).
• Fantasy Films: Two fantasy films have won: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and The Shape of Water (2017).
• Horror/Thriller Films: The Silence of the Lambs (1991) is the only horror/thriller film to win Best Picture.
• Science-Fiction Films: Many science-fiction films have been nominated, but Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) was the first to win.
• Disaster Films: Titanic (1997) is the only disaster film to win Best Picture.
• Documentaries: No documentary has ever been nominated for Best Picture. There is a separate award for Best Documentary Feature.
• Musicals: Several musical films have won Best Picture, including West Side Story and Chicago.
• Epic and War Films: Many grand epic films and war films have won Best Picture. The very first winner, Wings, was a war film. Other examples include Gone with the Wind, The Godfather, Schindler's List, and Oppenheimer.

Sequels That Were Nominated or Won

A sequel is a movie that continues the story of an earlier film. Ten sequels have been nominated for Best Picture. These include The Godfather Part II (1974) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).

The Godfather Part II and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King are the only sequels that have won the award. The Godfather series is the only one with two Best Picture winners.

Remakes That Were Nominated or Won

A remake is a new version of an older film, or a new film based on the same original story. Ben-Hur (1959) won Best Picture and was a remake of a silent film from 1925. The Departed (2006) was the first remake of a non-English film to win. It was based on a Hong Kong movie.

CODA (2021) also won Best Picture and was a remake of a French film.

Silent Films That Won Best Picture

A silent film is a movie without recorded dialogue, often shown with live music or narration. The very first Best Picture award went to the silent film Wings in 1927/28.

Many years later, The Artist (2011) became the first mostly silent film since Wings to win Best Picture. It was also the first Best Picture winner made entirely in black-and-white since 1960.

Finding Old Award-Winning Films

All films that have won Best Picture are still available today. However, some, like All Quiet on the Western Front and Lawrence of Arabia, might exist in versions that are a bit different from their original release. This is usually because they were edited over time.

A few nominated films from the early years are partly or completely lost. For example, most of The Patriot (1928) is no longer available.

New Rules for Fairness in Films

The Academy has created new rules called Academy Aperture 2025. These rules help make sure that films nominated for Best Picture are fair and include different kinds of people. Starting with films released in 2023, a movie must meet at least two of four standards to be considered for Best Picture. These standards encourage more representation and opportunities for people from different backgrounds, including various racial and ethnic groups, women, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities.

These rules only apply to the Best Picture category. For films released in 2021 and 2022, filmmakers had to submit a form about these standards, but they didn't have to meet them yet.

The 2016 Ceremony Mistake

At the 89th Academy Awards on February 26, 2017, the presenter accidentally announced La La Land as the Best Picture winner. However, they had been given the wrong envelope. The correct winner was Moonlight, and the mistake was corrected during the acceptance speeches.

Winners and Nominees

In the list below, the winning film is shown first in a gold row, followed by the other nominated films. The year shown is when the film was first released, usually in Los Angeles County, California. This is the year before the actual awards ceremony. For example, a film released in 2005 was eligible for the 2005 Best Picture Oscar, which was awarded in 2006. The ceremony number (like 1st, 2nd) is in parentheses after the awards year. Each entry shows the film title and its producer(s).

Until 1950, the Best Picture award went to the production company. From 1951 onwards, it has gone to the producer or producers. The Academy used the producer credits from the Producers Guild of America (PGA) until 1998. After five producers for Shakespeare in Love all gave speeches, a limit of three producers was sometimes applied. However, now any number of producers can be nominated if they are considered eligible.

For the first ceremony, three films were nominated. This number changed over the years, sometimes being five, eight, ten, or twelve. From 2011 to 2020, it varied between five and ten. Since 2022, there have been a full ten nominees each year.

For the first six ceremonies, films released over two calendar years were eligible. Starting with the 7th Academy Awards in 1935, films released in the previous full calendar year (January 1 to December 31) became eligible. This has been the rule every year since, except for 2020, when the deadline was extended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since 2023, the winners and nominees from the 1927/28 and 1928/29 ceremonies have become available for public use without copyright restrictions.

     indicates the winner

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Age Superlatives for Best Picture Producers

Individuals with Multiple Wins

Individuals with Multiple Nominations

Production Companies and Distributors with Multiple Nominations and Wins

Columbia Pictures and United Artists have the most wins with 12, while 20th Century Fox has the most nominations with 64.

See also

In Spanish: Anexo:Óscar a la mejor película para niños

• Academy Aperture 2025
• BAFTA 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
• Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture
• Independent Spirit Award for Best Film
• 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 presenters of the Academy Award for Best Picture
• List of Academy Award–nominated films
• List of Academy Award–winning films
• List of Big Five Academy Award winners and nominees
• List of film production companies
• List of films considered the best
• Lists of films
• List of superlative Academy Award winners and nominees