Academy Award for Best Picture facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Academy Award for Best Picture |
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![]() The 2025 recipients: Sean Baker, Samantha Quan (pictured); and Alex Coco
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Presented by | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) |
Country | United States |
First awarded | May 16, 1929 | (for films released during the 1927/1928 film season)
Currently held by | Anora (2024) |
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the most important awards given out each year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). These awards are also known as the Oscars. This special award has been given out every year since 1929.
The Best Picture award goes to the people who produce the film. It's the only award where every member of the Academy can suggest a film and then vote for the winner. This award is usually the very last one given out during the Oscar ceremony. Many people think it's the biggest honor a movie can receive.
At the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, where the Oscars have been held since 2002, there are special columns that show every film that has won Best Picture. So far, 97 films have won this award, out of 611 films that have been nominated.
Contents
- History of the Award
- How the Award Name Changed
- Who Receives the Award?
- Best Picture and Best Director Awards
- More Nominees Allowed
- Films from Different Countries and Languages
- Film Ratings and Winners
- Different Types of Films and Winners
- Sequels and Remakes as Nominees
- Silent Film Winners
- Diversity Standards for Films
- A Famous Mistake at the Ceremony
- Winners and Nominees
- People with Multiple Wins
- People with Many Nominations
- Film Companies with Many Nominations and Wins
- More About Film Awards
History of the Award
How the Award Name Changed
When the first Academy Awards happened in 1929, there were two top awards. One was "Outstanding Picture," won by the war movie Wings. The other was "Unique and Artistic Picture," won by Sunrise. These awards were meant to celebrate different kinds of great filmmaking.
The next year, the "Unique and Artistic Picture" award was removed. The Academy decided that the award won by Wings was the highest honor. Movies with sound were then allowed to compete for this top award. Over the years, the name of the award changed a few times. Since 1962, it has simply been called Best Picture.
Here's how the name changed:
- 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 Award?
For many years, the award went to the production company that made the film. But in 1950, this changed. The award started going to all the producers who worked on the movie.
In 1999, a new rule was added. Only a maximum of three producers could receive the award. This happened after five producers for Shakespeare in Love all received the award. However, the Academy can sometimes make exceptions to this rule.
Steven Spielberg has been nominated for Best Picture 13 times, which is the most for any individual. He has won once. Kathleen Kennedy has the most nominations without a win, with eight. Sam Spiegel and Saul Zaentz have won the most times, with three wins each.
Best Picture and Best Director Awards
The Best Picture award and the Best Director award often go together. Out of the 97 films that have won Best Picture, 70 of them also won Best Director.
Only a few films have won Best Picture without their director even being nominated. These include Wings (1927/28), Grand Hotel (1931/32), Driving Miss Daisy (1989), Argo (2012), Green Book (2018), and CODA (2021).
More Nominees Allowed
In 2009, the Academy decided to increase the number of Best Picture nominees from 5 to 10 films. This change started with the 82nd Academy Awards (2009). Many people thought this was because popular movies like The Dark Knight and WALL-E (both from 2008) weren't nominated.
The Academy said this change was like how things were in the early days of the Oscars, when 8 to 12 films were nominated. In 2011, the rule changed again. The number of nominees could be anywhere from 5 to 10. But since the 94th Academy Awards in 2022, there have been a set number of ten nominees again.
Films from Different Countries and Languages
Many films not in English have been nominated for Best Picture. So far, 19 non-English language films have been nominated. Parasite (2019) made history by becoming the first film not in English to win the Best Picture award.
Ten films that were made entirely outside the United States have won Best Picture. Eight of these were from the United Kingdom. The Artist (2011) was from France, and Parasite (2019) was from South Korea.
Film Ratings and 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. G-rated films are suitable for all ages. Midnight Cowboy (1969) was the only film to win when it was originally X-rated (now called NC-17, for adults only).
Eleven films with a PG rating have won, like Patton (1970) and Driving Miss Daisy (1989). Eleven films with a PG-13 rating have also won, starting with The Last Emperor (1987) and most recently CODA (2021).
Different Types of Films and Winners
- Animated Films: Three animated films 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: Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) was the first science fiction film to win Best Picture.
- Disaster Films: Titanic (1997) is the only disaster film to win Best Picture.
- Documentaries: No documentary has ever been nominated for Best Picture.
- Musicals: Many musical adaptations have won Best Picture, including Gigi, West Side Story, and Chicago.
- Epic and Historical Films: Many epic films and historical dramas have won Best Picture, like the very first winner Wings, Gone with the Wind, The Godfather, and Oppenheimer.
Sequels and Remakes as Nominees
Ten films that were direct sequels have been nominated for Best Picture. The Godfather Part II (1974) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) are the only sequels to have won the award. The Godfather series is the only film series with more than one Best Picture winner.
Some films that are remakes or based on the same stories have also been nominated or won. Ben-Hur (1959) was a remake of a 1925 silent film. The Departed (2006) was the first remake of a non-English film to win. CODA (2021) was the second.
Silent Film Winners
The very first Best Picture award went to the silent film Wings in 1927/28. 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.
Diversity Standards for Films
The Academy has created new rules called "Academy Aperture 2025." Starting with the 96th Academy Awards (for films released in 2023), a film must meet certain standards to be considered for Best Picture. These standards encourage more diverse representation in front of and behind the camera. This means more opportunities for people from different racial and ethnic groups, women, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities.
For the 94th and 95th Academy Awards (films from 2021 and 2022), filmmakers had to submit a form about diversity, but they didn't have to meet the standards yet. These rules only apply to the Best Picture category.
A Famous Mistake at the Ceremony
At the 89th Academy Awards in 2017, there was a big mistake. The presenters, Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty, were given the wrong envelope. They announced La La Land as the Best Picture winner. But the correct winner was actually Moonlight. The producers of La La Land realized the error while accepting the award and announced the real winner.
Winners and Nominees
The tables below show some of the films that have won or been nominated for Best Picture. Winners are shown in gold. The year listed is when the film was released, usually in Los Angeles. The ceremony where the award was given happened the following year.
Until 1950, the award was given to the film's production company. From 1951 onwards, it has gone to the producer or producers.
For the first ceremony, three films were nominated. Over the years, the number of nominees changed. Since 2022, there have been ten nominees each year.
1920s
Year of Film Release | Film | Film Studio |
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1927/28 (1st) |
Wings | Famous Players–Lasky |
7th Heaven | Fox | |
The Racket | The Caddo Company | |
1928/29 (2nd) |
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The Broadway Melody | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | |
Alibi | Feature Productions | |
The Hollywood Revue | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
1930s
Year of Film Release | Film | Film Studio/Producer(s) |
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1929/30 (3rd) |
All Quiet on the Western Front | Universal |
The Big House | Cosmopolitan | |
Disraeli | Warner Bros. |
1940s
Year of Film Release | Film | Film Studio |
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1940 (13th) |
Rebecca | Selznick International Pictures |
All This, and Heaven Too | Warner Bros. | |
Foreign Correspondent | Walter Wanger (production company) |
1950s
Year of Film Release | Film | Film Studio/Producer(s) |
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1950 (23rd) |
All About Eve | 20th Century-Fox |
Born Yesterday | Columbia | |
Father of the Bride | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
1960s
Year of Film Release | Film | Producer(s) |
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1960 (33rd) |
The Apartment | Billy Wilder |
The Alamo | John Wayne | |
Elmer Gantry | Bernard Smith |
1970s
Year of Film Release | Film | Producer(s) |
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1970 (43rd) |
Patton | Frank McCarthy |
Airport | Ross Hunter | |
Five Easy Pieces | Bob Rafelson and Richard Wechsler |
1980s
Year of Film Release | Film | Producer(s) |
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1980 (53rd) |
Ordinary People | Ronald L. Schwary |
Coal Miner's Daughter | Bernard Schwartz | |
The Elephant Man | Jonathan Sanger |
1990s
Year of Film Release | Film | Producer(s) |
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1990 (63rd) |
Dances With Wolves | Jim Wilson and Kevin Costner |
Awakenings | Walter Parkes and Lawrence Lasker | |
Ghost | Lisa Weinstein |
2000s
Year of Film Release | Film | Producer(s) |
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2000 (73rd) |
Gladiator | Douglas Wick, David Franzoni, and Branko Lustig |
Chocolat | David Brown, Kit Golden, and Leslie Holleran | |
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon | William Kong, Hsu Li-kong, and Ang Lee |
2010s
Year of Film Release | Film | Producer(s) |
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2010 (83rd) |
The King's Speech | Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, and Gareth Unwin |
Black Swan | Scott Franklin, Mike Medavoy, and Brian Oliver | |
The Fighter | David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman, and Mark Wahlberg |
2020s
Year of Film Release | Film | Producer(s) |
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2020 (93rd) |
Nomadland | Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, and Chloé Zhao |
The Father | David Parfitt, Jean-Louis Livi, and Philippe Carcassonne | |
Judas and the Black Messiah | Shaka King, Charles D. King, and Ryan Coogler |
People with Multiple Wins
Some producers have won the Best Picture award more than once!
- 3 wins
- Sam Spiegel
- Saul Zaentz
- 2 wins
- Clint Eastwood
- Arthur Freed
- Dede Gardner
- Jeremy Kleiner
- Branko Lustig
- Albert S. Ruddy
- Robert Wise
People with Many Nominations
Many talented people have been nominated for Best Picture multiple times.
- 13 nominations
- 9 nominations
- 8 nominations
- Kathleen Kennedy
- Dede Gardner
- 7 nominations
- Eric Fellner
- Jeremy Kleiner
- 6 nominations
- Tim Bevan
- Stanley Kramer
- 5 nominations
- Bradley Cooper
- Francis Ford Coppola
- Clint Eastwood
- Frank Marshall
- Kristie Macosko Krieger
Film Companies with Many Nominations and Wins
Some film companies have produced many Best Picture winners and nominees. Columbia Pictures and United Artists have won the most, with 12 awards each. 20th Century Fox has the most nominations, with 64.
Production company/distributor | Nominations | Wins |
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Columbia Pictures | 56 | 12 |
United Artists | 48 | 12 |
Paramount Pictures | 22 | 11 |
Universal Pictures | 37 | 10 |
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | 40 | 9 |
Warner Bros. Pictures | 28 | 9 |
20th Century Fox | 64 | 8 |
Fox Searchlight Pictures | 23 | 5 |
Miramax Films | 21 | 4 |
DreamWorks | 15 | 4 |
More About Film Awards
- BAFTA Award for Best Film (a similar award from the UK)
- 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