Best Picture Oscar Winners

Oppenheimer is the latest movie to win the Best Picture Oscar
Oppenheimer is the latest movie to win the Best Picture Oscar

Want to know the best Best Picture Oscar Winners?  How about the worst Best Picture Oscar Winners?  Curious about Best Picture Oscar Winners’ box office grosses or which Best Picture Oscar Winners picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which Best Picture Oscar Winners got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which one got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place …. because we have all of that information.

My first experience with the Oscars® was back in 1982 when I was 14. I had watched Raiders of the Lost Ark many times during the summer of 1981. And I was convinced it was the best movie ever to be filmed. When the Oscar® nominations came out I was so happy that Raiders received 8 nominations and I was convinced that Steven Spielberg would win Best Director and Raiders won would Best Picture. The night of the Oscar® show, I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark win 4 minor Oscars® and 1 special Oscar® for sound.

After being sent to bed, I quietly turned on my black and white television that was in my room. I watched the last part of the show when they give out the major awards with the volume almost on mute. Finally they got to Best Director…and the winner was…..Warren Beatty ????? for Reds….I was stunned, but that was nothing compared to when they called Chariots of Fire for Best Picture of the Year. I could not believe they did not call out Raiders….I was convinced there most have been a mistake. No mistake, as the producers of Chariots of Fire got their Oscars®. Spielberg applauded the win, while I turned off the television and though how unfair life is sometimes. Not saying I am still bitter about the loss, but I still refuse to acknowledge Chariots of Fire as Best Picture of 1981. So there will be no Oscar® winner for the 1981 year on the tables.

Since 1927, there have been 97 Best Picture Oscar Winners. The following table ranks those 97 movies many different ways.   Just in case you are wondering Chariots of Fire is on the table….all the way down at #65.
Peter O'Toole in 1962's Lawrence of Arabia
Peter O’Toole in 1962’s Lawrence of Arabia

Best Picture Oscar Winning Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In The Table Below

The really cool thing about ther table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • Sort Best Picture Oscar Winners by star of the movie
  • Sort Best Picture Oscar Winners by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost
  • Sort Best Picture Oscar Winners by critic reviews and audiences voting.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Best Picture Oscar Winners received.
  • Sort Best Picture Oscar Winners by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.  The ceiling to earn points for box office is $200 million…once a movie passes that mark it stops earning points in that category.
  • You can use the search button to sort by year
Charlton Heston in 1959's Ben-Hur
Charlton Heston in 1959’s Ben-Hur

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78 thoughts on “Best Picture Oscar Winners”

  1. Very impressive cogerson! I appreciate the details and the tidbits of info! I’m not to happy about one of my top ten all time favorite movies being at #83 BUT I’m happy the Godfather is #1 … don’t mess with the Corleone family. Shared this one with my Twitter friends!

    Reply

    1. Hey Sunshine625…I am sorry Crash was ranked so low….I liked the movie….and it won the big prize for the year…but I do not think it was a crowd pleasing movie. Still the fact that it is on this list is an accomplishment. I am glad you like the number one movie and thanks for sharing it on twitter

      Reply

  2. A fascinating movie page Conanson, my favourite movie is in good company. 🙂

    I’ve seen 68 of the 84 films you’ve listed, Capra’s ‘You can’t take it with you’ seems out of place in the top 10, was it really so successful? wow.

    I’m not a Chariots of Fire fan either and would have loved to see Raiders win Best Picture that year.

    The irony of having The Godfather top the list is that the director Francis Coppola failed to win Best Director that year, Bob Fosse beat him to it for Cabaret.

    Coppola picked up his Godfather Oscar two years later. 🙂

    Reply

    1. Hey Steve…well I feel I will beat both you and Flora on this movie list….as I have seen 83 of the 84 movies on the table…the only exception would be 1933’s Calavcade or 58th on the table.

      I was wondering how you would react to Ben-Hur and its ranking…so I added a photo into the table to ease the pain….lol. It is one of many great movies on the list.

      They did give Coppola one Oscar that night…I think for screenplay….so at least he did not go home empty handed….at the time it was one of the few times the director of the winning film did not get an Oscar…it seems to happen more often these days.

      I can not believe it has already been 30 years since Chariots knocked out Indy…where does the time go….and finally…You Can’t Take it With You….was one of the biggest box office hits of the 1930s…it was directed by Frank Capra in his prime…..a James Stewart about to skyrocket to the top ….plus great actors from yesteryear…Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore and Edward Arnold.

      Thanks for the stopping by and the comments they are greatly appreciated.

      Reply

    1. Hey mckbirdbks…thanks for stopping by….I am glad I am not the only one to think Chariots of Fire is less than a great movie….I appreciate your comment and the support.

      Reply

  5. Great Movie Pages once again Cogerson! I really didn’t think Moneyball will go that far- it has too much to do with the sports. From the insightful research you provided, it seems like the Oscars like politics, so I’d hedge my bets on the Clooney and Streep political thrillers. Especially Streep because it seems like the Oscars love dynamic biopics

    Reply

    1. Hey Alecia….good point about sports movies not winning the big prize….I think only Chariots of Fire(there goes that damn movie again), Million Dollar Baby and Rocky would be the only sports movies to win Best Picture….but I do see Pitt as the leading contender for winning Best Actor. I know they love Clooney….and you might as well give Streep her nomination now….so the other actresses will know there are really only 4 spots left. I think the one I am pulling for this year is J. Edgar….maybe this is Clint’s Swan Song. Thanks for your comments.

      Reply

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