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. Hey Steve. Good link. Not as brutally honest as they have been in the past. Streep could get nominated for reading a grocery list. Pretty sure almost every pick made will be wrong….but we will find out soon. Thanks 🙂

      Reply

  2. Hi

    Just came home from seeing La La Land. Gosling and Stone are very good, in fact Stone is very enchanting. On the whole, the film is very good, anyone who likes jazz will appreciate it. There’s touches of An American in Paris and Fred and Ginger.
    By in large it is a feel good movie. To say I was overwhelmed… no, it’s not as good as Les Mis or Chicago. My wife couldn’t understand why it got so many nominations. Will it revive musicals? I doubt it. If Chicago didn’t, I don’t think it will.
    I haven’t seen any of the other nominated movies as of yet, Lion looks good, also Manchester by the Sea. Gibson’s War Movie looks promising too. Glad to see there will be no race issue this year. And of course Miss Streep on her latest nomination.

    Reply

    1. Hey Chris…thanks for the mini-review on La La Land….I agree with you….it is good….but it is far from being a movie that amazed me. WoC was really disappointed in it (so our wives agree too)….her thoughts were the plot was very light…as the story was ok at best. La La Land will not be bringing musicals or jazz back.

      I have seen 4 of the 9 nominated movies…..La La Land, Hidden Figures (excellent), The Arrival (good) and Hell or High Water (excellent). I want to see Hacksaw Ridge…and I am hoping it will get a re-release after it’s 6 nominations….so that way I can see it in theaters.

      Streep gets #20….though at this point I think they nominate her out of habit. Yep no race issues this time….a nice mixture in each of the major categories….but that does raise a question… is that how the voting turned out…..or was that part of the “new” process that the Academy has put in place in response to last year….we will probably never know. Thanks for thoughts and visit..

      Reply

  3. Hey Steve….thanks for the visit. I love nomination morning….and it will be here in about 32 hours….the countdown is on. 75 is stellar..but not enough to top my 88……I have been trying to find Calvacade for years…yet it still escapes me. Look forward to your thoughts after the nominations come out.

    Reply

  4. Great stats! Seen more than 50 movies off that list already, with many awaiting to be taken out of the shelf. Hard to name faves here, but I am a huge fan of West Side Story, It happened one Night, From her to Eternity- never liked Ben Hur, and Out of Africa is not my cup of tea, either. Recently watched Gigi, and although it comes across as visually very impressive, it made me wonder what audiences and critics saw in it apart from Minnellis craftmansship.

    Reply

    1. Hey Lupino….thanks for the tally count from Germany. Your 50 is well past half way…..hard to believe in 6 weeks there will be 90 Best Picture winners. I like the favorites you mentioned. Ben-Hur is Steve from England’s favorite movie….so will not agree with your comment at all. As for Out of Africa and Gigi….I agree…not much there to like…and certainly not movies begging to be rewatched. Thanks for checking the page and commenting.

      Reply

  5. I don’t think I’ve seen any of the award winning films yet… wait I think Deadpool won something already? I’ll post more when the 2017 Oscar noms come in.

    I’ve seen 75 of the 89 Best Picture winners listed thus far.

    Reply

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