Academy Award for Best Picture

• 1. Origins And Evolution

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  The first Academy Awards ceremony took place on the 16th of May 1929, honoring films released during the calendar years of 1927 and 1928. Two distinct top awards existed that night: Outstanding Picture and Unique and Artistic Picture. The war epic Wings won the Outstanding Picture award, while the art film Sunrise claimed the Unique and Artistic Picture title. The Jazz Singer was disqualified from both categories because its synchronized sound made it a unique item that would have unfairly competed against either category. The Academy granted The Jazz Singer an honorary award instead. The following year, the organization dropped the Unique and Artistic Picture award. They decided retroactively that Wings had received the highest honor possible. Synchronized sound films were then allowed to compete for the main prize. The name underwent several changes over the decades before settling on Best Picture in 1962.

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• 2. Voting Mechanics And Rules

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  Until 1950, this award was presented to a representative of the production company rather than individual producers. That year the protocol changed so the award went to all credited producers. A major rule modification occurred in 1999 after five producers accepted the award for Shakespeare in Love. The Academy applied a maximum limit of three producers receiving the award thereafter. Current rules require nominees to hold screen credit as producer or produced by. Executive producers, co-producers, associate producers, line producers, and those producing in association are explicitly excluded. Teams of two people with an established partnership can be considered a single producer if approved by the Producers Guild of America Producing Partnership Panel. Final determination of qualifying producer nominees rests with the Producers Branch Executive Committee. Steven Spielberg holds the record for most nominations at fourteen, winning only once. 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 era when awards went to companies, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer received the most with five wins and forty nominations.

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• 3. Genre And Language Barriers

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  Twenty-one non-English language films have been nominated in the category since its inception. La Grande Illusion appeared in 1938 as a French entry. Parasite became the first film not in English to win Best Picture in 2019. Ten films wholly financed outside the United States have won Best Picture. Eight of these were financed in part or whole by the United Kingdom. Hamlet won in 1948, followed by Tom Jones in 1963 and A Man for All Seasons in 1966. Chariots of Fire took the prize in 1981, while Gandhi won in 1982. The Last Emperor claimed victory in 1987, and Slumdog Millionaire won in 2008. The King's Speech secured the award in 2010. The Artist was financed in France and won in 2011. Parasite was financed in South Korea and won in 2019. Three animated films have been nominated for Best Picture: Beauty and the Beast in 1991, Up in 2009, and Toy Story 3 in 2010. No comic book film has won, though three have been nominated including Black Panther in 2018 and Joker in 2019. Two fantasy films have won: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2003 and The Shape of Water in 2017.

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• 4. Controversies And Campaigns

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  At the 89th Academy Awards on the 26th of February 2017, presenter Faye Dunaway read La La Land as the winner of the award. She and Warren Beatty had mistakenly been given the duplicate envelope for the Best Actress in a Leading Role award which Emma Stone had won. While accepting the award, La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz realized the mistake and announced that Moonlight had actually won. In 2005, Brokeback Mountain lost the Best Picture to Crash. Some critics accused Academy members of homophobia for making this choice. Jack Nicholson was caught on camera mouthing the word whoa out of apparent surprise at the result. Saving Private Ryan was immediately pegged as a favorite by many members and fans of Steven Spielberg's films. It lost to Shakespeare in Love, leading DreamWorks executives to accuse Miramax Films and Harvey Weinstein of winning due to negative messaging against Saving Private Ryan rather than their own film's merits. The selection of The Greatest Show on Earth over High Noon at the 25th Academy Awards was listed by Time among the ten most controversial Best Picture races. Retrospectively, The Greatest Show on Earth has been considered by some to be one of the worst Best Picture winners in history.

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• 5. Diversity Standards Implementation

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  The Academy established a set of representation and inclusion standards called Academy Aperture 2025. A film is now required to satisfy these standards to compete in the Best Picture category starting with the 96th Academy Awards for films released in 2023. There are four general standards which a film must satisfy two of to be considered for Best Picture. These include on-screen representation themes and narratives plus creative leadership and project team requirements. Industry access and opportunities form another standard alongside audience development goals. The standards promote more inclusive employment in cast crew studio apprenticeships internships and development marketing publicity and distribution executives. Underrepresented racial and ethnic groups women LGBTQ+ people and persons with cognitive or physical disabilities are specifically targeted. For the 94th and 95th Academy Awards filmmakers were required to submit a confidential Academy Inclusion Standards form but were not required to fulfill the standards. From 2018 onwards the Academy made an effort to add more younger female non-white and non-American voters. They created a non-voting emeritus status for people who had not worked in the film industry after a certain length of time to diversify their voter bloc.

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• 6. Record Holders And Superlatives

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  Saul Zaentz holds the record for oldest winner at seventy-six years and twenty-four days when he won for The English Patient. Clint Eastwood holds the record for oldest nominee at eighty-four years and two hundred twenty-nine days for American Sniper. Carl Laemmle Jr. was the youngest winner at twenty-two years and one hundred ninety-one days for All Quiet on the Western Front. A second youngest nominee reached twenty-two years and one hundred forty-four days during the early ceremonies. Columbia Pictures and United Artists have the most wins with twelve each while 20th Century Fox has the most nominations with sixty-four. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer received forty nominations and nine wins during the era when awards went to companies. Three animated films have been nominated for Best Picture: Beauty and the Beast Up and Toy Story 3. No comic book film has won although three have been nominated including Black Panther and Joker. Two fantasy films have won: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and The Shape of Water. The Silence of the Lambs is the only horror thriller film to win Best Picture. Eleven other horror thrillers have been nominated including The Exorcist Jaws and Get Out.

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