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The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only to vote on the final ballot, but also to nominate. During the annual Academy Awards ceremony, Best Picture is reserved as the final award presented and, since 1951, is collected at the podium by the film's producers. The Academy Award for Best Motion Picture is considered the most important of the Academy Awards, as it is the final award presented, and represents all the directing, acting, music composing and writing efforts put forth for a film. The Grand Staircase columns at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, where the Academy Awards ceremonies have been held since 2002, showcase every film that has won the Best Picture title since the award's inception 83 years ago. On June 14, 2011, AMPAS announced that the number of nominees would vary between five and ten films starting with the 2012 ceremony, provided that the film earned 5% of first-place votes during the nomination process.

History

At the 1st Academy Awards ceremony (for 1927 and 1928), there was no Best Picture award. Instead, there were two separate awards, one called Most Outstanding Production, won by the epic Wings, and one called Most Artistic Quality of Production, won by the art film Sunrise. The awards were intended to honor different and equally important aspects of superior filmmaking, and in fact the judges and the studio bosses who sought to influence their decisions paid more attention to the latter - MGM head Louis B. Mayer, who had disliked the realism of King Vidor's The Crowd, another of the nominees (the third was Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack's Chang) pressured the judges not to honor his own studio's film, and to select Sunrise instead. The next year, the Academy instituted a single award called Best Production, and decided retroactively that the award won by Wings had been the equivalent of that award, with the result that Wings is often listed as the winner of a sole Best Picture award for the first year. The title of the award was eventually changed to Best Picture for the 1931 awards.

From 1944 to 2008, the Academy restricted nominations to five Best Picture nominees per year. As of the 84th Academy Awards ceremony (for 2011), there have been 494 films nominated for the Best Picture award. Invariably, the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director have been very closely linked throughout their history. Of the 83 films that have been awarded Best Picture, 61 have also been awarded Best Director. Only three films have won Best Picture without their directors being nominated (though only one since the early 1930s): Wings (1927/28), Grand Hotel (1931/32), and Driving Miss Daisy (1989). The only two Best Director winners to win for films which did not receive a Best Picture nomination are likewise in the early years: Lewis Milestone (1927/28) and Frank Lloyd (1928/29).

On June 24, 2009, AMPAS announced that the number of films nominated in the Best Picture award category would increase from five to ten, starting with the 82nd Academy Awards (2009). The expansion was a throwback to the Academy's early years in the 1930s and 1940s, when anywhere between eight and 12 films were shortlisted (or longlisted). "Having 10 Best Picture nominees is going to allow Academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize," AMPAS President Sid Ganis said in a press conference. "I can't wait to see what that list of 10 looks like when the nominees are announced in February." At the same time, the voting system was switched from first-past-the-post to Alternative Vote (also known as Instant Run-off Vote).

One point of contention is the lack of consideration of non-English language films for categories other than Best Foreign Language Film. Very few foreign language films have been nominated for any other categories, regardless of artistic merit. To date, only eight foreign language films (and three partly foreign language films) have been nominated for Best Picture: Grand Illusion (French, 1938); Z (French, 1969); The Emigrants (Swedish, 1972); Cries and Whispers (Swedish, 1973); Il Postino (Italian/Spanish, 1995); Life Is Beautiful (Italian, 1998); Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Mandarin Chinese, 2000); and Letters from Iwo Jima (Japanese, 2006), which was ineligible for the Best Foreign Language Oscar because it was an American production. The only partly foreign language films to win Best Picture are The Godfather Part II (English/Sicilian, 1974), The Last Emperor (English/Mandarin, 1987) and Slumdog Millionaire (English/Hindi, 2008).

Another point of contention is the recent extreme bias toward 2-plus hour films: Crash (2005, 112m) is the shortest film to win Best Picture in the past 20 years. It has been criticized for ignoring films that were huge commercial and critical successes. Furthermore, no animated film has won the award (Disney's Beauty and the Beast and Disney-Pixar's Up and Toy Story 3 were nominated); no science fiction film has won despite a number of successful nominees; and only one comedy (Shakespeare in Love, 1998) has won in the last 30 years.

To date, eleven films exclusively financed outside the United States have won Best Picture; all eleven were financed, in part or in whole, by the United Kingdom. Those films were, in chronological order: Hamlet, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Tom Jones, A Man for All Seasons, Oliver!, Chariots of Fire, Gandhi, The Last Emperor, Slumdog Millionaire and The King's Speech

No Best Picture winner has been lost, though a few such as All Quiet on the Western Front and Lawrence of Arabia exist only in a form altered from their original, award-winning release form, usually due to editing for reissue (and subsequently partly restored by archivists). Other winners and nominees such as Tom Jones and Star Wars are widely available only in subsequently altered versions. The 1928 film The Patriot is the only Best Picture nominee that is lost; The Racket was believed lost for many years but a print existed in producer Howard Hughes' archives and it has since been shown on Turner Classic Movies. Wings and Sunrise were the only silent winners of a Best Picture-equivalent award, although a part-silent version of All Quiet on the Western Front was created for foreign-language release and survives. The Patriot was the last silent nominee (other than the silent version of a nominated talkie) until 2011's The Artist.

Multiple nominations

Since 1951 when the award was presented to producers instead of the film studio, the following 86 producers have received multiple nominations for the Academy Award for Best Picture. This list is sorted by the number of total awards (with the number of total nominations listed in parentheses).

Winners and nominees

In the list below, the winner of the award for each year is shown first, followed by the other nominees. Except for the early years (when the Academy used a non-calendar year), the year shown is the one in which the film first premiered in Los Angeles County, California; normally this is also the year of first release, but it may be the year after first release (as with Casablanca and, if the film-festival premiere is considered, Crash). This is the year before the ceremony at which the award is given; for example, a film exhibited theatrically during 2005 was eligible for consideration for the 2005 Best Picture Oscar, awarded in 2006. The number of the ceremony (1st, 2nd, etc.) appears in parentheses after the awards year, linked to the article (if any) on that ceremony. Each individual entry shows the title followed by the production company, and the producer. For foreign language films, the original title is also shown. Until 1950, the Best Picture award was given to the production company; from 1951 on, it has gone to the producer. The official name of the award has changed several times over the years:

• 1927/28 → 1928/29: Outstanding Picture
• 1929/30 → 1940: Outstanding Production
• 1941 → 1943: Outstanding Motion Picture
• 1944 → 1961: Best Motion Picture
• 1962 → Present: Best Picture

For the first ceremony, three films were nominated for the award. For the following three years, five films were nominated for the award. This was expanded to eight in 1933, to ten in 1934, and to twelve in 1935, before being dropped back to ten in 1937. In 1945 it was reduced back to five. This number remained until 2010, when it was once again raised to ten.

For the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years. For example, the 2nd Academy Awards presented on April 3, 1930, recognized films that were released between August 1, 1928 and July 31, 1929. Starting with the 7th Academy Awards, held in 1935, the period of eligibility became the full previous calendar year from January 1 to December 31.

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

Notes

A : The official name of the award from 1927/1928 and 1928/1929 was Outstanding Picture

B : The official name of the award from 1929/1930 to 1940 was Outstanding Production

C : The official name of the award from 1941 to 1943 was Outstanding Motion Picture

D : The official name of the award from 1944 to 1961 was Best Motion Picture

E : The official name of the award from 1962 was Best Picture

F : There were two categories for "Outstanding Picture" with the other being Academy Award for Best Unique and Artistic Production where the winner was Sunrise (production company: Fox; producer: William Fox). This category was dropped immediately after the first year of the Academy Award.

G  : Head of studio

H  : The Academy also announced that A Farewell to Arms came in second, and Little Women third.

I  : The Academy also announced that The Barretts of Wimpole Street came in second, and The House of Rothschild third.

J  : The Academy also announced that The Informer came in second, and Captain Blood third.

K  : Nominated motion picture with non-English dialogue track (AMPAS: foreign language film). Three of which, Z, Life is Beautiful and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

L : Production company with the most nominations (38) and the most awards (5). Applying only from 1927/1928 to 1950.

M : Person with the most nominations (6 nominations, 0 awards). Applying only from 1951 to 2008.

N : Person with the most awards (3 awards, Spiegel 4 nominations, Zaentz 3 nominations). Applying only from 1951 to 2008.

O  : Winner with partly non-English dialogue track (AMPAS: foreign language).

Milestones

Listed below are various milestones for Best Picture that various films and individuals have achieved since the inception of the Academy Awards.

Milestones related to acting

Milestones related to country or language

Milestones related to directing

Milestones related to genre

Milestones related to other Academy Awards

Milestones related to other awards ceremonies

Milestones related to rating

Milestones related to sequels, prequels, remakes, and adaptations

Milestones related to superlatives

Milestones related to technology

Superlatives

Note 1: Until the 23rd Academy Awards (1950), Best Picture was awarded to the studio that produced the film. Beginning with the 24th Academy Awards (1951), however, it has been awarded to the individual producers credited on the film. Note also that until 1943, there were ten (rather than five) nominated films per year. As of 2009, there are once again ten nominated films. The first year in which multiple individuals jointly won was 1973, with three winners for The Sting. The greatest number of joint winners was five, for Shakespeare in Love in 1998. After this, the Academy imposed a limit of three nominated producers per film; however, this limit may be exceeded in a "rare and extraordinary circumstance", such as in 2008 when both Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack were posthumously included among four nominees for The Reader.

Note 2: It remains a very close call — a tie, virtually — between the top two "longest" Best Pictures. The total film time (without music) of Gone with the Wind (1939) is almost 221 minutes (3 hours and 41 minutes); with the Overture, Intermission, Entr'acte, and Walkout Music, it reaches 234 minutes (3 hours and 54 minutes). The total film time (without music) of the original Lawrence of Arabia (1962) is just over 222 minutes (3 hours and 42 minutes), slightly longer than Gone with the Wind. Lawrence of Arabia's additional elements extend the film to about 232 minutes (3 hours and 52 minutes). If just counting the film itself, Lawrence of Arabia is the longest of the two contenders. The other longest Best Picture winners are, in order: Ben-Hur (1959) at 212 minutes (3 hours and 32 minutes) and The Lord of Rings: Return of the King (2003) at 201 minutes (3 hours and 21 minutes). However, the Extended Edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which was released almost a year after the shorter theatrical version of the film won Best Picture, runs 251 minutes (4 hours and 12 minutes).

Note 3: The longest film to ever win any Academy Award was Russia's War and Peace (1965) at 414 minutes (6 hours and 54 minutes), winner of Best Foreign Language Film.

Note 4: After Marty, the second shortest Best Picture winner is Annie Hall (1977) at 93 minutes (1 hour and 33 minutes).

See also

Template:Misplaced Pages books

• List of Big Five Academy Award winners and nominees
• List of Big Three Academy Award winners and nominees
• List of Academy Award-winning films
• List of superlative Academy Award winners and nominees
• List of actors who have appeared in multiple Best Picture Academy Award winners
• Academy Award for Best Unique and Artistic Production
• BAFTA Award for Best Film
• Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama
• Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
• Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
• Films considered the greatest ever
• Lists of films
• List of film production companies
• List of presenters of Best Picture Academy Award
• Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture

References

1. Nikki Finke (2011-06-14). "OSCAR SHOCKER! Academy Builds Surprise & Secrecy Into Best Picture Race: Now There Can Be Anywhere From 5 To 10 Nominees". Deadline Hollywood. MMC. Retrieved June 15, 2011.
2. ^ Joyce Eng (24 June 2009). "Oscar Expands Best Picture Race to 10 Nominees". TV Guide Online. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
3. Poll: Vote on the Oscars Like an Academy Member, Rob Richie, Huffington Post, 16 February 2011
4. "Best Pictures - Facts & Trivia (part 1)". Filmsite.org. Retrieved 2009-12-31.
5. "Oscar Trivia". Oscars.org. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
6. Variety Staff (2007-03-01). "Best Foreign Film". Variety. Retrieved 2009-11-13. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
7. ^ "Academy Awards Statistics". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
8. "Best Pictures - Facts & Trivia (part 2)". Filmsite.org. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
9. "FILMS WITH 10 OR MORE NOMINATIONS". Academy Award Database. Retrieved 2009-02-10.
10. http://boxofficemojo.com/oscar/
11. Siegel, Tatiana (27 January 2009). "Acad allows 'Reader' 4 producers; Minghella, Pollack to be named as nominees". Variety. Reed Business. Retrieved 2009-05-24.

External links

• Oscars.org (official Academy site)
• Oscar.com (official ceremony promotional site)
• The Academy Awards Database (official site)