Twice the last decade, a music heavy film (La La Land and Bohemian Rhapsody) won the most awards, but failed to bring home best picture.
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved. /Courtesy Everett Collection
The film that wins the most Oscars usually takes the top prize, best picture. It happened at the ceremony earlier this year, when best picture winner Anora was also the film that picked up the most awards (five). It also happened at the 2023 and 2024 ceremonies when best picture winners Everything Everywhere All at Once and Oppenheimer, respectively, were also the nights’ top winners, each with seven awards.
But there are exceptions to every rule, including this one. At the very first Oscar ceremony in 1929, Wings took what is now called best picture but was not the biggest winner overall. The same thing has happened 19 more times in Oscar history. It’s happening more often than it used to. It didn’t happen at all in the 1980s or ’90s, but it has happened seven times since 2005. Twice in the last decade, a music heavy film (La La Land and Bohemian Rhapsody) won the most awards, but failed to bring home best picture.
Best picture has been the most coveted Oscar since the inaugural ceremony in 1929, when Wings took the award, then called outstanding picture. The award wasn’t called best picture until the 1963 ceremony, when Lawrence of Arabia took the prize. The name of the category has gone from outstanding picture to outstanding production, outstanding motion picture, and best motion picture, before finally settling on the simple two-word phrase we know today.
Here’s a complete list of the 20 times the best picture winner was not the film that won the most awards, or at least one of the films that won the most awards, in the case of a tie for that distinction. The dates shown are the year of the Oscar ceremony.
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1929: Wings vs. 7th Heaven & Sunrise
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Outstanding Picture: Wings, 2 Oscars (also engineering effects)
Most Wins: 7th Heaven, 3 Oscars (actress; directing (dramatic picture); writing (adaptation); Sunrise, 3 Oscars (actress; cinematography; unique and artistic picture)
Notes: Janet Gaynor’s award for best actress cited her roles in both 7th Heaven and Sunrise (as well as a third film, Street Angel). This was the only year the Oscars presented the award for unique and artistic picture.
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1932: Grand Hotel vs. Bad Girl & The Champ
Outstanding Production: Grand Hotel, 1 Oscar
Most Wins: Bad Girl, 2 Oscars (directing, adapted screenplay) and The Champ, 2 Oscars (actor, original screenplay)
Note: This was not only the only Oscar win for Grand Hotel. It was its only nomination – the only time in Oscar history that a film that received no other nominations has won best picture.
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1936: Mutiny on the Bounty vs. The Informer
Outstanding Production: Mutiny on the Bounty, 1 Oscar
Most Wins: The Informer, 4 Oscars (actor, directing, scoring, screenplay)
Notes: Academy records indicate that The Informer came in second in the voting for outstanding production. It lost to a film that won no other Oscars. Go figure. As was the custom back then, the score award for The Informer went to the film studio’s music department, not to the composer (the legendary Max Steiner). Fortunately, Steiner was also the head of the music department at the studio in this case – RKO Radio Studio.
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1937: The Great Ziegfeld vs. Anthony Adverse
Outstanding Production: The Great Ziegfeld, 3 Oscars (also actress, dance direction)
Most Wins: Anthony Adverse, 4 Oscars (supporting actress, cinematography, film editing, score)
Notes: The dance direction award for The Great Ziegfeld was for a production number of Irving Berlin’s “A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody,” a scene later parodied on an episode of I Love Lucy. The score award for Anthony Adverse went to the film studio’s music department, not to the composer (Erich Wolfgang Korngold). The studio in this case was the Warner Bros. Studio Music Department, Leo Forbstein, head of department.
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1939: You Can’t Take It With You vs. The Adventures of Robin Hood
Outstanding Production: You Can’t Take It With You, 2 Oscars (also directing)
Most Wins: The Adventures of Robin Hood, 3 Oscars (art direction, film editing, original score)
Notes: Erich Wolfgang Korngold won the score award for The Adventures of Robin Hood – and this time the award went to him, not the studio. He got a plaque, though it was replaced with a statuette in 1977 – alas, 20 years after he died.
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1941: Rebecca vs. The Thief of Bagdad
Outstanding Production: Rebecca, 2 Oscars (also cinematography (black-and-white))
Most Wins: The Thief of Bagdad, 3 Oscars (art direction (color); cinematography (color); special effects
Notes: Scores to both of these films were nominated for original score. Franz Waxman composed the score for Rebecca; Miklos Rozsa scored The Thief of Bagdad.
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1944: Casablanca vs. The Song of Bernadette
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Outstanding Motion Picture: Casablanca, 3 Oscars (also directing, writing (screenplay)
Most Wins: The Song of Bernadette, 4 Oscars (actress; art direction (black-and-white); cinematography (black-and-white); score of a dramatic or comedy picture)
Notes: This was Alfred Newman’s third of a record nine scoring awards. He received a plaque, which was replaced with a statuette in 1946. He died in 1970. Many other members of the extraordinarily talented Newman family have achieved fame as film composers, including his children David, Thomas, and Maria; brothers Emil and Lionel; nephew Randy; and grandnephew Joey.
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1950: All the King’s Men vs. The Heiress
Best Motion Picture: All the King’s Men, 3 Oscars (also actor, supporting actress)
Most Wins: The Heiress, 4 Oscars (actress, art direction (black-and-white); costume design (black-and-white); score of a dramatic or comedy picture
Notes: Legendary composer Aaron Copland, perhaps best known for composing the ballet “Appalachian Spring,” won his only Oscar for scoring The Heiress.
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1953: The Greatest Show on Earth vs. The Bad and the Beautiful
Best Motion Picture: The Greatest Show on Earth, 2 Oscars (also writing (motion picture story))
Most Wins: The Bad and the Beautiful, 5 Oscars (supporting actress; art direction (black-and-white); cinematography (black-and-white); costume design (black-and-white); writing (screenplay)
Notes: Cecil B. DeMille produced The Greatest Show on Earth. You know the Cecil B. DeMille Award that the Golden Globes present? That’s the guy.
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1970: Midnight Cowboy vs. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Image Credit: 20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved. Best Picture: Midnight Cowboy, 3 Oscars (also directing, adapted screenplay)
Most Wins: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 4 Oscars (original screenplay, cinematography, original song, original score)
Notes: Burt Bacharach won both song and score, sharing the song award with lyricist Hal David for “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head.” B.J. Thomas’ recording of the pop classic was No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks in January 1970.
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1973: The Godfather vs. Cabaret
Image Credit: Courtesy Everett Collection Best Picture: The Godfather, 3 Oscars (also actor, adapted screenplay)
Most Wins: Cabaret, 8 Oscars (actress, supporting actor, directing, art direction, cinematography, film editing, scoring, sound)
Notes: Ralph Burns won the scoring award for adapting the score written by John Kander and Fred Ebb, who didn’t win writing the superlative score in the first place for the 1966 Broadway musical. But both Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey thanked them warmly in their acceptance speeches for best actress and best supporting actor, respectively.
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1977: Rocky vs. All the President’s Men and Network
Best Picture: Rocky, 3 Oscars (also directing, film editing)
Most Wins: All the President’s Men, 4 Oscars (supporting actor, adapted screenplay, art direction, sound) and Network, 4 Oscars (actor, actress, supporting actress, original screenplay)
Notes: Bill Conti’s “Gonna Fly Now,” the theme from Rocky, was a No. 1 hit on the Hot 100. It was nominated for best original song but lost to Barbra Streisand’s “Evergreen” from A Star Is Born – also a No. 1 hit.
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1978: Annie Hall vs. Star Wars
Best Picture: Annie Hall, 4 Oscars (also actress, directing, original screenplay)
Most Wins: Star Wars, 6 Oscars (art direction, costume design, film editing, original score, sound, visual effects). In addition, Benjamin Burtt, Jr. received a special achievement award “for the creation of the alien, creature and robot voices featured in Star Wars.”
Notes: John Williams won his third of five scoring awards for Star Wars. The soundtrack spent three weeks at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 (it got stuck behind Fleetwood Mac’s unmovable Rumours) and received a Grammy nod for album of the year (it lost to Rumours there too).
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2005: Million Dollar Baby vs. The Aviator
Best Picture: Million Dollar Baby, 4 Oscars (also actress, supporting actor, directing)
Most Wins: The Aviator, 5 Oscars (supporting actress, art direction, cinematography, costume design, film editing)
Notes: Blanchett won her first of two Oscars for playing Katharine Hepburn (who won a record four acting Oscars).
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2013: Argo vs. Life of Pi
Best Picture: Argo, 3 Oscars (also film editing, adapted screenplay)
Most Wins: Life of Pi, 4 Oscars (directing, cinematography, original score, visual effects)
Notes: Mychael Danna won the original score award for Life of Pi. He was also nominated for best original song for co-writing a song from the film, “Pi’s Lullaby.”
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2014: 12 Years a Slave vs. Gravity
Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave, 3 Oscars (also supporting actress, adapted screenplay)
Most Wins: Gravity, 7 Oscars (directing, cinematography, film editing, original score, sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects)
Notes: Steven Price won the scoring award for Gravity – his only Oscar nod to date.
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2016: Spotlight vs. Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Picture: Spotlight, 2 Oscars (also original screenplay).
Most Wins: Mad Max: Fury Road, 6 (costume design, film editing, makeup and hairstyling, production design, sound editing, sound mixing)
Notes: Mad Max: Fury Road was the fourth film in the Mad Max franchise, but the first to even be nominated for an Oscar. (Even Tina Turner’s 1985 smash “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)” from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome failed to receive an Oscar nod.)
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2017: Moonlight vs. La La Land
Image Credit: ©Summit Entertainment/courtesy Everett Collection Best Picture: Moonlight, 3 Oscars (also supporting actor, adapted screenplay)
Most Wins: La La Land, 6 Oscars (actress, directing, cinematography, original score, original song, production design)
Notes: Actually, La La Land was the best picture winner for about two minutes, before the Oscars realized that the award had been presented to the wrong film – the biggest gaffe in awards show history. Justin Hurwitz was a double winner for score and song for La La Land, sharing the latter award for “City of Stars” with lyricists Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
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2019: Green Book vs. Bohemian Rhapsody
Best Picture: Green Book, 3 Oscars (also supporting actor, original screenplay)
Most Wins: Bohemian Rhapsody, 4 (actor, film editing, sound editing, sound mixing)
Notes: Rami Malek won best actor for his portrayal of Queen’s flamboyant frontman, Freddie Mercury. That (almost) makes up for the fact that Mercury and Queen never won a competitive Grammy.
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2022: CODA vs. Dune
Best Picture: CODA, 3 Oscars (also supporting actor, adapted screenplay)
Most Wins: Dune 6 (cinematography, film editing, original score, production design, sound, visual effects).
Notes: Hans Zimmer won his second Oscar for best original score for Dune, 27 years after he won his first for The Lion King.
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