With everybody making their Oscar predictions for Best Picture and other awards, there are bound to be some upsets and surprises at the ceremony. The Academy Awards are an established and revered tradition that has nonetheless evolved throughout the years. While many Oscar-winning films are beloved, there are equally many Oscar-worthy films that missed winning the golden statue, and these titles include some of the most critically acclaimed and influential films of all time.
Updated July 25th, 2023: In honor of the latest nominations for the Academy Awards, this list has been updated with even more films that should have won Best Picture.
While what defines the best picture winner is subjective, many people believe some of these films more than stood a chance of taking home the top prize. Many great movies were nominated but ultimately lost the top prize. Read on to discover which of these films deserved the academy's finest.
15 The Shawshank Redemption
The 1994 drama/crime movie, The Shawshank Redemption is a classic that every self-respecting cinephile should see at least once. Directed by Frank Darabont and starring Morgan Freeman, the movie is about a wrongly accused banker called Andy Dufresne, who gets sentenced for the murder of his wife and her lover to a lifetime in the famous Shawshank prison. Andy is depicted as a survivor who adapts to the brutal environment of prison and who is able, despite everything, to form a strong bond with Red (Morgan Freeman).
The movie deserves to win the biggest prize not only for its beautifully woven plot but for its great cinematography in general, its amazing performances, and its rich dialogue. It's the go-to movie if you are looking for a good moral story with great acting.
14 Memento
The 2000 mystery and thriller Memento is one of the rarest cinematic experiences that deserve to be honored with the top award. Directed by Christopher Nolan, who is known for his unequaled talent in bringing life to the screen, the movie tells the enigmatic story of Leonard (Guy Pearce), a grieving insurance investigator who is obsessed with finding the man who killed his wife. Leonard's path to realizing his mission is filled with memory gaps caused by his anterograde amnesia, making his mission near impossible.
The movie beautifully portrays a man with a will who tries to navigate through obstacles and find the truth within a maze of untidy memories. The movie's puzzling ending is yet another asset, along with its soft complexity, which does not overshadow its themes, plot, and profoundly gripping scenes. And its 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes barely gives it justice.
13 Lady Bird
The Best Picture almost got it right. Lady Bird was, indeed, nominated but never really won. With a 99% score, it's hardly considered a failure. In fact, the drama movie, directed by Greta Gerwig is an interesting dive into the turbulent life of a teenager (Lady Bird) as she tries to establish a sense of self and build a vision for her future. This high school senior, played by Saoirse Ronan, has the most strained mother-daughter relationship ever captured onscreen.
After a long journey, Lady Bird gets accepted into the college of her dreams and leaves her hometown. The space away from her family gives her the time to rethink her relationship with her mother and reach back to her home with a changed perspective. The raw truthfulness of the movie about the tension that could arise between family members gives it a special allure that attracts every viewer, even if they cannot relate.
12 Black Panther
Black Panther was the rare blockbuster to also become an Academy Award nominee, earning seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. It won Best Costume Design, Best Original Score, and Best Production Design but lost Best Picture. What made the matter of losing Best Picture worse was that the movie lost Best Picture to Green Book, which felt like the same old familiar troupes of good white people solving racism made by white filmmakers, as opposed to a film by black filmmakers with a primarily black cast that celebrated African culture while also dealing with complex themes of racism, oppression, and responsibility.
While many may dismiss Black Panther as a simple comic book movie, the film had a high impact and was a beloved movie for many people around the globe. It meant something and transcended audiences who normally don't go see superhero movies. It was a movie that spoke to that moment in time.
The tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman has made the loss even harder because one imagines how impactful it would have been for him to be standing up there as Black Panther became the first superhero movie to win Best Picture. Yet Black Panther will live on in the hearts and minds of fans all over the world even without an Oscar.
11 Citizen Kane
There's little that hasn't already been said about Citizen Kane, so suffice it to say that it's considered by many to be the greatest film of all time, and its influence in modern cinema is ever-present. Orson Welles' debut feature involving the life of media tycoon William Foster Kane was a critical and commercial success immediately upon release.
With the amount of praise and acclaim it's received, one would imagine that Citizen Kane should've won Best Picture as well. To many's surprise, despite multiple nominations, Kane lost its best picture nomination and only won for its screenplay. Several critics and fans have argued that Kane should've won. It's hard to disagree, especially given that Kane continues to be hailed as an inventive, ground-breaking, and still-relevant achievement years after its release.
While not winning Best Picture hasn't done much to dampen the impact of its legacy, it remains an oversight to many movie buffs and has put the authority of the Academy Awards in question. Many still believe that, given its stature and impact, it was robbed of the best picture win; regardless, Citizen Kane continues to be hailed as a masterpiece to this day.
10 Star Wars
Star Wars was the biggest movie of 1977 and, for a while, the most successful film of all time. It was the rare blockbuster that was also a critical favorite and went on to be nominated for eleven Academy Awards. The movie took home seven Oscars but notably lost Best Picture to Woody Allen's Annie Hall.
It is hard to argue between Star Wars and Annie Hall which movie had the larger cultural footprint. Some would say the Academy likely wanted to give the Oscar to Annie Hall as it projected a more mature filmmaking sensibility that the organization wanted to put forth than Star Wars. However, in the years since, the loss seems more egregious, particularly with the accusations surrounding Woody Allen. Woody Allen's reputation has soured, while Star Wars remains a timeless classic.
9 Pulp Fiction
In 1994, there were several films attempting to redefine cinema, but few did so with such originality and invention as Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. The film took audiences by storm and impressed critics all while redefining modern cinema and influencing an entire generation of would-be filmmakers.
Pulp Fiction was nominated for several awards and was expected by many to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, especially considering that it had beat out many other masterpieces at Cannes for the Palme d'Or. Despite its popularity, the film ultimately lost out to the hit Forrest Gump, which is still considered a beloved film, though many have stated that Pulp Fiction was more deserving of the top prize.
While the race for best picture in 1994 was crowded with great best picture nominees like The Shawshank Redemption, it's hard to dispute that Pulp Fiction's innovative nature made it arguably most deserving. In the years since Tarantino has made several award-nominated and critically received films but has yet to receive the best picture win. While many feel he's going to receive his due eventually, several have felt he was deserving of it with Pulp Fiction. To this day, Fiction remains one of Tarantino's most celebrated and influential works and is still resonant with audiences.
8 Boyhood
Boyhood was a massive undertaking of a film. Directed by Richard Linklater, the film was shot over the course of 12 years and followed a young boy's journey into adulthood. The movie is an impressive accomplishment in long-term planning, supported by an incredible cast. If featured an incredible humanistic story and received glowing reviews from critics.
The film was one of the front runners for Best Picture but lost to Birdman. Birdman, in many ways, was the complete opposite of Boyhood. Boyhood went for a grounded, naturalistic look, while Birdman was a heavily stylized film. Boyhood was a sentimental, sweet, and intimate story, while Birdman was a cynical, angry film mad at recent films. Birdman has not aged as well in recent years, while Boyhood gets better with time.
7 Brokeback Mountain
When it comes to the biggest Oscar shocks, most people would likely put Brokeback Mountain losing the Best Picture Oscar to Crash close to the top. Even the awards' presenter, Jack Nicholson, seemed shocked at the upset. Brokeback Mountain seemed like the clear front-runner, a moving tale about a forbidden love with two amazing performances by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhall.
Yet Crash ended up winning the Oscar, despite mixed reviews. In the years since Crash has not aged well at all, from its rather broad characterization of racism to the troubling accusations of sexual assault around director Paul Haggis. Meanwhile, Brokeback Mountain was praised and to this day is regarded as a great film. Maybe the Academy was not ready to give Best Picture to a gay romance which is a shame.
6 Goodfellas
Martin Scorsese is considered Hollywood royalty at this point and has made some of the most widely recognized and celebrated films of all time. Despite releasing films steadily since the 70s, Scorsese didn't receive the Best Picture Oscar until 2006 with The Departed (which is, coincidentally, the only remake that has won best picture). Many believe that he should've won earlier with his 1990 gangster film masterpiece Goodfellas.
The film stars Ray Liotta, Robert DeNiro, and Joe Pesci and is considered to be a staple of the genre and, to many, Scorsese's best film. While it received no shortage of praise and nominations upon release, Goodfellas ultimately lost out on the top prize to Kevin Costner's best picture nominee, Dances With Wolves. When discussing notable Oscar snubs, Goodfellas almost always makes the list, and for good reason. The film is innovative in its storytelling, iconic in its performances, and ushered in a realistic, gritty and stylish approach to the genre that's informed many subsequent films since.
Regardless of its loss, Goodfellas continues to be revered in Scorsese's reputation, and thankfully he was finally awarded the best picture Oscar he long deserved. Many point to instances where Scorcese should've been awarded earlier, and Goodfellas is universally considered the top choice. Despite its lack of picture win, Goodfellas arguably remains Scorsese's most beloved film and continues to engage audiences.
5 The Social Network
The Social Network is often regarded as one of the best movies of the 2010s. Directed by David Fincher, with a screenplay by Aaron Sorkin, a score by Trent Reznor, and an all-star cast that included Jessie Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield, The Social Network seemed like a perfect storm of a movie that tapped into the cultural zeitgeist and has only aged better as the years have gone on.
2010 was a competitive year, with classics like Toy Story 3, Inception, and True Grit all competing for Best Picture, yet it is universally agreed upon that The Social Network should have won. Yet it was The King's Speech that took home the Best Picture Oscar, and almost immediately, audiences were lamenting how the wrong film won. The King's Speech felt like the same old Oscar bait movie, while The Social Network was new and fresh. The Social Network still remains a fan favorite, while The King's Speech has mainly been forgotten.
4 Saving Private Ryan
Director Steven Spielberg has given us several Academy Award-winning films and Best Picture nominees in a widely celebrated career. His 1998 film Saving Private Ryan is considered to be one of his most powerful and moving stories and was a critical success at the time. Many speculated that the movie would take home the Academy Award for Best Picture, but many were shocked considerably when it lost, surprisingly to Shakespeare in Love.
Saving Private Ryan is noted for its intense and accurate portrayal of war, its harrowing battle sequences, and Tom Hanks' commanding performance. To many, Saving Private Ryan is one of the most critically recognized war films of all time and some consider it Spielberg's masterpiece. For most film-buffs, the consensus is that Ryan was the truly deserving film that year.
Overall, Saving Private Ryan is still considered a highly influential achievement for Spielberg and to this day many believe it to be the true best picture of 1998. Its best picture loss at the Academy Awards has prompted Den of Geek to reconsider what that award even means, writing that, "Saving Private Ryan's Best Picture loss changed the Oscars forever."
3 The Dark Knight
The film whose snub made the Academy Awards expand the Best Picture nominee list. In 2008, The Dark Knight was a cultural phenomenon becoming the highest-grossing film of the year as well as one of the best-reviewed movies of the year. With those two factors, many assumed it was a shoe to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
Yet come the announcement of the nominees, it was snubbed for Best Picture. It did get eight nominations, including the posthumous Best Supporting Actor nomination for Heath Ledger, who would eventually win, but the lack of a Best Picture nomination was glaring. No disrespect to the five films that were nominated, but it is hard to argue any have left an impression over audiences and cinema as a medium the same way The Dark Knight did.
2 Raiders of the Lost Ark
Indiana Jones is considered to be one of the most iconic characters of all time, and Raiders of The Lost Ark set a gold standard for action-adventure films. Many agreed, and the film became a box office smash that also revolutionized the industry. When it came time for the Academy Awards, Raiders of the Lost Ark received a considerable amount of nominations, but, alas, the Best Picture win was not in sight.
Raiders of The Lost Ark continues to be an impressive achievement thanks to its visual effects, ambitious storytelling, and star-making lead performance by Harrison Ford. In the years since. Raiders continues to be hailed as a benchmark for the genre, and many fans argue it was more than worthy of the top prize.
1 There Will Be Blood
2007 was a year with two clear favorites from some of the most acclaimed filmmakers: The Coen Brother's No Country for Old Men and Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood. No Country for Old Men ended up winning Best Picture, and many saw it as a restoration for Fargo losing Best Picture. Yet as the years have gone on it appears that many agree that while No Country for Old Men was a great film, There Will Be Blood was the superior film.
The movie made multiple end-of-the-year best-of lists and many best films of the decade. The film is often referred to as Paul Thomas Anderson's best movies and one of the best films made in the 21st century, an epic anchored by one of the all-time greatest movie performances by Daniel Day-Lewis.
Despite only being a modest hit at the box office and actually the lowest-grossing film of the nominated Best Pictures, There Will Be Blood entered the pop culture discourse in a rare feat that is still felt to this day. When people look back on the greatest films, There Will Be Blood will certainly be among them.
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