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- ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ led the nominations with 11 total this year.
- Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Ke Huy Quan won acting awards.
- The Daniels also took home honors for directing.
Everything Everywhere All At Once is the most recent film to be declared the Academy Award’s Best Picture. The 2023 Oscars had some stiff competition for Best Picture including The Fabelmans, All Quiet On The Western Front, Avatar: The Way of Water, The Banshees of Inisherin, Elvis, Tár, Top Gun: Maverick, Triangle of Sadness, and Women Talking. The Best Picture award is a tradition that dates back to the 1920s. However, it didn’t always have the same title and actually was divided into two categories.
At the first-ever Academy Awards in 1929, the 1927 film Wings won the Most Outstanding Production Award and was categorized as the 1927/1928 winner. The second award, Most Artistic Quality of Production, went to the art film Sunrise. The first Oscars was the last to have two winners. Eventually, the Most Outstanding Production Award became the sole winning category while Most Artistic Quality of Production became Best Cinematography, which is why Wings is considered the true first Best Picture winner. The title of the award went through a few changes. The biggest was the addition of the word “Motion” in 1941 and the redaction of it after 1962 when the category became its current title– Best Picture.
Another big change that was made over the years is how many films could be nominated for Best Picture. Initially, eight to 12 films could be nominated but during World War II, the Academy ruled that only five films would be nominated for the award. Down the line, the Academy had a change of heart and ruled that up to ten films could be nominated in 2009. Many believe it was due to the outrage over The Dark Knight not being on the ballot the year before. Additionally, it has allowed for more diversity in the Best Picture category. Now that we’re all caught up on the history, let’s take a look at the films that have won Best Picture over the past two decades, all the way back to 2000.
CODA is a film about a teenager who is the only hearing member of her family who yearns to pursue a career in music. The film embodied the definition of authentic and representative casting as all three deaf family members were played by deaf actors. The heartfelt film was nominated for three categories and won all of them. On top of Best Picture, Troy Kotsur won Best Supporting Actor and the film also took away the award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
First appear at ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ Wins Best Picture 2023: See Other Past Winners From The Last 20 Years
