Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards (also known as Oscars) presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film and is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible to submit a nomination and vote on the final ballot.[1] The Best Picture category is traditionally the final award of the night and is widely considered as the most prestigious honor of the ceremony.[2][3][4]
Academy Award for Best Picture
Best Motion Picture of the Year
United States
The Grand Staircase columns at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, 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.[5] There have been 601 films nominated for Best Picture and 96 winners.[6]
History[edit]
Category name changes[edit]
At the 1st Academy Awards ceremony held in 1929 (for films made in 1927 and 1928), there were two categories of awards that were each considered the top award of the night: "Outstanding Picture" and "Unique and Artistic Picture," the former being won by the war epic Wings, and the latter by the art film Sunrise. Each award was intended to honor different and equally important aspects of superior filmmaking. In particular, The Jazz Singer was disqualified from both awards, since its use of synchronized sound made the film a sui generis item that would have unfairly competed against either category, and the Academy granted the film an honorary award instead.[7]
The following year, the Academy dropped the Unique and Artistic Picture award, deciding retroactively that the award won by Wings was the highest honor that could be awarded, and allowed synchronized sound films to compete for the award.[8] Although the award kept the title Outstanding Picture for the next ceremony, the name underwent several changes over the years as seen below. Since 1962, the award has been simply called Best Picture.[6]
2017 ceremony mistake[edit]
At the 89th Academy Awards on February 26, 2017, presenter Faye Dunaway read La La Land as the winner of the award. However, 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 for her role in La La Land. While accepting the award, La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz, who was given the correct envelope, realized the mistake and announced that Moonlight had won the award.[42]