- 90 films have won the Oscar for best picture in the history of the Academy Awards.
- We ranked all 90 films based on how well they fared with critics.
All 90 Oscar best-picture winners, ranked from worst to best by movie critics
There have been 90 best picture Oscar winners. We ranked every best picture winner, according to critics.
With the 90th Academy Awards now a wrap, we have a new Oscar best picture winner: Guillermo del Toro's fantasy love story "The Shape of Water" took home film's top prize Sunday.
Business Insider ranked all 90 films — from the first winner "Wings" from 1927 to "The Shape of Water" — based on their critic score on reviews-aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. In the case of ties, we broke them based on their audience scores on the site. (And if those were the same, the film with more user ratings came out on top.)
Some of the results may be a surprise ("Argo" is ... pretty high on the list), while others (notorious winner "Crash") probably won't be.
All 90 best picture Oscar winners are ranked below:
90. "The Broadway Melody" (1929)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 35%
89. "The Greatest Show on Earth" (1952)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 44%
88. "Cimarron" (1931)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 53%
87. "Out of Africa" (1985)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 57%
86. "Cavalcade" (1933)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 61%
85. "The Great Ziegfeld" (1936)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 65%
84. "Forrest Gump" (1994)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 71%
83. "Around the World in 80 Days" (1956)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 74%
82. "The Life of Emile Zola" (1937)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 75%
Audience score: 73%
81. "Crash" (2004)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 75%
Audience score: 88%
80. "A Beautiful Mind" (2001)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 75%
Audience score: 93%
79. "Gladiator" (2000)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 76%
78. "Gigi" (1958)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 77%
Audience score: 74%
77. "Braveheart" (1995)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 77%
Audience score: 85%
76. "Gentleman's Agreement" (1947)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 78%
Audience score: 77% (5,571 user ratings)
75. "Going My Way" (1944)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 78%
Audience score: 77% (5,726 user ratings)
74. "Oliver!" (1968)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 81%
73. "Driving Miss Daisy" (1989)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 82%
Audience score: 81%
72. "A Man For All Seasons" (1966)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 82%
Audience score: 87%
71. "Tom Jones" (1963)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 83%
Audience score: 58%
70. "Chariots of Fire" (1981)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 83%
Audience score: 80%
69. "Dances With Wolves" (1990)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 83%
Audience score: 87%
68. "The English Patient" (1996)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 84%
67. "Grand Hotel" (1932)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 86%
Audience score: 77%
66. "Chicago" (2002)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 86%
Audience score: 83%
65. "Ben-Hur" (1959)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 86%
Audience score: 89%
64. "The Sound of Music" (1965)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 86%
Audience score: 91%
63. "Gandhi" (1982)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 87%
62. "Titanic" (1997)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 88%
Audience score: 69%
61. "Terms of Endearment" (1983)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 88%
Audience score: 84%
60. "Kramer vs. Kramer" (1979)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 88%
Audience score: 89%
59. "Platoon" (1986)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 88%
Audience score: 93% (239,352 user ratings)
58. "American Beauty" (1999)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 88%
Audience score: 93% (659,658 user ratings)
57. "Rain Man" (1988)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 89%
56. "How Green Was My Valley" (1941)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%
Audience score: 81%
55. "Ordinary People" (1980)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%
Audience score: 88% (23,064 user ratings)
54. "Midnight Cowboy" (1969)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%
Audience score: 88% (39,721 user ratings)
53. "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" (2014)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%
Audience score: 77%
52. "Hamlet " (1948)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%
Audience score: 81%
51. "You Can't Take it With You" (1938)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%
Audience score: 88%
50. "Million Dollar Baby" (2004)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%
Audience score: 90%
49. "The Departed" (2006)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%
Audience score: 94%
48. "The Shape of Water" (2017)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%
Audience score: 77%
47. "Shakespeare in Love" (1998)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%
Audience score: 80%
46. "From Here to Eternity" (1953)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%
Audience score: 84%
45. "Mis. Miniver" (1942)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%
Audience score: 85%
44. "The Last Emperor" (1987)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%
Audience score: 88%
43. "Slumdog Millionaire" (2008)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%
Audience score: 90%
42. "Rocky" (1976)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%
Audience score: 69%
41. "No Country for Old Men" (2007)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%
Audience score: 86%
40. "Gone With the Wind" (1939)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%
Audience score: 93%
39. "The Apartment" (1960)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%
Audience score: 94%
38. "The Sting" (1973)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%
Audience score: 95%
37. "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%
Audience score: 83%
36. "West Side Story" (1961)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%
Audience score: 84%
35. "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" (2003)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%
Audience score: 86%
34. "The Deer Hunter" (1978)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%
Audience score: 92%
33. "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%
Audience score: 93%
32. "Wings" (1927)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 95%
Audience score: 78%
31. "An American in Paris" (1951)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 95%
Audience score: 79%
30. "The King's Speech" (2010)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 95%
Audience score: 92%
29. "Patton" (1970)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 95%
Audience score: 94%
28. "Amadeus" (1984)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 95%
Audience score: 95% (179,618 user ratings)
27. "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 95%
Audience score: 95% (845,346 user ratings)
26. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 95%
Audience score: 96%
25. "The Artist" (2011)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%
Audience score: 87%
24. "12 Years a Slave" (2013)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%
Audience score: 90% (139,200)
23. "My Fair Lady" (1964)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%
Audience score: 90% (186,813 user ratings)
22. "Argo" (2012)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%
Audience score: 90% (207,738 user ratings)
21. "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%
Audience score: 92% (10,653 user ratings)
20. "In the Heat of the Night" (1967)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%
Audience score: 92% (22,978 user ratings)
19. "Unforgiven" (1992)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%
Audience score: 93%
18. "All the King's Men" (1949)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 97%
Audience score: 78%
17. "The Hurt Locker" (2009)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 97%
Audience score: 84%
16. "Annie Hall" (1977)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 97%
Audience score: 92%
15. "Spotlight" (2015)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 97%
Audience score: 93%
14. "Casablanca" (1942)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 97%
Audience score: 95%
13. "The Godfather Part II" (1974)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 97%
Audience score: 97% (409,884 user ratings)
12. "Schindler's List" (1993)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 97%
Audience score: 97% (410,183 user ratings)
11. "Moonlight" (2016)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 98%
Audience score: 79%
10. "The French Connection" (1971)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 98%
Audience score: 87%
9. "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 98%
Audience score: 93% (74,432 user ratings)
8. "It Happened One Night" (1934)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 98%
Audience score: 93% (33,233 user ratings)
7. "On the Waterfront" (1954)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 98%
Audience score: 95%
6. "The Godfather" (1972)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 98%
Audience score: 98%
5. "Marty" (1955)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%
Audience score: 87%
4. "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1930)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%
Audience score: 89%
3. "The Lost Weekend" (1945)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%
Audience score: 90%
2. "Rebecca" (1940)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%
Audience score: 92%
1. "All About Eve" (1950)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%
Audience score: 94%
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