All 94 Oscar best-picture winners, ranked from worst to best by movie critics

Travis Clark

Updated March 22, 2022 at 1:13 PM·8 min read

All 94 Oscar best-picture winners, ranked from worst to best by movie critics

Apple's "CODA" won the Oscar for best picture on Sunday.
It's the first movie from a streaming service to win the award.
We ranked all 94 winners by their Rotten Tomatoes critic score.

The 94th Oscars ceremony is on Sunday, and a streaming service is poised to win the top prize of the night for the first time.

Netflix's "The Power of the Dog" and Apple TV+'s "CODA" are the frontrunners for best picture, after winning bellwether awards at precursors like the Producers Guild awards ("CODA") and the BAFTAs ("The Power of the Dog"). The latter is the most nominated movie this year with 12 nods.

Searchlight Pictures' "Nomadland" won best picture last year. It also won best director (Chloé Zhao, the second woman to ever win the award) and best actress (Frances McDormand).

Insider ranked all 93 best-picture winners — from the first winner, "Wings," in 1927 to "Nomadland" — based on their critic score on the 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 critic reviews came out on top.)

All 93 best picture Oscar winners are ranked below:

93. "The Broadway Melody" (1929)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 40%

92. "The Greatest Show on Earth" (1952)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 50%

91. "Cimarron" (1931)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 52%

90. "Out of Africa" (1985)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 62%

89. "Cavalcade" (1933)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 65%

User score: 26%

88. "Around the World in 80 Days" (1956)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 70%

User score: 57%

87. "Forrest Gump" (1994)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 70%

User score: 95%

86. "The Great Ziegfeld" (1936)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 72%

85. "Crash" (2004)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 74%

Audience score: 88%

84. "A Beautiful Mind" (2001)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 74%

Audience score: 93%

83. "Gentleman's Agreement" (1947)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 76%

Audience score: 78%

82. "Gladiator" (2000)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 77%

Audience score: 87%

81. "Green Book" (2018)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 77%

Audience score: 91%

80. "Terms of Endearment" (1983)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 78%

Audience score: 83%

79. "Braveheart" (1995)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 78%

Audience score: 85%

78. "Going My Way" (1944)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 81%

77. "Gigi" (1958)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 82%

Audience score: 74%

76. "Chariots of Fire" (1981)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 82%

Audience score: 80%

75. "Driving Miss Daisy" (1989)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 82%

Audience score: 81%

74. "Tom Jones" (1963)

tom jones movie — Woodfall Film Productions

Rotten Tomatoes score: 83%

Audience score: 58%

73. "The Life of Emile Zola" (1937)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 83%

Audience score: 73%

72. "Dances With Wolves" (1990)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 83%

Audience score: 87%

71. "The Sound of Music" (1965)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 83%

Audience score: 91%

70. "A Man For All Seasons" (1966)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 84%

Audience score: 87%

69. "Kramer vs. Kramer" (1979)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 85%

Audience score: 89%

68. "Gandhi" (1982)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 85%

Audience score: 92%

67. "Grand Hotel" (1932)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 86%

Audience score: 77%

66. "The English Patient" (1996)

the english patient weinstein company — The Weinstein Company

Rotten Tomatoes score: 86% (90 reviews)

Audience score: 83%

65. "Chicago" (2002)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 86% (258 reviews)

Audience score: 83%

64. "Ben-Hur" (1959)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 86%

Audience score: 89%

63. "Titanic" (1997)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 87%

Audience score: 69%

62. "Platoon" (1986)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 87% (70 reviews)

Audience score: 93%

61. "American Beauty" (1999)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 87% (190 reviews)

Audience score: 93%

60. "From Here to Eternity" (1953)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 88%

59. "How Green Was My Valley" (1941)

how green was my valley 20th century fox — 20th Century Fox

Rotten Tomatoes score: 89%

Audience score: 81%

58. "Ordinary People" (1980)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 89% (56 reviews)

Audience score: 88%

57. "The Last Emperor" (1987)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 89% (72 reviews)

Audience score: 88%

56. "Midnight Cowboy" (1969)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 89% (114 reviews)

Audience score: 88%

55. "Rain Man" (1988)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 89%

Audience score: 90%

54. "Oliver!" (1968)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%

Audience score: 81%

53. "Million Dollar Baby" (2004)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%

Audience score: 90%

52. "Gone with the Wind" (1939)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%

Audience score: 92%

51. "The Departed" (2006)

the departed jack nicholson matt damon — Warner Bros.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%

Audience score: 94%

50. "Rocky" (1976)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%

Audience score: 69%

49. "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" (2014)

birdman michael keaton — Fox Searchlight

Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%

Audience score: 78%

48. "Slumdog Millionaire" (2008)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%

Audience score: 90%

47. "The Deer Hunter" (1978)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%

Audience score: 91%

46. "The Shape of Water" (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%

Audience score: 72%

45. "Shakespeare in Love" (1998)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%

Audience score: 80%

44. "Wings" (1927)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%

Audience score: 79%

43. "Nomadland" (2020)

Frances McDormand Nomadland — "Nomadland" was directed by Chloé Zhao.Searchlight Pictures

Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%

Audience score: 82%

42. "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 93% (43 reviews)

Audience score: 84%

41. "West Side Story" (1961)

West Side Story United Artists — United Artists

Rotten Tomatoes score: 93% (114 reviews)

Audience score: 84%

40. "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" (2003)

return of the king lord of the rings — New Line

Rotten Tomatoes score: 93% (274 reviews)

Audience score: 86%

39. "No Country for Old Men" (2007)

No country for old men javier bardem — Paramount Pictures

Rotten Tomatoes score: 93% (287 reviews)

Audience score: 86%

38. "Amadeus" (1984)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%

Audience score: 95%

37. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%

Audience score: 96%

36. "My Fair Lady" (1964)

my fair lady audrey hepburn — Warner Brothers

Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%

Audience score: 90%

35. "The King's Speech" (2010)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%

Audience score: 92%

34. "Patton" (1970)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 94% (50 reviews)

Audience score: 93%

33. "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 94% (126 reviews)

Audience score: 93%

32. "The Apartment" (1960)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%

Audience score: 94%

31. "The Sting" (1973)

Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%

Audience score: 95%

30. "Hamlet " (1948)