- The Academy Awards is coming up next month
- It awards the best of the best in Hollywood
- However, sometimes the most important Oscar goes to the wrong movie
Best Picture at the Oscars is the biggest prize of the most prestigious event of the Hollywood awards season
This year’s nominations vying to take the gong at the 97th Academy Awards on 2 March include Emilia Pérez, Conclave, and A Complete Unknown, to name a few.
Read more: How to watch the Oscars 2025 nominated Best Picture films
However, the losers can take solace in the fact that sometimes, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences get it totally wrong.
Whether it was immediately apparent or their victory soured with age, here are the worst Best Picture winners at the Oscars.
The Hurt Locker
This 2009 winner The Hurt Locker was considered the creme de la creme of war movies but with modern eyes, this Katherine Bigelow film has been reassessed as a sensationalist part of the industrial war machine.
The King’s Speech
The King’s Speech by director Tom Hooper scooped the top prize in 2010, but many consider it has left no legacy on Hollywood and represents boring Oscar bait.
American Beauty
American Beauty was beloved across the board when it won in 2000 but the sexual assault allegations against its star, Kevin Spacey, have shrouded its legacy despite him being cleared of any legal wrongdoing.
Shakespeare In Love
1999 winner Shakespeare In Love might have proved that Gwyneth Paltrow is Best Actress material but it just hasn’t stood the test of time, unlike its contemporaries Saving Private Ryan.
Read more: Most controversial Academy award moments of 2025 Oscars
The Greatest Show on Earth
This Cecil DeMille-directed film won in 1952 and just really hasn’t lived up to the legacy maintained by its fellow nominee, High Noon, aside from being referenced in Steven Spielberg’s 2022 film The Fablemans.
Gone With The Wind
Gone With The Wind is probably one of the most adored movies in the world but no one can really argue with the 1940 winner utilising some of the most horrific racism, like the ‘happy slave’ trope.
Crash
The legacy of the 2006 Best Picture winner Crash has been dampened by how it defeated the genuinely groundbreaking film for LGBT+ issues on screen, Brokeback Mountain.
Green Book
After its 2019 victory, Green Book marked the continuation of The Academy’s tradition of rewarding films deploying white saviour tropes.
Dances With Wolves
Dances With Wolves, produced, directed and starring Kevin Costner, feels very white saviour-y years after winning Best Picture in 1990.
Driving Miss Daisy
If there’s one thing the Oscars love, it’s a white saviour story in a car, and they probably first fell in love with it when they saw this Morgan Freeman-Jessica Tandy-led picture that won in 1990.
The Blind Side
The Blind Side has been shrouded in all sorts of scandals since it took home the award in 2010, like the claim that high school football star Michael Oher was actually under an exploitative conservatorship instead of adoption as the film presents.
