The 2010-2019 decade ended with Fox Searchlight (now just Searchlight Pictures under Disney) maintaining and extending its dominance as an Oscar Best Picture leader in nominations with 13 including this season’s Jojo Rabbit. It’s also the leader for Best Picture Oscar wins with three, for 2013’s 12 Years a Slave, 2014’s Birdman and 2017’s The Shape of Water. Searchlight, the independent arm of 20th Century Fox (now just 20th Studios under Disney) has also consistently been able to find itself with two BP nominations in a single year four times, a feat no other studio was able to touch, and even able to win competing against itself. Disney is also the distributor of a handful of films that had production assistance with other studios (like 2012’s Lincoln with 20th Century Fox) but for the purposes of this piece it’s the distributor that receives the credit.
Warner Bros is next with 10 Best Picture nominees last decade and one win (2012’s Argo) and this year has the billion dollar Joker as its player.
Paramount Pictures is the studio with the most BP nominees of the decade without a win (9) but hadn’t been able to pull in any nominations in the last three years.
With eight Best Picture nominees and no wins, Sony Pictures is next but they have their best shot since 2010’s The Social Network to win with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. That is, unless Universal can get back-to-back wins with Green Book last year and 1917 this year. Or, at just three years old, Neon could come in with their first Best Picture nominee, Parasite, and take it all.
Here’s the full studio breakdown of the decade from most to least Best Picture nominees. Shout out to
Fox Searchlight – 13 nominations / 3 wins (now Searchlight Pictures under Disney)
Warner Bros – 10 nominations / 1 win
Paramount Pictures – 9 nominations / 0 wins
The Weinstein Company – 7 nominations / 2 wins (now defunct)
Disney – 7 nominations / 0 wins (includes Touchstone, etc)
Sony Pictures – 7 nominations / 0 wins
20th Century Fox – 6 nominations / 0 wins (now Disney post-2018)
Focus Features – 6 nominations / 0 wins
Sony Pictures Classics – 4 nominations / 0 wins
Universal Pictures – 4 nominations / 1 win
Lionsgate – 2 nominations / 0 wins
A24 – 3 nominations / 1 win
Netflix – 3 nominations / 0 wins
Roadside Attractions – 1 nomination / 0 wins
IFC Films – 1 nomination / 0 wins
Open Road Films – 1 nomination / 1 win (now defunct)
2015: Spotlight
Amazon Studios – 1 nomination / 0 wins
CBS Films – 1 nomination / 0 wins (now CBS Entertainment)
Annapurna/United Artists – 1 nomination / 0 wins
Neon – 1 nomination / wins TBD
Here’s a broader, historical look at every Best Picture win and the studios who have and still dominate.
Columbia (Sony era since 1989) – 12 wins
1934: It Happened One Night
1938: You Can’t Take it with You
1949: All the King’s Men
1953: From Here to Eternity
1954: On the Waterfront
1957: The Bridge on the River Kwai
1962: Lawrence of Arabia
1966: A Man for All Seasons
1968: Oliver!
1979: Kramer vs. Kramer
1982: Ghandi
1987: The Last Emperor
United Artists – 12 wins
1940: Rebecca
1955: Marty
1956: Around the World in Eighty Days
1960: The Apartment
1961: West Side Story
1963: Tom Jones
1967: In the Heat of the Night
1969: Midnight Cowboy
1975: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
1976: Rocky
1977: Annie Hall
1988: Rain Man
Paramount Pictures – 11 wins
1928: Wings
1944: Going My Way
1945: The Lost Weekend
1952: The Greatest Show on Earth
1972: The Godfather
1974: The Godfather Part 2
1980: Ordinary People
1983: Terms of Endearment
1994: Forrest Gump
1995: Braveheart
1997: Titanic
MGM – 9 wins
1929: The Broadway Melody
1932: Grand Hotel
1935: Mutiny on the Bounty
1936: The Great Ziegfeld
1939: Gone with the Wind
1942: Mrs. Miniver
1951: An American in Paris
1958: Gigi
1959: Ben-Hur
Warner Bros – 9 wins
1937: The Life of Emile Zola
1943: Casablanca
1964: My Fair Lady
1981: Chariots of Fire
1989: Driving Miss Daisy
1992: Unforgiven
2004: Million Dollar Baby
2006: The Departed
2012: Argo
Universal Pictures – 8 wins
1930: All Quiet on the Western Front
1948: Hamlet
1973: The Sting
1978: The Deer Hunter
1985: Out of Africa
1993: Schindler’s List
2001: A Beautiful Mind
2018: Green Book
20th Century Fox – 7 wins
1933: Cavalcade
1941: How Green Was My Valley
1947: Gentleman’s Agreement
1950: All About Eve
1965: The Sound of Music
1970: Patton
1971: The French Connection
Fox Searchlight – 4 wins
2008: Slumdog Millionaire
2013: 12 Years a Slave
2014: Birdman
2017: The Shape of Water
Miramax – 4 wins
1996: The English Patient
1998: Shakespeare in Love
2002: Chicago
2007: No Country for Old Men
Orion – 4 wins
1984: Amadeus
1986: Platoon
1990: Dances with Wolves
1991: The Silence of the Lambs
DreamWorks – 2 wins
1999: American Beauty
2000: Gladiator
RKO Radio – 2 wins
1931: Cimarron
1946: The Best Years of Our Lives
Weinstein Co. – 2 wins
2010: The King’s Speech
2011: The Artist
A24 – 1 win
2016: Moonlight
Lionsgate – 1 win
2005: Crash
New Line Cinema – 1 win
2003: The Return of the King
Open Road – 1 win
2015: Spotlight
Summit – 1 win
2009: The Hurt Locker
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