The film industry may release its blockbusters in the summer and throw its festivals in the fall, but everyone knows that awards season is Hollywood’s true favorite time of year. 

In the months leading up to the Oscar nominations, cinephiles and industry insiders consider celebrity profiles, word-of-mouth buzz, starry galas, and precursor awards shows. The prediction scales tip this way and that until the final list of nominees is announced — and never without a few surprises snuck in.

There have been hundreds upon hundreds of films recognized over the decades with a nod (or a few) from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — whose awards show is just a few years shy of being a century old. So brush up on your Oscar history by queuing up one of these films, all of which earned a spot in Hollywood’s biggest annual race — but only some ultimately took home the gold. It’s an honor just to be nominated, after all. 

The 2024 nominees

For this year’s race, 10 Netflix original films collected a total of 18 nominations, including seven for Bradley Cooper’s romantic drama Maestro, about the life of Leonard Bernstein. Other nominees, including Todd Haynes’ subversive melodrama May December, Matthew Heineman’s Jon Batiste documentary American Symphony, and Wes Anderson’s Oscar-winning short film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar — can be found here. 

Check out more standout films from Oscars past below. 

Even more Oscar nominated films to stream

Boyz n the Hood

Toward the end of John Singleton’s Boyz n the Hood, the teen gang member Ricky (Ice Cube, in his first film role) laments that the media “don’t know, don’t show, or don’t care what’s going on in the hood.” Writer-director Singleton showed it and made people care with his 1991 debut, in which a teenager (Cuba Gooding Jr) living with his father (Laurence Fishburne) in South Central Los Angeles navigates the gang culture of his neighborhood. The film scored two Oscar nominations, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, both for Singleton. He was 24 at the time, and he holds the record to this day as the youngest Best Director nominee in Oscar history, as well as being the first Black filmmaker ever nominated in the category. 

Boyz n the Hood

1h 52m   16+   1991

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Minari

With Minari, a quintessential immigrant story became a quintessential Hollywood fairy tale. After premiering to major buzz at Sundance in 2020, where it won the US Dramatic Grand Jury Prize, the moving indie went on to win the hearts of audiences nationwide — and Academy members. Lee Isaac Chung’s intimate semi-autobiographical drama follows a family of immigrants from South Korea who move to rural Arkansas in the 1980s. The festival breakout went on to garner six Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and Youn Yuh-jung took home Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of the family’s lovable grandmother — a rare acting win for a non-English-speaking performance. 

Minari

1h 55m   13+   2020

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Marriage Story

The images of Adam Driver punching a wall and Scarlett Johansson dancing have lingered in our cultural consciousness since the 2019 release of Marriage Story, but Noah Baumbach’s affecting drama left its mark on the Academy too. Driver and Johansson star as Charlie and Nicole, a married New York couple — a director and an actor — with a young son. With their relationship at its breaking point, Nicole pursues an opportunity in Los Angeles, and she and Charlie struggle to keep their family together despite the painful dissolution of their marriage. The film picked up six Oscar nominations, including for both of its stars and Best Picture; Laura Dern won Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of a ruthless divorce lawyer.  

Marriage Story

2h 16m   16+   2019

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Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Though ostensibly a far cry from the gangster epics for which he’s best known, 1974’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore is an essential early entry in Martin Scorsese’s oeuvre — and the director’s first film to go all the way to the Oscars. Ellen Burstyn stars as the titular Alice, a singer and newly widowed mother who packs up her and her young son’s life in New Mexico to move to California. Running out of money halfway, they stop in Arizona, where Alice finds employment (with a side of romance). The film received three nominations and one win — for Burstyn, whose Best Actress Award was the first Oscar ever awarded to a Scorsese film. 

Erin Brockovich

After spending the ’90s as America’s reigning sweetheart, Julia Roberts closed out the decade with a double victory: being the first woman to command a $20 million salary for a film and winning her first Oscar — both for the same movie. That was Steven Soderbergh’s Erin Brockovich, a 2000 legal drama based on the true story of the real Erin Brockovich, a single mother who exposed a powerful corporation for attempting to cover up a deadly water contamination incident. The film scored five nods, including for Best Picture and Best Director, and Roberts — wearing a now-iconic vintage Valentino gown that has since merited its own Wikipedia page — took home the gold.  

Erin Brockovich

2h 11m   16+   2000

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Joker

It’s rare for a superhero movie to get much love from the Academy, but Todd Phillip’s Joker, a psychological thriller based on the DC Comics character of the same name, blew up the box office and the 2019 Oscar race. Joaquin Phoenix stars as an aspiring comedian, struggling with mental illness, who descends into nihilism and becomes a version of the Batman villain for which the film is named. The gritty, R-rated take on the character broke the nomination record for a film based on a comic book, earning 11, including Best Picture and Best Director. Phoenix won Best Actor, and composer Hildur Guðnadóttir became the first woman to win for the original score of a dramatic film. 

Joker

2h 1m   16+   2019

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My Octopus Teacher

Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed’s 2020 film is about the extraordinary bond between a man and a sea creature — the kind of story you’d never believe could be true if you weren’t watching a documentary about it. The movie follows filmmaker Craig Foster as he goes free diving off the coast of South Africa, where he repeatedly encounters an octopus. Over time, he forges a connection with the animal, and she shares her underwater world with him. After its release during the pandemic, the touching film won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature at the 2021 ceremony.  

My Octopus Teacher

1h 25m   7+   2020

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All Quiet on the Western Front

Edward Berger’s German adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s novel, an anti-war classic about a German soldier in WWI, received nine total nominations — the second most for a non-English-language film — and won four, including Best International Feature, Score, Production Design, and Cinematography. While the 2022 film’s success heralds a future in which the Academy shows a greater appreciation for global cinema, it also recalls a moment in Oscars history: Lewis Milestone’s 1930 adaptation of the novel, an American production in English, won Best Picture and Best Director (out of four nominations) at the third annual Academy Awards. 

All Quiet on the Western Front

2h 28m   16+   2022

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ROMA

Outpacing All Quiet on the Western Front by one nomination, making its total an even 10, Roma shares the record (with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) for most-nominated film not in English. Alfonso Cuarón’s masterful 2018 drama, shot in striking black-and-white and inspired by the filmmaker’s childhood in Mexico City, became the first Mexican film to win best international feature. It also collected trophies for Best Director and Cinematography. 

ROMA

2h 14m   16+   2018

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MANK

Whenever you start to feel really indignant about Oscar winners and non-winners, just remember that 1941’s Citizen Kane, popularly counted among the greatest movies of all time, only won a single Oscar out of its nine nominations — for original screenplay. That script was co-written by the provocative film’s daring young director-star Orson Welles and veteran screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, the latter of whom inspired David Fincher’s 2020 biopic Mank, which stars Gary Oldman and chronicles the development of that storied screenplay. Mank ultimately came away with 10 nominations and two wins (for cinematography and production design). 

MANK

2h 12m   16+   2020

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The Sting

Throw it way back with George Roy Hill’s 1973 heist film, starring one of American cinema’s most celebrated duos. The Sting stars Robert Redford and Paul Newman (following up their first collaboration in 1969’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, also directed by Hill) as a pair of con artists who pull a clever scam on a ruthless crime boss. The classic caper, beloved by contemporary critics and audiences, snagged 10 nominations (including for Redford) and won seven Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director for Hill. 

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

If you tend to dismiss animated films as being for kids, Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water) would like to have a word. “Animation is cinema,” he said in his acceptance speech at the 2023 Golden Globes, where he won Best Animated Feature Film for his Pinocchio. “Animation is not a genre for kids, it’s a medium.” His 2022 adaptation of the classic tale, rendered in stunning stop-motion, also came up victorious in the Academy’s animated feature category. “Animation is ready to be taken to the next step,” del Toro said while accepting the award. “We’re all ready for it. Please help us keep animation in the conversation.”

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

2h 1m   10+   2022

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The Irishman

Critically acclaimed, with an all-star cast, an all-consuming story, and an all-time great director, 2019’s The Irishman racked up 10 nominations, tying with 1917 and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood for the second-most that year (behind Joker’s 11). Martin Scorsese’s film — adapted from Charles Brandt’s book I Heard You Paint Houses, relating mafia hitman Frank Sheeran’s account of his own riveting history, and starring Robert De Niro — competed in the races for Best Picture, Director, and Supporting Actor (the latter twice, for both Al Pacino and Joe Pesci).

The Irishman

3h 29m   16+   2019

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The Power of the Dog

The Power of the Dog delivered a Best Director Oscar for renowned filmmaker Jane Campion, making her the third woman to win the award (out of eight to ever be nominated) and the first to receive multiple nominations for it. (Campion was previously in the running for Best Director with 1993’s The Piano.) Based on Thomas Savage’s novel, the 2021 film stars Benedict Cumberbatch as a spiteful cowboy who torments his brother’s (Jesse Plemons) new wife (Kirsten Dunst) and her son (Kodi Smit-McPhee). The film’s 12 nominations included Best Picture as well as acting nods for all four stars.  

The Power of the Dog

2h 8m   16+   2021

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Mudbound

Nominated for four Academy Awards, Mudbound has, at first glance, a relatively low-key Academy record. However, Dee Rees’ stirring adaptation of Hillary Jordan’s novel, about two World War II vets (Garrett Hedlund and Jason Mitchell) who return home to rural Mississippi traumatized, broke new ground when it became Oscar-bound. Mary J. Blige became the first person ever nominated for both a performance and an original song in the same year; Rees became the first Black woman ever nominated for Best Original Screenplay (she co-wrote the script with Virgil Williams), and Rachel Morrison became the first woman ever nominated for cinematography.  

Mudbound

2h 15m   16+   2017

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Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Though it was recognized by the Academy, the Oscars story of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom was tinged with sadness: Among its five nominations was a posthumous Best Actor nod for Chadwick Boseman, who had died of cancer just months prior. George C. Wolfe’s visceral adaptation of August Wilson’s play depicts an intense recording session for blues legend Ma Rainey (Viola Davis, who was also nominated) and her band, including Boseman’s impetuous trumpeter. Though Boseman had been the favorite to win his category, the film’s two wins were for costume design and makeup and hairstyling.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

1h 34m   16+   2020

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