Over the last century, the Academy Awards have operated as the pinnacle of the Hollywood awards circuit. There have been a lot of films recognized for various aspects of the moviemaking process in that time, but the most talked-about have consistently been the movies that have won the top prize: Best Picture. This year, the frontrunner for that award seems to be Christopher Nolan’sOppenheimer, which has beensweeping through all the precursor ceremonies, but it does have some steep competition with films likeThe Holdovers,Poor Things,Barbie,andAnatomy of a Fall.
The Oscars have, deserved or not, developed a reputation for only recognizing smaller films that it seems like nobody has actually seen. In reality, there’s very little truth to that, as the Academy has consistently recognized and nominated some of the biggest and most successful films of any particular year. While there are certainly many Best Picture winners that haven’t performed particularly well at the box office, there are also many that have performed pretty solidly at the box office. With that in mind, we’ve gathered a list of the 21 highest-grossing Best Picture-winning films.
21Parasite (2019) – $253 Million
First on this list is 2019’sParasite, directed by Bong Joon-ho, which also happens to be the most recent entry that will be found here. WhenParasitewon Best Picture in early 2020, it became the first non-English-language film to win the award. The momentum aroundParasitehad been building all awards season, with it gradually gaining more and more steam before heading into the Oscars and winning four awards – Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature, in addition to Best Picture.
Parasite Experienced a Major Post-Oscars Boost
There is often talk about the box office surge that Oscar-winning and nominated films will experience, and nowhere is that more prevalent than with the box office forParasite. Prior to receiving six Oscar nominations,Parasitehad grossed $25 million at the domestic box office following three months of a slowly-rolling limited release. By the time of the Oscars ceremony a few weeks later, that total had grown to $35 million.
Then, after its historic Best Picture win,Parasiteexpanded its theatrical release substantially, allowing many more people to see it in theaters. This resulted in the domestic box office for the film growing to a whopping $53 million, making it the fourth-highest-grossing foreign language film of all time in the US. It performed even better overseas, where it brought in an additional $200 million – $71 million from South Korea alone – for a global total of $253 million.Stream on Max.
20Out of Africa (1985) – $258 Million
Out of Africa
Going back nearly 35 years, the next film on this list is Sydney Pollack’sOut of Africa, starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. The film was that year’s big awards winner, with it taking home a total of seven Oscars, including Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Original Score. While Streep was nominated for Best Actress and Klaus Maria Brandauer was nominated for Supporting Actor, they both lost out, while Redford was shut out of a nomination entirely. Though,Out of Africawas notably competing against films such asThe Color Purple,Cocoon, andWitness.
A Very Different Trajectory for Out of Africa
WhereasParasiteexperienced a major boost as a result of the Oscars,Out of Africahad already made its biggest splash at the domestic box office before Oscar nominations were even announced. It had already grossed $50 million in North America before it received its Oscar nominations. By the time the Academy Awards aired in mid-March, that number had grown to $71 million.
Even after its Best Picture win,Out of Africawas only in theaters for a few more weeks as it grew to a final domestic total of $79 million. When adjusted for inflation, that’s about $227 million in the US today. However, it made the bulk of its money overseas, where it grossed $179 million, bringing its global total to $258 million.Rent on Apple TV.
19The Godfather (1972) – $270 Million
The Godfather
Another 13 years prior to that,The Godfatherwas released and began inspiring a new generation of filmmakers. The impact thatThe Godfatherwould have on the film industry was almost immediately apparent. The film received 10 Academy Award nominations, ranging from Best Picture to Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Editing. There were also three different actors fromThe Godfathernominated in the category of Best Supporting Actor (James Caan, Robert Duvall, and Al Pacino). Ultimately, the Francis Ford Coppola classic only won three awards – Best Picture, Best Actor (Marlon Brando), and Best Screenplay (adapted).
How The Godfather Dominated the Box Office
WhenThe Godfatheropened in 1972, it quickly became one of the biggest box office hits of the early ‘70s. Domestically, the film brought in $136 million, and its international numbers matched that with $133 million. With a global total of $270 million,The Godfathereasily became the highest-grossing movie of 1972. It was able to keep that momentum going through the Oscars and intoThe Godfather Part 2just a few years later.Stream on Showtime.
18The Silence of the Lambs (1991) – $275 Million
The Silence of the Lambs
One of the most memorable films to win Best Picture in the 1990s wasThe Silence of the Lambs, directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster. It received seven nominations at the Oscars, and it ultimately walked away with five wins, more than any other film that year. However, there are two additional details that makeThe Silence of the Lambsa historic film to win at the Oscars. Firstly, it was the first (and remains the only) horror film in the history of the Oscars to win Best Picture. On top of that, it became just the third film to win all of the “Big Five” Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay. There has yet to be a fourth film to do so.
The success ofThe Silence of the Lambsextended far beyond the Oscars. After opening with just $15 million domestically in early 1991, the film showcased impressive staying power at the box office. In its entire box office run in North America, the film never dropped more than 31% week-to-week.
This drove it to a domestic total of $130 million, making it the fourth-highest-grossing film of the year in the US. Internationally, it performed even stronger, pulling in an additional $145 million. It gradually grew to a global total of $275 million, which established it as the fifth-highest-grossing movie of the year worldwide.Stream on AMC+.
17Shakespeare in Love (1998) – $279 Million
Shakespeare in Love
Later that decade, another solid box office hit to win Best Picture at the Oscars wasShakespeare in Love, released in 1998 and directed by John Madden. The film itself was a fictional telling of William Shakespeare’s life, specifically with a focus on his romantic relationship with Viola de Lesseps. Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes starred in the film, and it was handily the biggest awards frontrunner that year.
After receiving 13 Oscar nominations, it went on to win seven: Best Picture, Best Actress (Paltrow), Best Supporting Actress (Judi Dench), Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score (Musical or Comedy), Best Art Direction, and Best Costume Design.
The International Box Office Drove Shakespeare in Love
Shakespeare in Lovewas a modest hit at the domestic box office, as it grossed about $72 million prior to its Best Picture win, which then fueled another $25 million and a total North American gross of just under $100 million. Overseas, however, there was a lot more interest, as it almost doubled that total with an additional $180 million. With a global total of $279 million,Shakespeare in Lovemanaged to crack the list of the top ten highest-grossing films of 1998, landing in ninth place, just ahead ofLethal Weapon 4.Stream on Max.
16The Sound of Music (1965) – $286 Million
The Sound of Music
The next entry is also one of the oldest films to make its way onto this list. 1965’sThe Sound of Musicis an all-time classic, and it achieved that level of success pretty immediately upon its release. It tiedDoctor Zhivagowith both 10 Oscar nominations and 5 Oscar wins that year. In addition to Best Picture,The Sound of Musicalso won the awards for Best Director, Best Original Score (Adapted), Best Sound, and Best Film Editing.
The Sound of Music Was an Incredible Hit at the Time
While its placement this far down on the list may downplay the incredible success ofThe Sound of Musicto some degree, the success it experienced in the mid ‘60s cannot be understated. With a theatrical release that ran for several years, it grew to a domestic total of $163 million and an international haul of $122 million.
Together, that makes its total worldwide gross about $286 million, which easily establishedThe Sound of Musicas the highest-grossing film of 1965, ahead of other notable releases such asDoctor ZhivagoandThunderball. In North America,The Sound of Musicbecame one of the highest-grossing films of all-time (as of that point). When adjusted for inflation, its domestic gross of $163 million equates to over $1.3 billion today.Stream on Disney+.
15The Departed (2006) – $289 Million
The Departed
The first and only entry from director Martin Scorsese on this list is 2006’sThe Departed. Often considered one of Scorsese’s greatest films,The Departeddidn’t dominate the Academy Awards quite as much as one might expect it did today. The movie was only nominated for five Oscars, a smaller number than four other Oscar frontrunners that year (The Queen,Pan’s Labyrinth,BabelandDreamgirls).
However, it ultimately went on to win four of the five it was nominated for, making it the most-awarded film of the year. In addition to Best Picture,The Departedwon Oscars for Best Film Editing, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director, the last of which was famously the first and only Oscar that Scorsese has won in his whole career.
The Departed Is One of Scorsese’s Most Successful Films
Although Scorsese is widely known as a king of cinema, his films generally aren’t the massive box office draws that one might expect. However,The Departedwas a solid hit. It was, at the time, the highest-grossing film of his career, and it has only been surpassed byShutter IslandandThe Wolf of Wall Streetin the years since. Domestically, it brought in $132 million, with another $157 million coming from overseas. With a total of $289 million, it didn’t crack the list of the ten highest-grossing movies of 2006, but it was still a very strong performance from an outstanding film.Rent on Apple TV.
Related:Martin Scorsese’s 10 Highest-Grossing Movies
14Chicago (2002) – $306 Million
A few years beforeThe Departed, the big movie of the year at the Academy Awards was the feature adaptation of the musicalChicago, directed by Rob Marshall. The film starred Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Richard Gere, and it was also the directorial debut for Marshall. It received 13 nominations at the Academy Awards, the most of any film that year, and it also became the film to win the most with a total of six Oscar wins.
In addition to Best Picture,Chicagowon Best Supporting Actress (Zeta-Jones), Best Sound, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design and Best Film Editing. These wins were even more impressive considering the stiff competition that year, which included films likeThe Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,Gangs of New York,The PianistandRoad to Perdition.
Marshall’s Chicago Fared Well at the Box Office
Chicagowas a pretty solid success at the box office even before it won Best Picture. After opening wide in January 2003, the film had grown to a $100 million gross before it won the top prize in late February. Following its big win, that gross wound up continuing to build all the way to a total of $170 million domestically.
With another $136 million coming from overseas,Chicagomanaged to cross the $300 million mark with a global total of $306 million. While it wasn’t enough to crack the top-ten films of the year globally, it did manage to take the number ten spot domestically, just aboveCatch Me If you’re able to,Die Another DayandScooby-Doo.Stream on Paramount+.
13A Beautiful Mind (2001) – $317 Million
A Beautiful Mind
A year before then, Ron Howard’sA Beautiful Mind, starring Russell Crowe, was the film that ultimately won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. That year was an especially competitive one for the Oscars, as films likeThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,Moulin Rouge!,Black Hawk Down,Amélie,Pearl Harbor,A.I. Artificial Intelligence,MementoandTraining Daywere all nominated.A Beautiful Mindsecured eight total nominations, ultimately winning four of them: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Connelly) and Best Director.
A Beautiful Mind Was Another Success for Ron Howard
Ron Howard was already a very successful director by the time thatA Beautiful Mindwas released in late 2001, as he’d already directed films such asCocoon,Apollo 13,RansomandHow the Grinch Stole Christmas,thoughA Beautiful Mindwould top most of them. It grossed a solid $170 million domestically and an additional $146 million internationally, totaling out to $317 million globally.
This made it the director’s third-highest grossing film of his career so far, only behindApollo 13andThe Grinch. Since then, it has been surpassed by the likes ofThe Da Vinci CodeandSolo: A Star Wars Story, butA Beautiful Mindis still a bright spot in his filmography.Stream on Fubo.
12Green Book (2018) – $319 Million
Green Book
The most recent entry on this list comes from 2018, and it is also one of the most controversial Best Picture wins of the last few decades. The winner that year wasGreen Book, directed by Peter Farrelly and starring Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali. The film itself was nominated for five Oscars, and it won three of them – Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor (Ali). While Ali’s win in the Supporting Actor category was historic,the film itself has been criticizedfor presenting another white savior story with an overly simplified look at race in America.
Green Book Did Massive Numbers Internationally
Green Bookdid decently well at the box office domestically, as it brought in a gross of $85 million in North America, with about $16 million of that coming after its Best Picture win. Overseas, however, it found a much larger audience. The film grossed an impressive $234 million internationally, bringing its global total to just under $320 million. A major factor in that was the film receiving a wide release in China, where it grossed nearly $70 million.
That said, the film was far from making the top-ten highest grossing lists either domestically or internationally.Stream on Fubo.
