What Movie Deserved a Best Picture Win That Had Zero Nominations?

There are some movies that you find out had not a single Academy Award nomination to their name and it makes you go, “I’m sorry, WHAT?” There are other movies that are beloved that didn’t get the Best Picture nom but do at least have some well-deserved nominations under their belt. (The lack of nominations for Taron Egerton in Rocketman is, however, my villain origin story.) Here we will be talking about the classics and the hits that have absolutely no Oscar nominations or awards because the Academy fell asleep at the wheel.

Pajiba found a great trend that saw Twitter users ask this simple question: What movie do you think deserved a Best Picture win but actually had ZERO Oscar nominations? The thread quickly collected some excellent responses, ranging from Where the Wild Things Are to The Last Duel and Dazed and Confused. Let’s take a look.

There are really great choices here. A lot of these movies having no nominations is an injustice that needs recognizing. It’s also worth mentioning that the Academy has, until recent years, not seemed to know what to do when it comes to genre films and cult sensations. And its selections are considerably influenced by the campaigns that studios splash out to net awards, and the types of movies that tend to be the beneficiaries of those campaigns.

Where I am focusing my time and energy in response to this question is, as always, on the movie Zodiac. A 2007 sleeper hit (in the sense that it wasn’t a commercial success and wasn’t exactly the kind of movie that everyone flocked to see and talk about), the David Fincher serial killer film was a deep dive into the real-life San Francisco case that still remains a mystery to us. While Zodiac now has quite the following and appreciation, that clearly wasn’t extended to the Oscars at the time.

A perfect movie

Zodiac has the ability to soothe your worries while you’re watching it, while still being on the edge of your seat. For me, it’s a comfort movie and one that I can watch whenever I need to just relax, because it is a bunch of people doing their jobs to the best of their abilities. It’s reassuring, and gorgeously made and acted. The fact that it has no Oscar nominations is fascinating because it did have nominations at other award shows for Best Adapted Screenplay at the very least. Justice for Zodiac.

As we mentioned, it’s hardly unheard of for the Academy to be wrong about movies. They are often extremely good at being wrong about movies. They did, after all, give the Best Picture award to Green Book just a few years ago at the 91st Academy Awards. Even so, some of the movies people were reminiscing about were a surprise to me.

Color me shocked to discover that The Big Lebowski didn’t have any Oscar nominations. Then again, the Academy did barely give Inside Llewyn Davis any nominations so … clearly, we can barely trust their opinions about anything.

Is there a movie you love so completely that you’re shocked it has no Academy Award nominations? What do you think deserved the recognition that should have won Best Picture in their respective years? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

(image: Paramount Pictures)