Every couple of years, a movie comes along that’s so universally adored that it sweeps the Academy Awards nominations in a multitude of categories. Just because a movie has more opportunities to take home the gold, however, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s guaranteed an award. The Color Purple received eight Oscar nominations and didn’t go home with a single trophy. Still, a lot of nominations do give a movie a better chance of winning a lot of Academy Awards. Ben-Hur, Titanic, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King are tied for the record of most Oscars for a single movie — they each won 11 Academy Awards.
The Academy tends to favor epics because such movies showcase many different areas of filmmaking. Movies with a lot of effects often sweep the technical categories. Movies with historical or fantastical settings tend to be up for Oscars for Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction. Since there are four acting categories and no rules about multiple performances from the same movie being nominated in the same category, a star-studded cast can be an easy way to accumulate a few nominations — then again, a good deal of otherwise-recognized ensemble pieces, such as Women Talking, fail to get any acting nods, so that approach is a risky gamble.
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button (2008) - 13 Nominations
David Fincher’s reverse-aging romance The Curious Case of Benjamin Button scored more Oscar nods than any other film at the 81st Academy Awards, represented in 13 categories out of 24. It was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director for David Fincher, Best Actor for Brad Pitt, Best Supporting Actress for Taraji P. Henson, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Original Score, Best Sound Mixing, Best Art Direction, Best Makeup, and Best Visual Effects. It won the latter three, thanks to its immersive historical settings and groundbreaking de-aging effects. Interestingly, Academy favorite Cate Blanchett did not receive a nomination.
The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (2001) - 13 Nominations
The first of an acclaimed trilogy The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring won four Oscars: Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup, and Best Original Score. It was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Ian McKellen, Best Art Direction, Best Editing, Best Original Song for Enya's “May It Be," Best Sound, Best Costume Design, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It’s easy to see why Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies were so popular with Oscar voters; they’re big-budget blockbuster epics with a thoughtful arthouse sensibility. The third one, The Return of the King, even won Best Picture.
The Shape Of Water (2017) - 13 Nominations
Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress for Sally Hawkins, Best Supporting Actor for Richard Jenkins, Best Supporting Actress for Octavia Spencer, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Editing, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing. It took home Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Score, and Best Production Design. Like most of del Toro’s movies, The Shape of Water uses a classical genre story to explore timely themes and social commentary. Its tale of fish-man love becomes a metaphor for prejudice and societal barriers.
Mary Poppins (1964) - 13 Nominations
Walt Disney’s classic fantasy musical Mary Poppins won five Oscars out of its 13 nominations. The movie won Best Actress for Julie Andrews, Best Original Score, Best Editing, Best Original Song for “Chim Chim Cher-ee," and Best Visual Effects. It was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Sound, Best Costume Design, and the now-defunct category Best Scoring of Music – Adaptation or Treatment. Mary Poppins arrived in the heyday of the musical, which made it a favorite, and its blend of live-action and animation made it a shoo-in for some of the technical categories.
Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966) - 13 Nominations
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Mike Nichols’s note-perfect adaptation of Edward Albee's famed play, was nominated in every eligible category at the 39th Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for never-winner Richard Burton, Best Actress for Elizabeth Taylor, Best Supporting Actor for George Segal, Best Supporting Actress for Sandy Dennis, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Editing, Best Original Score, and Best Sound. It won Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction, and Best Cinematography. Nichols recaptured what made the stage play so great while also bringing cinematic flair to the drama.
Forrest Gump (1994) - 13 Nominations
Robert Zemeckis’s lighthearted alt-history romp Forrest Gump won Best Picture, Best Actor for Tom Hanks (his second in a row after he won for Philadelphia a year earlier), Best Director, Best Visual Effects, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Editing at the 67th Academy Awards. The movie was also nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Supporting Actor for Gary Sinise, in the role of Lieutenant Dan, Best Original Score, Best Makeup, Best Art Direction, Best Sound, and Best Sound Editing. While a resounding success during its release, Forrest Gump has since been re-evaluated more harshly. It touches on heavy subjects like the Vietnam War but doesn’t have much to say about them.
Chicago (2002) - 13 Nominations
Rob Marshall’s Jazz Age musical Chicago was the favorite at the 75th Academy Awards, with 13 Oscar nominations and six wins. It won Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress for Catherine Zeta-Jones, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Sound, and Best Editing. It missed out on Best Director, Best Actress for Renée Zellweger, Best Supporting Actor for John C. Reilly, Best Supporting Actress for Queen Latifah, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Song for “I Move On.” Chicago is one of the few remakes nominated for Best Picture, and it became the first musical to win the top Oscar since Oliver!
Shakespeare In Love (1998) - 13 Nominations
John Madden’s Shakespeare in Love, a romantic comedy imagining William Shakespeare’s fictitious muse, won seven Academy Awards out of 13 nominations. It won Best Picture, Best Actress for Gwyneth Paltrow, Best Supporting Actress for Judi Dench, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Art Direction, and Best Costume Design. It was also nominated for Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Geoffrey Rush, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Makeup, and Best Sound. Shakespeare in Love was the first comedy to win in the top category since Annie Hall, and its win for Best Picture over the highly-deserving Saving Private Ryan was one of the biggest controversies in Oscar history.
Gone With The Wind (1939) - 13 Nominations
At the time of the 12th Academy Awards, Victor Fleming’s romantic epic Gone with the Wind set the records for both the most nominations and the most wins for a single movie. It won Best Picture (the first color movie to receive the honor), Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress for Vivien Leigh, Best Supporting Actress for Hattie McDaniel, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, and Best Editing. It also won two honorary Oscars for its innovative use of color. The movie was further nominated for Best Actor for Clark Gable, Best Score, Best Sound, and Best Special Effects, plus another for Best Supporting Actress for movie legend Olivia de Havilland.
From Here To Eternity (1953) - 13 Nominations
Out of its 13 nominations at the 26th Academy Awards, held in 1954, Fred Zinnemann’s wartime romance From Here to Eternity won eight Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Frank Sinatra, Best Supporting Actress for Donna Reed, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Sound. The movie was also nominated for Best Costume Design, Best Original Score, Best Actor for both Montgomery Clift and Burt Lancaster, and Best Actress for Deborah Kerr. From Here to Eternity combines a few things that the Academy loves: a war story, a love story, and a star-studded cast.
All About Eve (1950) - 14 Nominations
Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s entertainment-industry-focused drama All About Eve won six Oscars out of a record 14 nominations at the 23rd Academy Awards. It won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for George Sanders, Best Screenplay, Best Costume Design, and Best Sound. It also received nominations for Best Actress for both Anne Baxter and Bette Davis, Best Supporting Actress for both Celeste Holm and Thelma Ritter, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Score. Academy voters have a particular affinity for stories about show business, and All About Eve is all about showbiz.
La La Land (2016) - 14 Nominations
Damien Chazelle’s glitzy musical La La Land won more Oscars than any other movie represented at the 89th Academy Awards. It received trophies for Best Director, Best Actress for Emma Stone, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, and Best Original Song for the La La Land soundtrack favorite "City of Stars." It was additionally nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor for Ryan Gosling, Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing, plus an additional Best Original Song nod for "Audition (The Fools Who Dream)." La La Land was also notoriously announced as the Best Picture winner instead of Moonlight by mistake.
Titanic (1997) - 14 Nominations
James Cameron’s Titanic, a romantic tragedy set on the titular doomed ship, was nominated for 14 Oscars and won 11: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, Best Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Sound, Best Sound Editing, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song for Celine Dion's “My Heart Will Go On." Its losing nominees were Best Actress for Kate Winslet (who later won an Oscar for the wrong movie), Best Supporting Actress for Gloria Stuart, and Best Makeup. Titanic is the best of both worlds – it’s effects-heavy populist entertainment, and it’s also a prestige historical epic – so the Academy Awards loved it.