A high Metascore is no guarantee of victory nor are previous awards handed out by various critic groups. Of course, what stands out the most when looking at past years is that Academy voters and film critics appear to be two very distinct groups, and there is no predicting when their tastes will overlap. In other words, if you were thinking of picking American Sniper, The Imitation Game, or The Theory of Everything in your Oscar pool, you may want to reconsider. And, in the same period, the lowest winning Metascore was Argo's 86. Since the best picture nominee pool was expanded six years ago, no film below fourth place among the nominees (ranked by Metascore) has won the Oscar. The Oscar has actually been awarded to the lowest-scoring (worst-reviewed) nominee three times as well. Though it does not apply this year (since Boyhood, the year's highest-scoring film, was nominated), in the 10 years when the high-scoring overall film was not under consideration for best picture, the Oscar went to the highest-scoring nominee just 3 times (30%). Was not nominated for best picture in 10 of the 20 years (50%).Has been nominated but did not win best picture in 7 of the 20 years (35%).Has won best picture in just 3 of the 20 years (15%).

Previous years: The last 20 best picture racesĪccording to the data below, the year's overall highest-scoring (i.e., best-reviewed) film.

And, as you can see below in our quick look back at the last two decades of best picture nominees, having the best reviews among just the nominated films isn't even enough to guarantee a win. In fact, those films don't always get nominated by the Academy. More often than not, the best picture Oscar does not go to the critics' favorite movie of the year. If Boyhood captures this year's best picture trophy as widely expected, it will mark the second year in a row that Academy voters have opted for the year's best-reviewed film. * Key to critic awards: BFCA = Broadcast Film Critics Association (Critics Choice Awards), Bos = Boston Society of Film Critics, Chi = Chicago Film Critics Association, LA = Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Lon = London Film Critics' Circle, NatSoc = National Society of Film Critics, NBR = National Board of Review, NY = New York Film Critics Circle, OFCS = Online Film Critics Society, SE = Southeastern Film Critics Association, Tor = Toronto Film Critics Association Notable films not nominated for best picture: With the February 22nd date of this year's Academy Awards ceremony fast approaching, it's time to take a quick look at this year's best picture race-as well as those from the past two decades-to see where critics and Oscar voters diverge.įirst, as a recap, here are this year's best picture nominees: Best Picture Nominees

Oscar best picture