wait , The Shape of Water is large . gravely , it is . But when you reckon at moving picture chronicle , the fact that The Shape of Water is the first scientific discipline fabrication film to ever advance Best Picture is kind of weird . There have been ten and decades of phenomenal scifi photographic film better than The Shape of Water , so for it to get the award first also feels a little frustrating . Here are some of the movie that earned the Best Picture Oscar — even if they did n’t win it .
King Kong
There are n’t many burden movies from the 1930s that someone can put on now , almost 100 years later on , and still be absorb with , but the original King Kong is one of the greatest . The excited story , the punctilious creature piece of work , the scope of it all , everything comes together in a truly timeless way . Unfortunately , at the time of release , the Academy Awards did n’t think so , and it have zero Oscar nominations .
The Wizard of Oz
Even in 1939 , the Academy acknowledged that The Wizard of Oz was a chef-d’oeuvre . The movie got six nominations , admit Best Picture , but only come through statuettes for song and scotch . It probably would ’ve had a better chance if it was n’t up against Gone With the Wind . Still , The Wizard of Oz remains one of the most dear films of all sentence no matter of genre , and would have been a desirable recipient of the large honor in picture .
2001: A Space Odyssey
If you ’ve seen 2001 : A Space Odyssey , you immediately know why it did n’t succeed the Oscar for Best Picture , no matter how much it obviously deserved it . It ’s just right smart too out there . Stanley Kubrick was n’t interested in some run away - of - the - pulverization crowdpleaser . He wanted to take the genre of science fable and promote it as far as it could . The resulting picture advance a 1968 Oscar for Best Visual Effects , as well as nominations for Best Director , Best Screenplay , and Best Art Direction , but not the big one . At least the Academy phallus knew they had a great photographic film on their hands , even if they were n’t smart enough to recognize it . Happily , 50 years later , most multitude do acknowledge it as one of the greatest scifi films ever made — and it ’s still as breathtaking as ever .
Planet of the Apes
Many of the full skill fiction films take social issues and wrap them in a fantastic package , and that ’s exactly what the original Planet of the Apes film did in 1968 . Was it a sport movie on the control surface ? Yes . Did it work on a bunch of level beyond that ? Most unquestionably . It was also terrifically democratic , becoming a staple of not just the clock time , but in the decades that postdate , spawning a full dealership , stacks of references , and just being influential across the board . And yet , the film only got two Oscar nominations , for Costume Design and Original Score , though it won a non - competitive award for its innovational constitution .
The Exorcist
William Friedkin ’s landmark 1973 repugnance film won two out of the 10 Academy Award it was propose for : Best Sound , and Best Adapted Screenplay for William Peter Blatty . But Best Picture that year went to The Sting . Nothing against The Sting , which is an American cinematic classic , but to this twenty-four hour period , The exorciser is regarded as one of the finest genre cinema ever created , with incredible hardheaded effects , awesome performances , and basically masterful filmmaking from top to bottom . The Exorcist got a knock against it because it ’s a repulsion motion picture , even though it ’s really so much more .
Star Wars
I want to put 1980 ’s The Empire Strikes Back on this list because most people believe it to be superior to the original , but 1977 ’s Star Wars was really propose for Best Picture . It drop off to Annie Hall ( which , admittedly , is not bad ) but still managed to win six Oscars from its 10 nominations . Annie Hall only won four . On top of that , it would have been historically perfect for Star Wars — an original photographic film , a massive hit , a phenomenon the movie industry had never find before , give birth from the chronicle of so many science fiction picture show before it — to have been the first science fable Best Picture , make that it not only changed movies forever , but all of pop culture . Academy voters likely could n’t bring themselves to give Best Picture to what they thought was a silly scifi adventure for Kid , but history has prove them wrong — so , so wrong .
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Though it came out the same year as Star Wars , Close Encounters did n’t get nominated for Best Picture . It did get nominated for eight laurels though , gain Best Cinematography . And like his pal George Lucas ’ film , Steven Spielberg ’s follow - up to Jaws used skill fiction in a way that talk to a general hearing . It did n’t count that it was about alien . It mattered that it was about obsession , fellowship , and other things anyone could refer to . Even if it could n’t have flummox Star Wars , it ’s one of Spielberg ’s finest works . Is it well than The Shape of Water ? Yes . Yes it is .
Alien
Few film have everything going for them : a cracking write up , incredible visuals , dynamic fictitious character , edge - of - your - keister tension . But Alien has all of that and more . It was a smash attain in 1979 and actually did win an Oscar , for Best Visual Effects , which has traditionally been the only accolade Academy voters would ever give to scifi movies . “ Great moving picture , cool effects , it ’s no Kramer vs. Kramer . ” Who watches Kramer vs. Kramer ( which come through Best Picture the year Alien was released ) anymore ? It ’s a classic movie , but it ’s not one you tend to toss in your DVD player on movie Nox . And yet Alien was so good , it is still spawning subsequence and ape today .
Blade Runner
Two Ridley Scott movies in a quarrel . But how many filmmakers have presented two such radically different take on the same literary genre , back to back even , as Scott did with Alien and Blade Runner ? Blade Runner is up there with Metropolis in terms of visually influential scientific discipline fiction film , and its musical theme and story are still moot decades after release . No , it was n’t a braggart striking , and it was only nominated for two technical Oscars , but what it lack in box - office receipt or honor it made up for in ethnic impact . It ’s realise today as the chef-d’oeuvre it is , scifi or otherwise .
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Winner of the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay , and nothing else , 2004 ’s Eternal Sunshine was also underappreciated in its prison term . the pits , it still is . The idea - bend premise by Charlie Kaufman , the deluxe direction by Michel Gondry , the gritty lead performance by Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet , and the soul - crushing / uplifting crimper coaster of emotion are all the types of things a Best Picture winner should have . But 14 years ago , it was just too uncanny to take the top prize . And while too weird is unsound news at an award show , it ’s very good for creating a bequest .
Children of Men
Released in 2006 , Alfonso Cuarón ’s incredibly intense , dim vision of the future is one of those movies that was good enough for a few Oscar nominating speech ( three , include Adapted Screenplay ) but supposedly not good enough for a shooter at the big prize . No matter . Its story of a macrocosm without fertility is one of those distressingly powerful affair some people may not be able to take . And it ’s told with filming and editing so splanchnic , you never draw a blank it . Like the other motion-picture show on this listing , this is a motion picture that will inhabit long beyond any award .
Mad Max: Fury Road
George Millar ’s action epical Mad Max : Fury Road was yet another cinema that actually had a stab at history . It was nominated for 10 Oscars , include Best Picture , and cease up winning six , more than any other films that yr . By all normal Hollywood banner , it probably was the Best Picture that year . In the final stage , though , the Academy still was n’t quite ready to bestow a film so fantastic with the top award in Hollywood , no matter how arresting it looked or what an accomplishment it was , and instead gave it to literal - world drama Spotlight . But Fury Road may have been the flick that open up the Academy ’s eyes to the true electric potential of scifi — two years afterwards , The Shape of Water eventually get down the profits . But it should have been Max and Furiosa ’s .
Honorable Mention: Metropolis
Okay , this is a chip of a chess . The Academy Awards did n’t exist until 1929 and Fritz Lang ’s landmark science fabrication film came out in 1927 . What ’s more , the prize did n’t even admit alien moving picture until the forties , and even then it did n’t give them a stock award until 1956 . So , there ’s no way Metropolis could ever have make headway Best Picture . But , when you look at the greatest , most Oscar - worthy skill fable films in account , you demand to see its iconic robot standing alongside them .
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