Since 1927: The Changing Names Of Oscars' Best Picture Category

All eyes are on the entries for the Oscars 2025. The 97th Academy Awards are set to take place on March 3, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Movie enthusiasts are eagerly awaiting which film will take home the prestigious Best Picture award. Did you know that the name of this category has undergone several changes over the years? Let us take a closer look at the different names of the category and the list of winners throughout the years:

1. Academy Award for Outstanding Picture (1927 to 1929): During these three years, William A. Wellman's Wings, Harry Beaumont's The Broadway Melody and Lewis Milestone's All Quiet On The Western Front took home the honour.

2. Academy Award for Outstanding Production (1930 to 1940): In this decade, movies such as Cimarron, Grand Hotel, Cavalcade, It Happened One Night, Mutiny on the Bounty, The Great Ziegfeld, The Life of Emile Zola, You Can't Take It with You, Gone with the Wind and Rebecca won the award. 

3. Academy Award for Outstanding Motion Picture (1941 and 1943): How Green Was My Valley, Mrs. Miniver and Casablanca emerged victorious during this period.

4. Academy Award for Best Motion (From 1944 to 1961): Between these years, movies including, Going My Way, The Lost Weekend, The Best Years of Our Lives, Gentleman's Agreement, Hamlet, All the King's Men, All About Eve, An American in Paris, The Greatest Show on Earth, From Here to Eternity, On the Waterfront, Marty, Around the World in 80 Days, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Gigi, Ben-Hur, The Apartment and West Side Story, clinched the trophy. 

5. Academy Award for Best Picture (From 1962 to present): Lawrence of Arabia, Tom Jones, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, A Man for All Seasons, In the Heat of the Night, Oliver!, Midnight Cowboy, Patton, The French Connection, The Godfather, The Sting, The Godfather Part II, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Rocky, Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, Kramer vs. Kramer, Ordinary People, Chariots of Fire, Gandhi, Terms of Endearment, Amadeus, Out of Africa, Platoon, The Last Emperor, Rain Man, Driving Miss Daisy, Dances With Wolves, The Silence of the Lambs, Unforgiven, Schindler's List, Forrest Gump, Braveheart, The English Patient, Titanic, Shakespeare in Love, American Beauty, Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, Chicago, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Million Dollar Baby, Crash, The Departed, No Country for Old Men, Slumdog Millionaire, The Hurt Locker, The King's Speech, The Artist, Argo, 12 Years a Slave, Birdman, Spotlight, Moonlight, The Shape of Water, Green Book, Parasite, Nomadland, CODA, Everything Everywhere All at Once and Oppenheimer have been the winning films during this duration.

Which one of these movies is your favourite?