For better or worse, awards shows for movies don’t get more publicized than the Academy Awards, which have been held yearly since 1929. For whatever reason, they get covered more than the vast majority of awards shows, at least for the public at large (film aficionados, on the other hand, might care a little more about the Cannes Film Festival). Just as the Oscars are a popular awards show, so too is IMDb an exceedingly popular film website, with countless users rating and reviewing just about every film under the sun.
Why not let these two worlds collide and take a look at which Best Picture winners are most popular according to IMDb? This can be measured by seeing how many ratings have been given for all the films that have won Best Picture at the Oscars, with many of these also being among the most frequently rated titles on the site in general. These exceedingly popular (though not necessarily best) Best Pictures are ranked below, from those with many votes to those with the most.
15 ‘Parasite’ (2019)
940,000 ratings
Image via NEON
Parasite ranked up there with the most acclaimed movies of 2019 (itself a very good year for cinema), but its Best Picture win still felt surprising. It was the first non-English language movie to win Best Picture alongside Best International Feature Film, and was also something of an odd blend of genres as far as Best Picture winners go, being a dark comedy, a thriller, and a rather soul-crushing drama.
It’s a movie that unpacks complex themes surrounding class division and wealth inequality in a way that’s nevertheless easily approachable and entertaining, with this being a key reason why it’s one of the more popular Best Picture winners, going by votes on IMDb. Parasite will likely have staying power as the years go on, and remain a shining example of one time when Oscar voters genuinely got it right.
Parasite
Release Date May 8, 2019
Director Bong Joon-ho
Cast Seo Joon Park , Kang-ho Song , Seon-gyun Lee , Yeo-Jeong Jo , Woo-sik Choi , Hye-jin Jang
Runtime 132 minutes
14 ‘A Beautiful Mind’ (2001)
980,000 ratings
Image via DreamWorks Pictures
A biographical film that won Best Picture, A Beautiful Mind is fairly subdued and quiet compared to some of the other big/popular movies to win the top prize at the Oscars, making its almost one million user ratings on IMDb a little surprising. It’s also not the strongest of the Best Picture winners by any means, but at the same time, it’s not like it was a hugely controversial or divisive win, by the standards of the Academy Awards.
Its central figure is a mathematician named John Nash, with A Beautiful Mind mostly focusing on his relationships and personal struggles with schizophrenia. It’s an efficient and overall well-acted/well-made movie, and though some may want to accuse it of feeling a little like Oscar bait, at least A Beautiful Mind represented one occasion of such bait genuinely being successful, as alongside Best Picture, it also won Oscars for Best Director (Ron Howard), Best Adapted Screenplay (Akiva Goldsman), and Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Connelly).
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13 ‘No Country for Old Men’ (2007)
1.1 million ratings
Image via Paramount Pictures
The Coen Brothers knocked it out of the park when it came to writing and directing No Country for Old Men, adapting the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name into a film with great success. The story revolves around one man obtaining a large sum of money he finds at the site of a drug deal gone wrong, which makes him a target of a ruthless hitman who’s been assigned to obtain that money, no matter the cost.
No Country for Old Men ends up feeling like a bold and emotionally cold neo-Western, on top of also being a fantastically intense thriller and unforgettably bleak crime film. It deserved the acclaim it got, and though some viewers might well find the violence and pessimism of the story off-putting, the movie nevertheless built up enough hype to be popular among IMDb voters.
No Country for Old Men
Release Date November 8, 2007
Director Ethan Coen , Joel Coen
Runtime 122
Main Genre Crime
12 ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ (1975)
1.1 million ratings
Image via MGM
Starring Jack Nicholson at the height of his powers, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest feels like an overall hard-to-fault movie. It’s a moving drama that does just about everything right, feeling perfectly acted, exceptionally well-written, and expertly directed, all the while presenting a straightforward and engrossing story about a rebellious patient at a psychiatric hospital clashing with the head nurse and inspiring other patients.
It’s difficult to imagine anyone disliking One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. That’s not to say that detractors don’t exist, as who really knows… but as far as Best Picture winners go, there’s a reason why it’s well-remembered and considered among the best of the Best. It’s also one of the most popular, going by IMDb votes, and only two other movies made before 1980 have more individual votes than this one.
11 ‘Braveheart’ (1995)
1.1 million ratings
Image via Paramount Pictures
Providing spectacle in spades and standing as one of many great war movies to have won Best Picture, Braveheart runs for almost three hours and tells an appropriately epic story across that runtime. Its protagonist is William Wallace, a Scotsman who vows revenge against the English for murdering the love of his life, eventually finding himself leading a rebellion of like-minded soldiers against the English forces occupying Scotland.
While historical accuracy might not have been the name of the game when it comes to Braveheart, brutal action scenes, bombastic emotions, and a sweeping scope certainly were. In these areas, the film is a success, and those who don’t count themselves as history buffs necessarily have enjoyed what it has to offer in the decades since its release, if the number of votes from IMDb users are anything to go by.
Braveheart
Release Date May 24, 1995
Cast Mel Gibson , Sophie Marceau , Patrick McGoohan , Angus Macfadyen , james robinson , Sean Lawlor , Sandy Nelson , James Cosmo
Runtime 178 Minutes
10 ‘American Beauty’ (1999)
1.2 million ratings
Image via DreamWorks SKG
A defining film of the 1990s released right at the end of said decade, American Beautytells a story about a midlife crisis with some biting satirical elements and genuinely hard-hitting drama. The premise is bound to raise eyebrows, though, because the central character going through a midlife crisis becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter’s friend, perhaps not going as far as something like Lolita, though ultimately being comparable to it.
It’s a film where, after knowing the premise, you might think it’s not for everyone, but then the number of ratings it has on IMDb ends up contradicting that. Its technical qualities, sharp script, and various compelling performances make the challenging story and provocative themes potentially easier to swallow, and though American Beauty could be called a film firmly of its time, its strongest qualities have to count for something.
American Beauty
Release Date September 15, 1999
Runtime 122
Main Genre Drama
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9 ‘Titanic’ (1997)
1.3 million ratings
Image via Paramount Pictures
After directing a string of cinematic hits, James Cameron reached new heights critically and commercially with Titanic. If you want to focus on box office and Oscar success, there’s an argument to be made that Titanic was indeed the film of the 1990s. It’s an intense epic romance and a disaster movie rolled into one, focusing on the love that blossoms between a wealthy young woman and a rebellious young man, tragically on board the ill-fated maiden voyage of the titular ship.
Some might want to accuse Titanic of being overly sentimental or cheesy, but no one could dispute the fact that it has spectacle in spades. This is a movie that aims to appease everyone, whether they’re after sweeping melodramatic romance or special effects-heavy set pieces and thrills (or, ideally, someone in the mood for both). The mass appeal of Titanic makes it understandable why it’s received so many votes on IMDb; it’s the kind of movie just about everyone seems to have seen, after all.
Titanic
Release Date November 19, 1997
Director James Cameron
Runtime 194 minutes
Main Genre Drama
8 ‘The Godfather: Part II’ (1974)
1.3 million ratings
Image via Paramount Pictures
Crime movies don’t get much more epic in scale and ambition thanThe Godfather: Part II, which many would call an all-time great sequel, as well as one of director Francis Ford Coppola’s greatest achievements. It continues the saga of the Corleone family, showcasing how a young Vito Corleone grew it from the ground up in decades past (via flashbacks) while also showing how Michael runs it as the new head, after Vito’s passing in Part I.
If anything, it might be surprising to see how The Godfather: Part II is a few hundred thousand ratings behind the first movie, meaning there are potentially hundreds of thousands of people out there who watched the first and didn’t bother with the second. To each their own, perhaps, but anyone who stops after watching the first movie from 1972 is certainly missing out on its follow-up. As for 1990’s Part III? Some (not all) would argue you can potentially skip that one…
The Godfather: Part II
Release Date December 20, 1974
Director Francis Ford Coppola
Runtime 202
Main Genre Crime
7 ‘The Departed’ (2006)
1.4 million ratings
Image via Warner Bros.
It’s admittedly surprising that of all the great Martin Scorsese films out there, only one has won Best Picture, and that single film was The Departed. It’s a great movie for sure, in any event, even if some of his earlier films are arguably better. It works well as a remake/retelling of 2002’s Infernal Affairs, following an intense game of cat and mouse between an undercover cop (who’s infiltrated a gang) and an undercover criminal, in a sense (he’s from the same gang and has infiltrated the police force).
It keeps the tension high throughout, and is typically fast-paced and stylish in the way that many of Scorsese’s most thrilling crime films are, though his recent ones – like The Irishman and Killers of the Flower Moon – have slowed things down somewhat. It’s understandably popular on IMDb, given it’s one of Scorsese’s most immediate and eye-catching films, and also benefits immensely from having one of Jack Nicholson’s most gloriously explosive performances, which is really saying something.
The Departed
Release Date October 5, 2006
Director Martin Scorsese
Runtime 150
Main Genre Crime
6 ‘Schindler’s List’ (1993)
1.4 million ratings
Image via Universal Pictures
In 1993, Steven Spielberg somehow released one of his very best thriller/blockbuster films, Jurassic Park, and his greatest historical drama, Schindler’s List. The former dominated the box office, and the latter was the biggest Oscar success of its year, meaning that 1993 was a year that unequivocally belonged to Spielberg, the same way 1974 was the year of Francis Ford Coppola (when The Godfather: Part II won Best Picture, and The Conversation won the Palme d’Or).
Schindler’s List is a movie that’s about as good as biopics can get, telling a true life story about Oskar Schindler and his efforts to rescue more than 1000 Jewish lives during the Holocaust in World War II. It’s not an easy film to watch, but its importance was recognized by the Academy Awards and by the vast number of people who’ve watched it (and rated it highly on IMDb and other sites). In many ways, it may well be the greatest film Spielberg’s ever made.
5 ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ (1991)
1.5 million ratings
Image via Orion Pictures
If The Silence of the Lambs counts as a horror movie, then it has the distinction of being the only film of its genre to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Some may say it’s more of a crime/thriller than a work of horror, but it’s extremely unsettling at times, largely thanks to the creepy (and Oscar-winning) performance by Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lecter, and a similarly unsettling performance by Ted Levine as Buffalo Bill.
Both are serial killers, though the former’s imprisoned, and is made to work with a young FBI agent (played by Jodie Foster) to track down the latter. The Silence of the Lambs is one of those rare movies where everything comes together unbelievably well, making it easy to see why it’s held up as one of the most popular Best Picture winners in history, even though its horror elements make it stand out from the other winners.
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4 ‘Gladiator’ (2000)
1.6 million ratings
Image via Universal Pictures
Gladiator hearkened back to the Hollywood epics of old superbly, all the while featuring cutting-edge special effects (for the time) and a level of polish that made it feel like something new. At its core, it’s also a very simple story, but told exceptionally well, featuring a hero (Russell Crowe) that can be rooted for, and an antagonist (Joaquin Phoenix) who’s tons of fun to hate.
It’s about one man being betrayed and sold into slavery, and his quest for revenge against an enemy who’s since become the most powerful man in Rome. Along the way, there’s tons of exciting action – as one would expect from a movie called Gladiator – and a supporting cast filled with great actors who all get ample opportunities to shine. It’s considered one of Ridley Scott’s very best movies for good reason, and it’s hard to imagine many people coming away from it disappointed.
Gladiator
Release Date May 5, 2000
Runtime 155 minutes
3 ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’ (2003)
1.9 million ratings
Image via New Line Cinema
Of all the spectacular and action-packed movies to win Best Picture, there’s a case to be made that none are quite as good as The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Throughout The Lord of the Rings trilogy, things get progressively bigger and more high-stakes. A core fellowship disbands at the end of the first movie, and when they go their separate ways, more of Middle-earth gets explored, and the war between good and evil expands, too.
It’s possible to see The Return of the King’s win being recognition for the trilogy as a whole, but even still, some would understandably call it the best of the three movies in any event. It’s the longest and most jam-packed of the bunch, contains the most action, and is perhaps the most emotional, too. It’s an amazing filmmaking achievement and understandably beloved by many; such statements apply to both this third movie and the entire trilogy as a whole.
2 ‘The Godfather’ (1972)
2 million ratings
Image via Paramount Pictures
A Best Picture-winning epic that certainly deserved it, The Godfather may not be as expansive or powerfully tragic as The Godfather: Part II, but it is one of the most compelling and closest-to-perfect films of all time. It follows the aging head of a mafia family, showing how he attempts to run his criminal empire and his family in tandem, and the ways he’s challenged by various twists of fate and rival criminal gangs.
The Godfather runs for almost three hours, but it ends up flying by, hardly wasting a second as it charges onward from one iconic scene to the next. There are plenty of older movies that run the risk of feeling over-hyped when watched by younger viewers, but The Godfather, time and time again, seems to always live up to the hype. Its reputation is lofty and better than 99.99% of films out there, but it’s earned that kind of adoration, and it’s hard to see its popularity waning anytime soon.
The Godfather
Release Date March 14, 1972
Director Francis Ford Coppola
Runtime 175
Main Genre Crime
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1 ‘Forrest Gump’ (1994)
2.2 million ratings
Image via Paramount Pictures
Perhaps surprisingly, it’s Forrest Gump that ends up being the most widely seen Best Picture winner, at least going by IMDb users. Apparently, they can’t get enough of this Robert Zemeckis film that follows one unique man over many years. Tracking the titular character’s life story, viewers see the various ways he ends up interacting with important historical events, all the while just doing his own thing and continually hoping his beloved Jenny will notice him.
It’s a film where it’s possible to see why it has some detractors, and maybe it hasn’t aged the best in the almost three decades since its release. Yet it does also have a superb Tom Hanks performance at its center (he’s a hard actor to dislike), and the various technical accomplishments of the film are still impressive to this day, as it’s surprisingly special effects-heavy. Forrest Gump might not win over everyone, but it’s done the trick on IMDb, where it’s racked up more votes than any other Best Picture winner.
Forrest Gump
Release Date July 6, 1994
Director Robert Zemeckis
Runtime 142
Main Genre Drama
NEXT: All Best Picture Oscar Winners, Ranked