The Oscars, also known as the Academy Awards are the most prestigious in Hollywood. Even in a world overrun with awards shows, the Oscars remain the grandest prize, and the Best Picture victory cements filmmaker’s and actors’ place in history. From ‘Parasite‘ to ‘Lord of Rings: The Return of the King‘, are the known movies that won the Academy Awards.
However, there are several movies that won the Academy Awards but, sadly have been forgotten by fans. Here are the top ten films you didn’t know won Oscars.
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1. Fantastic Beast And Where To Find Them (2016)
It was pretty upsetting when the Harry Potter franchise did not win all Academy Awards. Despite being famous worldwide, and adored not only by kids but by all groups, it lost the Academy Award. Well, as known justice is always served.
In 2017, ‘Fantastic Beast And Where To Find Them‘ directed by David Yates picked up a win for Best Costume Design as it magically brought the ’20 to life. Sadly, it lost in the category for Best Production Design after being Nominated.
2. The Great Gatsby (2013)
Leonardo DiCaprio’s ‘The Great Gatsby‘ cannot be forgotten for its aesthetics and an all-star cast. Adapted from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, the film received a mixed reaction from fans as well as critics. The positive praise was mainly directed at the actors and other things like visual effects.
‘The Great Gatsby‘, although wasn’t well received by critics, it was difficult to deny its beauty, which was evident in the Oscar win. Yet, ‘The Great Gatsby‘ managed to win two Academy Awards, coming out on top in both categories it was nominated in, which were Best Costume Design and Best Production Design.
3. Men In Black (1997)
The ‘Men in Black‘ franchise has been loved by all over the years. Loosely based on Marvel comics, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld is far from what anyone calls ‘Oscar bait’. The movie really established Will Smith as one of the most popular and well-known actors. ‘Men In Black‘ surely introduced gross-out aliens and insane devices like neutralizers.
‘Men In Black‘ is meant to be simple and fun, yet managed to rope in a prestigious Academy Award. It was nominated for Best Art Direction and Best Original Score but won Best Makeup instead. Men In Black did deserve it as it did a spectacular job of making the aliens look lifelike.
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4. Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)
Like ‘Men In Black‘, even ‘Pirated of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest‘ was made for the casual audience to enjoy. It received mixed reviews but was appreciated for its special effects, direction, and action sequence. Johnny Depp landed his first Oscar for his role as the widely acclaimed Captain Jack Sparrow.
The movie was up for four categories but won the Best Visual Effects for the appearance of the character of Davy Jones, played by Bill Nighty. Almost after 16 years, the visuals are still appreciated.
5. Sucide Squad (2016)
The battle between MCU and DC almost never ends. Measuring the aspects from storyline to cinematography both the unreserve that consistently competed with each other. So it was a shocking witness when ‘Suicide Squad‘ was awarded the prestigious Academy Award. But later, ‘Black Panther‘ won three Awards in 2018.
‘Suicide Squad‘ scored a totally unexpected Oscar win for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. It was surprising to see it defeat Star Trek Beyond in the category, especially since critics poorly received almost every aspect of ‘Suicide Squad‘.
6. Pearl Harbour (2001)
Director Michael Bay is known for bringing action scenes to life. Not only ‘Pearl Harbour‘, but movies like ‘Transformer‘ or ‘Bad Boys‘ were not critically acclaimed but definite box office hits.
Unfortunately, the critics and viewers were not pleased with the film and were left unimpressed. Although the film is almost forgotten, it actually has an Academy Award to its name, winning for Best Sound Editing. It is the only movie to win an Oscar and also be nominated for Worst Picture at the Golden Raspberry Awards.
7. Ex Machina (2014)
‘Ex Machina‘ isn’t popular as the movies mentioned above, it wasn’t a huge commercial success, and isn’t part of a popular existing franchise. It was also met with widespread acclaim but the forgotten Oscar win is probably due to the fact that a majority of people have yet to see the movie.
‘Ex Machina‘ definitely deserves credit as it won Best Visual Effects in a year in which it competed with ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens‘, ‘Mad Max: Fury Road‘, and ‘The Martian‘. The effects used to show off Alicia Vikander as an A.I. named Ava were absolutely remarkable. This movie was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay.
8. Purple Rain(1984)
The iconic performances of the late, great Prince will never be forgotten. From his legendary hit songs to numerous live performances to a memorable cameo on ‘New Girl‘, he will always be remembered. And the same goes for ‘Purple Rain‘, directed by Albert Magnoli.
While the movie was appreciated and received positive reviews, it was also an Oscar winner. It won Best Original Song Score, which is a category that does not exist now. Interestingly, ‘Purple Rain‘ was the last and final movie to win that award.
9. The Exorcist (1973)
‘The Exorcist‘ is known for its jump scares, terrifying scenes, and eerie sound effects. The audience flocked to the movies despite receiving mixed signals. Some viewers suffered from adverse physical reactions, fainting, and vomiting to scenes in which the protagonist undergoes a realistic cerebral angiography.
‘The Exorcist‘ was nominated under 10 categories for the Academy Awards. It won the award for Best Screenplay and Best sound. In fact, ‘The Exorcist‘ is the first horror film to be nominated for Best Picture.
10. The Golden Compass (2007)
The popular novel Northern Lights adapted to a big screen film resulted in ‘The Golden Compass‘. As excited fans were to see their favorite characters come alive, the end result was rather disappointing.
Among the aspects to actually receive praise were the performances of the cast and the visual effects. There was no questioning how pretty and aesthetic the film was, which is why it won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects beating ‘Spider-Man 3‘ and ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix‘.
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