The Best Oscar-Winning Movies On Netflix
Let's face it: in cinephile circles, Netflix doesn't have the best reputation when it comes to its movie selection. While the streamer certainly houses lots of new releases, often comprised of action movies and thrillers and horror flicks, it doesn't necessarily offer up films that earn high critical appraisal, aka movies that win awards. So when we look at the biggest awards there are—the Academy Awards—we have to wonder: does Netflix prioritize Oscar-winning movies?
My initial guess was: no. But upon a modicum of research, I quickly found out I was wrong. There are lots.
So what Oscar-winning movies are available to Netflix subscribers? I went through the catalog and found as many as I could. (To be fair, I might have missed some. So if I did, please comment below!) Here are all the movies that won Academy Awards, with some movies dating all the way back to the 1960s and 1970s. I've broken these movies into four categories: recent blockbusters, documentaries, short films and classics. In total, there are 31 feature-length films and seven short films.
Song Kang-ho stars as Kim Ki-taek in the 2019 film 'Parasite.'
You might be surprised by how many high-profile Oscar winners from the past several years are sitting on Netflix. A majority of the feature-length films that won Oscars, 18 of them, were released between 2010-2024. Take, for instance, the Netflix-distributed All Quiet on the Western Front, a German-language adaptation of the classic novel that won four Academy Awards, including Best International Feature and Best Cinematography (James Friend took home that honor).
Then there's Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, praised for its stop-motion mastery and melancholic reinvention of the classic tale. Currently, that picture stands as one of only two movies (the other being Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit) to have won Best Animated Feature in Netflix's entire catalog.
There are plenty of other great picks: like energetic and bombastic RRR, which won Best Original Song for the infectious 'Naatu Naatu' (won by M. M. Keeravani and Chandrabose); or Chadwick Boseman's final film, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, a vibrant picture that took home awards for Best Makeup and Hairstyling (Sergio López-Rivera, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson) and Best Costume Design (the incomparable Ann Roth).
Eleven movies on Netflix have received Best Picture nominations (among them Emilia Pérez, Dune: Part Two, The Power of the Dog, Barbie and Marriage Story) while two of them (Parasite and Roma) won the biggest prize of the night. Several more of these movies feature actors and directors who took home the biggest prizes on Oscar night, including Christopher Plummer for Best Supporting Actor in Beginners, Renée Zellweger for Best Actress in Judy and Jane Campion for Best Director in The Power of the Dog.
Several more of these movies took home other prizes for their technical accomplishments, such as The Hateful Eight for Best Score (taken home by the indomitable Ennio Morricone), American Sniper for Best Sound Editing (Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman) and 1917 for Best Cinematography (the legendary Roger Deakins), Best Sound Mixing (Mark Taylor and Stuart Wilson) and Best Visual Effects (Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler and Dominic Tuohy).
Here's a full list of all the recent blockbuster movies on Netflix that earned Academy Awards:
Craig Foster swims in the ocean with an octopus in the film 'My Octopus Teacher.'
Netflix has actually become something of a documentary hub in the past decade, with a handful of those efforts earning Oscar gold. The most recent and perhaps most notable example might be My Octopus Teacher, a heartfelt exploration of a man's unlikely bond with a wild Octopus. Of all the documentaries on this list, My Octopus Teacher seems to have struck the most resonant chord with audiences, with its intimate storytelling and vital commentary on humanity's connection with nature.
My Octopus Teacher is one of three movies distributed by Netflix to have earned the Best Documentary Feature award, alongside American Factory and Icarus. American Factory, which captures the cultural and economic clash between American workers and Chinese management in a display of the current labor market's globally complex situation, holds the distinction of being the first release from Barack and Michelle Obama's production company, while Icarus, which played as a tense political thriller as it uncovered the vast state-sponsored doping program that led to Russia's ban from the Olympics, stands one of the most unexpected Oscar winners on this entire list.
The other three movies to take home the top documentary honor are bona fide classics, with the most recent example being Man on Wire, which tells the story of Philippe Petit's daring 1974 tightrope walk between the Twin Towers. The other two documentaries, one about five Hungarian Jews who survived the Holocaust (The Last Days) and the other about the near-mythical "Rumble in the Jungle" heavyweight championship boxing match (When We Were Kings), were released in the 1990s.
Here's a full list of every movie that won Best Documentary Feature on Netflix:
Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Henry Sugar in the film 'The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar.'
The quietest movies on this list, the ones we hear the least about, are also the shortest ones. But if you're short on time, or if you're just interested in a different kind of storytelling, then these are all great picks. Starting with the gut-punch-of-a-film known as If Anything Happens I Love You (directed by Will McCormack and Michael Govier), which won Best Animated Short Film (the only movie on Netflix that won this award). This one-of-a-kind movie uses minimalist animation to depict parents grieving the loss of a child. It's only 12 minutes long, but packs more emotion than most feature-length flicks.
Then there's The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar, a whimsical, stylistic experiment from Wes Anderson that won Best Live Action Short Film. With an all-star cast and theatrical flair, it's part of Anderson's larger Roald Dahl anthology but stands alone as one of the most uniquely directed live action shorts to ever win the award.
Several more movies have won the Best Documentary Short award, including The Elephant Whisperers (directed by Kartiki Gonsalves), which tells the real-life story of a couple in South India who dedicated their lives to caring for orphaned elephants. The messages of the other short documentaries housed on Netflix feel just as vibrant and urgent. They detail stories about people like the women who quietly lead the menstrual health revolution in India (Period. End of Sentence.) and the volunteer rescue workers of the Syria Civil Defence (The White Helmets).
Here's every narrative feature that's won a short film award on Netflix:
And here's every film that's won Best Documentary Short on Netflix:
Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci star in the film 'Goodfellas.'
Last but not least, there are all the narrative feature-length movies that were released prior to 2010. In my mind, all of these movies, however well- or not-so-well-known, have earned the status of "classic," starting first and foremost with the legendary Goodfellas. I don't know how Martin Scorsese didn't win Best Director for this one (he famously wouldn't win this award until The Departed released in 2007), but the film did manage to win Joe Pesci a much-deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
All the other more recent Oscar winners are fairly well known, including The Dark Knight (Best Supporting Actor (Heath Ledger) and Best Sound Editing (Richard King)), Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Best Animated Feature (Nick Park and Steve Box)) and Black Hawk Down (Best Film Editing (Pietro Scalia) and Best Sound (Michael Minkler, Myron Nettinga and Chris Munro).
And if you're look for a truly out-there pick, then try either Airport, released in 1970, or The Guns of Navarone, released in 1961. The former offers old-school World War II adventure, while the latter helped kick off the disaster movie craze.
Here's a full list of the classic movies that won Oscars on Netflix:
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