News

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival and TCM will team up this fall to present a gala evening of excerpts from the scores to “iconic” Jewish-themed films, the organizations announced Wednesday.

The Oct. 20 concert was announced during the closing night of the 2025 Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, via the showing of a video heralding the event featuring TCM’s Ben Mankiewicz, who will host the program this fall. The evening will take place as part of the 25th anniversary season for the film festival; a previous concert of Jewish film music took place 15 years ago during a 10th anniversary celebration.

“I’ve been coming to the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival for years, and I couldn’t be more excited for this extraordinary celebration of film and music,” Mankiewicz said in a statement. “Iconic scores from classic Jewish cinema performed live? That’s a night you don’t want to miss.

When Morgan Freeman got to the stage at the 97th Academy Awards to pay respects to Gene Hackman, fans noticed that he was wearing a single glove on his left hand. Many fans wondered what happened to Freeman as he tried to hide his hands behind his back. However, it isn’t a new thing for the actor who suffered nerve damage to his left hand after suffering from a car accident.

Morgan Freeman in a still from Driving Miss Daisy | Credits: The Zanuck Company

Freeman had previously told People Magazine that he wore compression gloves to keep his blood flowing, adding that his hand hadn’t gotten better after the accident. At the Oscars, Freeman spoke about the late Hackman, whom he worked with on two films Unforgiven and Under Suspicion.

What happened to Morgan Freeman’s hand as he was seen wearing a single glove at the Oscars?...

Call it Chekhov’s editing win. When Anora filmmaker Sean Baker beat Conclave editor Nick Emerson at the Oscars on Sunday night, it all but confirmed the night’s final result would be Anora crowned as Best Picture. That’s because Baker’s upset win in the category ahead of Conclave — the favorite in the odds and the presumed alternate pick to Anora in the Best Picture race — exploded the Edward Berger film's potential win package. Most pundits agreed that Conclave could win Best Picture with Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing, just like Argo did in 2013. But without the editing win, Conclave would’ve had to be Spotlight and won Best Picture with just a screenplay Oscar. Well, Conclave was never as strong as Spotlight throughout the season (and Spotlight didn’t have to face off against an industry juggernaut like Anora). So, Baker’s editing triumph was the ballgame.

The Academy Awards have been handing out a Best Actress trophy since the very first ceremony in 1928. Janet Gaynor for a combo of 7th Heaven, Street Angel, and Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans was the first recipient for his leading roles.

Since then, only one woman has won the category four times: Katharine Hepburn for Morning Glory, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Lion in Winter, and On Golden Pond. Next with three is Frances McDormand. The ladies with two lead wins have included Ingrid Bergman, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Sally Field, Jane Fonda, Jodie Foster, Glenda Jackson, Vivien Leigh, Luise Rainer, Emma Stone, Meryl Streep, and Hilary Swank. Streep holds the record of most lead nominations at 17.

The oldest winner was Jessica Tandy (Driving Miss Daisy) at age 80. The oldest nominee was Emmanuelle Riva (Amour) at age 85. The youngest winner was Marlee Matlin (Children of a Lesser...

For the second consecutive year, the Best Picture Oscar has been all in the family.

Husband and wife Sean Baker and Samantha Quan have earned statuettes for producing the comedy-drama “Anora,” one year after spouses Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas won the same award for “Oppenheimer.”

Baker and Quan, who shared the award with producer Alex Coco, are the fourth — or fifth, technically; see the “Lord of the Rings” team below — romantic partners to score the Oscar’s most coveted prize.

Julia Phillips was the first female producer to ever win Best Picture, 51 years ago, for the 1973 mystery drama “The Sting,” which she produced alongside Tony Bill and her then-husband Michael Phillips. They divorced the same year as their Oscar win, but continued to work together, producing “Taxi Driver” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”

Phillips wrote the brutal, blistering and best-selling memoir “You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again,...

By the time Jack Nicholson came on stage to present Best Picture at the 2006 Academy Awards, most viewers were confident that Ang Lee's gay-themed Western romance Brokeback Mountain (2005) would take home the prize, having already won Best Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Original Score (as well as the top awards at the Golden Globes and BAFTAs). Instead, upon opening the envelope, a visibly surprised Nicholson declared, "And the Oscar goes to...Crash!"

The victory of writer/director Paul Haggis' sprawling ensemble drama about racial tension in Los Angeles came as a major surprise to many critics, who widely criticized the film's shallow commentary, questionable character arcs, and disjointed narrative. Acclaimed author Ta-Nehisi Coates even called it "The Worst Movie of the Decade."

However, both before and after the Oscars, Crash did have one notable advocate: eminent American film critic Roger Ebert. Ebert, who named Crash the best film of the year,...

The 97th Academy Awards will air on March 2, with the ceremony set to begin at 4:00 Pm Pt/7:00 Pm Et on ABC and Hulu. The night holds the potential for records to be set, surprises in major categories, and international recognition for films that have gained momentum throughout the season.

Best Picture Contenders

Anora could become the third film in history to win both the Palme d’Or at Cannes and the Academy Award for Best Picture, a feat previously achieved by Parasite and Marty. Emilia Perez, which has earned 13 nominations, enters the night among a select group of films that have reached that number.

Of the previous 12 films with 13 nominations, only three failed to win Best Picture. If Conclave wins, it will be one of the few films to take the top prize without its director receiving a nomination, a distinction shared by Wings, Grand Hotel, Driving Miss Daisy,...

Time to do your homework to get ready for the 97th annual Oscars. Records can be broken, anyone can win, frontrunners can be toppled, and Brazil and Latvia just might go crazy. Here are 15 moments to look for during the three-and-a-half-hour Oscar telecast, which begins at 4 p.m. Pt/7 p.m. Et on Sunday live on ABC and Hulu.

Best Picture: Front-runner Anora would become only the third film in history to win the Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or and also go on to win the Best Picture Oscar. Previously, Parasite in 2019 and Marty in 1955 did it. Before the fest’s top prize was called Palme d’Or, 1945’s Best Picture winner The Lost Weekend also won the top prize on the Croisette.

Mikey Madison in ‘Anora’

Best Picture: Emilia Pérez is not only the international film with the most Oscar nominations ever with 13, it is also in...

The Academy Awards have honored legendary actors like Meryl Streep, Daniel Day-Lewis, Sidney Poitier, Al Pacino and Katharine Hepburn. They also once nominated the Bass-o-Matic guy.

It’s easy to forget that Dan Aykroyd was nominated for an Oscar back in 1990, thanks to his work in a certain 1989 film — no, not Ghostbusters II. Although, if there was a “Best Performance By An Actor Pretending to Drive a Slime-Covered Statue of Liberty With a Nintendo Controller” category, he would have been a shoo-in.

Play

Aykroyd was nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category for playing Jessica Tandy’s son in Driving Miss Daisy. Today the movie is generally considered to be one of the worst Best Picture winners in Oscars history, a tone-deaf exploration of racism whose primary focus was to alleviate white guilt. Making its shortcomings all the more glaring was the fact that Spike Lee’s more challenging, nuanced take on contemporary race relations,...

Best Director used to be a can't-miss category at the Oscars. In the past, if a movie was not nominated for Best Director, it could kiss its chances of winning Best Picture goodbye. However, that changed once the Academy expanded the number of Best Picture nominees in 2009. Now Conclave is trying to overcome its own Best Director snub with a win in the top category, and it could perform exactly as Argo did 12 years ago.

See'Anora' or 'Conclave'? Chalamet or Brody? Demi or Mikey? How the prediction markets have shifted ahead of Oscars

Only six films to date have won Best Picture without a corresponding nomination for Best Director: Wings (1927), Grand Hotel (1932), Driving Miss Daisy (1989), Argo (2012), Green Book (2018), and Coda (2021). After only three examples in the first 62 years of Oscars history of a movie winning without its filmmaker nominated for directing, there have already been three more examples...

Hans Zimmer’s 2016 Live In Prague show is now getting a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray physical media release. More here.

The week we learn that the work of Hans Zimmer is getting a cinema outing to itself, one of his sold out concerts is confirmed for the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format.

Hans Zimmer: Live In Prague is already available on Blu-ray, but Eagle Rock has now put a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray physical media release up for pre-order.

It’s set to land on 21st March 2025, and you can find more information, and order yourself a copy, right here.

Update: This has now been delayed to 18th July 2025.

This is a concert that was shot in 2016, and as such you’re not going to be getting anything from, say, Dune or Tenet in there. What you will get are pieces of music from the likes of The Dark Knight trilogy,...

Updated with PGA win: Sean Baker won both the PGA Awards‘ and DGA Awards‘ top prizes for Neon’s Anora — on the same night. And if past statistics are a signifier of what’s to come, it is a major indicator for both the Oscars’ Best Director category as well as Best Picture.

Baker’s wild night started at the Beverly Hilton, where he won the Directors Guild’s top prize, the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film. He then raced to the Fairmont Century Plaza in Century City, where he picked up the PGA’s top trophy, the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures, alongside his fellow producers Alex Coco and Samantha Quan.

Deadline confirmed that the PGA ceremony delayed its start to accommodate the Anora team, which was coming off taking the Best Picture prize Friday evening at the Critics Choice Awards.

“Anora” director Sean Baker has won the DGA Award for Theatrical Feature, gaining significant Oscar momentum ahead of final voting.

With its surprising best picture win at the Critics Choice Awards — its only prize of the night — the $6 million dramedy, which claimed the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, has solidified itself as a major contender in an unpredictable awards season.

“I feel like the luckiest guy in the world to be able to do thing I knew I wanted to do since I was 5 years old,” Baker told the crowd Saturday at the conclusion of the 77th annual DGA Awards, held at the Beverly Hilton.

A wide-open year has unfolded with plenty of twists and turns, including campaign controversies and surprising Oscar snubs like DGA nominee Edward Berger and recent Critics Choice shocking victor Jon M. Chu for “Wicked.”

Legendary filmmaker Ang Lee, a two-time Oscar-winning director...

The gold-plated meltdown that has followed the revelation of Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón’s past anti-Muslim and racist tweets — with anti-George Floyd and pro-Hitler sentiments thrown in — has now required numerous apologies/explanations from the Best Actress Oscar nominee. Gascón’s previous online remarks have seriously cratered the odds for her and her film, which is nominated for 13 Oscars. The journalist and podcaster who uncovered Gascón’s troubling social media posts insists it was good old-fashioned reporting and she was not a “studio plant” fueling a smear campaign underwritten by a rival nominee.

In any case Gascón’s self-inflicted mess is the latest example of an internet-powered scandal that has threatened to derail an Oscar campaign. Here’s a look at the four most notable examples this century and how they played out.

Green Book (2018)

As this fact-based drama — about a blue-collar bouncer who chauffeured a Black...

Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman was celebrated at the fifth edition of Saudi Arabia’s Joy Awards in Riyadh over the weekend, with Anthony Hopkins presenting him with a Lifetime Achievement Award on stage.

The Million Dollar Baby Oscar winner, and the five-time nominee for films including The Shawshank Redemption and Driving Miss Daisy, was among a number of honorees who also included Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer, Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and UK director Guy Richie, while Matthew McConaughey was presented with the Personality of the Year Award.

Sunday’s star-studded ceremony – which is part of the Riyadh Season consisting of a series of high-profile entertainment, cultural and sporting events – featured performances by Saudi Singer Mohammed Abdo, U.S. pop star Christina Aguilera, Zimmer, Bocelli, Canadian pop icon Michael Bublé, Lebanese singing star Wael Kfoury, and Turkish singer-songwriter Tarkan.

Prior to the Joy Awards ceremony,...

Joan Plowright, a British acting legend of stage and screen and the widow of Laurence Olivier, has died at the age of 95, Variety reports. A cause of death has not been disclosed.

She was the recipient of a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (for 1961’s A Taste of Honey) and two Golden Globes — one for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture (for Enchanted April) and the other for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film (for HBO’s Stalin) — both of which she was awarded in 1993. She is one of only four actresses...

In the entire history of the Academy Awards, only six Best Picture winners have been 100 minutes or less. It seems that traditional, Oscar-bait "prestige" pictures tend to run long, attracting Academy voters with their sheer volume. Extra-long films are also a little rare, though, as only five Best Picture Winners are 200 minutes or more. Additionally, a whopping 18 Best Pictures have been between 160 and 195 minutes, so voters clearly don't mind longer movies. Indeed, the average length of a Best Picture winner is 136 minutes. In terms of cinematic storytelling, that seems to be the sweet spot. 

Of course, Roger Ebert's adage needs to be mentioned. The famed critics once posited that no good movie is too long, and no bad movie is short enough. The actual length of a film doesn't really matter, so long as it's a quality picture, and it makes good use of its time. Personally, I feel...

The Sting, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford, made groundbreaking history with one of its Academy Award wins. Considered one of the best heist movies of all time, The Sting sees Henry Gondorff (Newman) and Johnny Hooker (Redford) teaming up to con the crime boss Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw). The 1973 film is among Robert Redford and Paul Newman's best movies, with its heist being among one of the most iconic in cinematic history.

The Sting's critical and commercial success led to ten nominations and seven wins at the 46th Academy Awards in 1974. It won for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, and Best Scoring. Redford also received a Best Actor nomination, with Jack Lemmon going on to win the honor for Save the Tiger. However, only one of The Sting's Academy Award wins would change the future of movie awards.

Mark your calendars, Oscars fans, because the 97th Academy Awards will air on Sunday, March 2, 2025 on ABC. The annual star-studded ceremony will honor movies released in theaters within the 2024 calendar year of eligibility. AMPAS members will vote on the Oscar winners in 23 categories, including Best Actress. But who will win? Here at Gold Derby, thousands of users have been making and updating their 2025 Oscar predictions for Best Actress, so let’s take a look at all of the top contenders in our photo gallery below.

These 25 Best Actress hopefuls are listed in order of their racetrack odds, which are derived from the combined forecasts of four unique groups: experts we’ve polled from major media outlets, editors who cover awards year-round for this website, top 24 users who had the best accuracy scores last year, and the mass of users who make up our biggest predictions bloc.

The five most recent...

The Directors Guild of America (DGA) has revealed its nominees for the upcoming 2025 awards, and it’s a high-stakes Oscar season, proven by the notable snubs and surprises. The five filmmakers contending for the prestigious DGA Award for Directorial Achievement in Feature Film are the following:

Jacques Audiard for “Emilia Pérez” Sean Baker for “Anora” Edward Berger for “Conclave” Brady Corbet for “The Brutalist” James Mangold for “A Complete Unknown”

It’s a category entirely of first-time DGA nominees. Most notably, this is significant for Mangold, who nabbed the first of his career for the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” which continues to pick up momentum coming after its haul at the SAG Awards noms. After helming films like “Walk the Line” (2005), “Logan” (2017) and “Ford v Ferrari” (2019), this piece of notoriety seemed long overdue.

This is also huge for German auteur Berger, who missed out on a director nom...

After watching the scene in “The Substance” where Elisabeth Sparkle, played by Demi Moore, repeatedly applies and wipes off lipstick in front of a mirror — a chilling metaphor for identity, erasure and self-loathing — I couldn’t have imagined that critics and awards voters would embrace it. Yet here we are, with Moore emerging as a frontrunner in the Oscar race for her career-defining performance in Coralie Fargeat’s provocative body horror film. Her Golden Globes win Sunday not only cements Moore’s legacy but also shines a long-overdue spotlight on horror as a genre worthy of awards season acclaim.

At 62, Moore is on the verge of earning her first-ever Oscar nomination for best actress. Her haunting and multilayered portrayal of an aging star who takes a mysterious serum to regain her youth — only for the experiment to spiral into a surreal nightmare — has been hailed as a masterclass in physical and emotional transformation.

The Substance confronts ageism — and specifically aging in Hollywood — so it’s fitting that Demi Moore, at 62, is now the second-oldest Best Comedy/Musical Actress winner in the history of the Golden Globes.

The actress took home the honor Sunday night, becoming the third performer in her 60s to win the award, which was first given out in 1951. Meryl Streep and Michelle Yeoh were both 60 when they triumphed for Julie & Julia and Everything Everywhere All at Once, respectively. The category’s oldest champ is Jessica Tandy, who was 80 at the time of her Driving Miss Daisy victory.

During her moving speech, Moore noted her 45-plus years in the industry, sharing that a producer 30 years ago once told her that she’d never be more than a “popcorn actress.” She said she “bought in” to that and thought her career was over a few years ago until she got Coralie Fargeat‘s “magical,...

Meryl Streep is the best of the best.

Her performance in Sophie’s Choice (1982) has been voted the greatest Oscar Best Actress winner ever, according to a Gold Derby ballot cast by 21 of our film experts, critics, and editors, who ranked all 97 movie champs.

Diane Keaton ranked second for Annie Hall (1977), with Jodie Foster following in third for The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Liza Minnelli for Cabaret (1972) and Vivien Leigh for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) rounded out the top five.

At the bottom of the list of the Best Actress winners is Mary Pickford for Coquette (1929). Just above that film in the rankings are Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Helen Hayes for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1932), Loretta Young for The Farmer’s Daughter (1947), and Marie Dressler for Min and Bill (1931).

Another recent Gold Derby poll of cinema experts declared The Godfather (1972) as the greatest Best Picture Oscar winner of all...

Jim Carrey’s fan-favorite comedy Bruce Almighty is heading to Netflix, offering fans another chance to revisit this divine laugh-out-loud classic.

Starting Jan. 1, 2025, Netflix subscribers can stream the 2003 comedy that stars Carrey as Bruce Nolan, a down-on-his-luck TV reporter who is suddenly granted the powers of God. Directed by Tom Shadyac, who previously directed Carrey in Liar Liar, the film also stars Morgan Freeman as the ever-wise and charismatic God, who challenges Bruce to see if he can handle the responsibilities of omnipotence. Bruce Almighty was a massive hit, blending Carrey’s signature physical comedy with heartfelt moments, and it remains one of his most iconic comedic performances.

Related Squid Game Star Compares Season 2 to Jim Carrey's Dystopian Film

Actor Lee Seo-hwan explains why key characters are missing in Squid Game Season 2.

Jim Carrey: A Comedy Icon

Carrey has built an extraordinary career as one of the most versatile comedic actors of all time.

For most of its existence, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) has maintained an illustrious aura around its highest honor, the Best Picture Oscar. There have been egregious missteps in this category to be sure, but for the most part, Academy voters wind up zeroing in on a worthy winner; that film may not be your favorite of the year, but you can at least stomach it taking the top prize.

One reason the Best Picture Oscar is so coveted is that everyone in the AMPAS membership, from actors to publicists, gets to participate in the nominating process. Whereas nominees in other categories tend to be determined by members of each branch, Best Picture is a free-for-all, which makes it the truest reflection of how the industry feels about the state of motion pictures in that given year. Sometimes a movie hits hard at the moment ("The Best Years of Our Lives...

The performance by Meryl Streep in Sophie’s Choice (1982) has been voted the greatest Oscar Best Actress winner ever. The results are from a recent Gold Derby ballot cast by 21 of our film experts and editors, who ranked all 97 movie champs.

Ranking in second place is Diane Keaton for Annie Hall (1977). Following in third place is Jodie Foster for The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Rounding out the top five are Liza Minnelli for Cabaret (1972), and Vivien Leigh for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).

At the bottom of the list of the Best Actress winners is Mary Pickford for Coquette (1929). Just above that film in the rankings are Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Helen Hayes for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1932), Loretta Young for The Farmer’s Daughter (1947), and Marie Dressler for Min and Bill (1931).

Another recent poll had The Godfather (1972) declared as the greatest Best Picture Oscar winner of all time (view...

The rollout of annual year-end guild awards nominations continues. Today? The American Cinema Editors revealed the nominees for the 2025 Ace Awards, a precursor for the Oscar and Emmys for editing. Notable nominees include “Conclave,” “Civil War,” “The Substance,” “A Real Pain,” “Challengers,” “Nobody Wants This,” “3 Body Problem,” “Fallout,” and “Slow Horses.”

Read More: “The Substance,” “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” and “The Penguin” top 2025 Make-up and Hair Stylist Guild Nominations

In the film Drama and Comedy film categories, the fields were filled out by “Dune: Part Two,” “Emilia Perez,” “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” “Anora” and “Wicked.” Notable omissions included “The Brutalist,” “Sing Sing,” “Blitz,” “Nickel Boys,” “A Complete Unknown,” “September 5,” and “Nosferatu.” It may seem like there is a disconnect, but fun fact, the last three films to miss out on an Ace and still win Best Picture are “Coda,” “Spotlight,” and “Driving Miss Daisy.”

In the television Drama and Comedy categories,...

For film fans, the next best thing to actually watching movies is talking about movies. There's not much in this life that's better than having a great conversation about the films that move us, exasperate us, confuse us, and change us. This is probably why we love when celebrities get asked about their own favorite movies, whether they're listing their Letterboxd top four or gushing about their five favorites to Rotten Tomatoes. It's simple: we learn more about people, and love them more, when we get to see them light up talking about the movies they love. Esteemed actor Morgan Freeman has shared his five favorite films with Rotten Tomatoes twice now, and his choices are wide-ranging and unexpected.

The first time the Oscar-winning star of such films as "Million Dollar Baby," "The Dark Knight," and "Driving Miss Daisy" was asked about his all-time favorite movies, in 2011, he dropped a...

Spike Lee gets candid regarding his Oscar losses, throwing some shade at awarded movies. Lee is best known as the director behind films such as Do The Right Thing (1989), Malcolm X (1992), Inside Man (2006), BlacKkKlansman (2018) and Da Five Bloods (2020). Though Lee is one of the most respected filmmakers in Hollywood, he's only won one Oscar in his career, taking home the Best Adapted Screenplay statue for co-writing BlacKkKlansman.

During a recent appearance on The Realest Podcast Ever, Lee speaks about his history with the Academy Awards, sharing some candid thoughts regarding both Do the Right Thing and BlacKkKlansman not winning Best Picture (the former wasn't even nominated). The director explains that, historically, some films that didn't win Best Picture end up being the films that are most remembered, and he uses Green Book as an example of a film that "no one's watching" now. Check out Lee's honest thoughts below:

Well,...

Morgan Freeman once said, “The best way to guarantee a loss is to quit.” If anyone’s taken this advice to heart, it’s the actor himself. Over the decades, he has worked tirelessly, proving time and again that quitting isn’t in his vocabulary.

From that unmistakable voice that could calm a wild bear to performances that tug at the heartstrings like a pro, this Tennessee-born actor, now 87, has made a career out of not playing by the rules. And who can blame him? When you’ve been in the game as long as he has, you get to do whatever the heck you want.

Morgan Freeman in Solos (2021)

Morgan Freeman didn’t exactly storm onto the Hollywood scene as a fresh-faced teen, but, boy, when he did, he made one heck of an entrance. Known for his role in the educational show The Electric Company, he’s since...

The Francis Ford Coppola masterpiece “The Godfather” (1972) has been voted the greatest Oscar Best Picture winner ever. The results are from a recent Gold Derby ballot cast by 29 of our film experts and editors, who ranked all 96 movie champs.

Ranking in second place is the Michael Curtiz classic “Casablanca” (1943). Following in third place is the powerful Steven Spielberg film “Schindler’s List” (1993). Rounding out the top five are Coppola’s “The Godfather Part II” (1974) in fourth place and Billy Wilder‘s “The Apartment” (196o) in fifth place.

At the bottom of the list of the Best Picture winners is “The Greatest Show on Earth” (1952) from Cecil B. DeMille. Just above that film in the rankings are “Cimarron” (1931) from Wesley Ruggles, “The Broadway Melody” (1929) from Harry Beaumont, “Crash” (2005) from Paul Haggis, and “Around the World in 80 Days’ (1956) from Michael Anderson.

Our photo gallery above features the full top 10. See the complete rankings of all 96 films below.

The Francis Ford Coppola masterpiece “The Godfather” (1972) has been voted the greatest Oscar Best Picture winner ever. The results are from a recent Gold Derby ballot cast by 29 of our film experts and editors, who ranked all 96 movie champs.

Ranking in second place is the Michael Curtiz classic “Casablanca” (1943). Following in third place is the powerful Steven Spielberg film “Schindler’s List” (1993). Rounding out the top five are Coppola’s “The Godfather Part II” (1974) in fourth place and Billy Wilder‘s “The Apartment” (196o) in fifth place.

The worst among 96 Best Picture winners is “The Greatest Show on Earth” (1952) from Cecil B. DeMille. Just above that film on the bottom of the rankings are “Cimarron” (1931) from Wesley Ruggles, “The Broadway Melody” (1929) from Harry Beaumont, “Crash” (2005) from Paul Haggis, and “Around the World in 80 Days’ (1956) from Michael Anderson.

Our photo gallery below features the full top 10. See the complete rankings of all 96 films below.

With its ’70s-era production details and sprawling age-spanning ensemble, Saturday Night has high hopes for the Oscars this year. But if the Jason Reitman period piece manages to win one, it will achieve something that the cast it depicts never could.

Though Saturday Night Live has racked up a record-breaking 103 Emmys and churned out generational talent with regularity over its 50 seasons, only six among its more than 150 castmembers have ever been nominated for an Oscar (five if you don’t include one-episode-and-done player Laurie Metcalf).

Its only winner? Robert Downey Jr., just this past March for Oppenheimer. And his 1985-86 SNL stint is a career footnote.

“I don’t think it’s conscious,” says Turner Classic Movies host Dave Karger, an Oscar prognosticator and author of 50 Oscar Nights, “but there might be something going on. There’s obviously a disconnect between SNL and [film] awards.”

Comedy stars can struggle with the Academy,...

Morgan Freeman has played a variety of roles throughout his career, but hes mostly known for his mentor roles and one of his most hilarious roles ended up flipping this typecast in the best way. Morgan Freeman is one of the most popular and respected actors of his generation and with good reason, as he has shown his incredible acting range in a variety of movies in a career that spans six decades. Freemans acting debut was in the 1964 drama The Pawnbroker, but his big break arrived in 1987 in the crime thriller Street Smart.

Since then, Freeman has been part of a variety of movies in both main and secondary roles, and among his most notable projects are Driving Miss Daisy, Glory, The Shawshank Redemption, Se7en, and Christopher Nolans The Dark Knight trilogy. Freeman has also been part of more lighthearted stories, such as Bruce Almighty, where he played God,...

Actor Morgan Freeman is best known for his role as Red in The Shawshank Redemption. However, he has also played a variety of roles that have become a staple in pop culture, such as Lucius Fox in The Dark Knight trilogy, Nelson Mandela in Invictus, and Hoke Colburn in Driving Miss Daisy.

While he finally won the Oscar for Million Dollar Baby, Freeman named his first-ever Oscar-nominated role as Fast Black in Street Smart as his favorite. Freeman reportedly called the Christopher Reeve starrer his breakout role. Despite it being his favorite performance, Freeman admitted that he would never do something like that again.

Morgan Freeman Called His Role In Street Smart His Best A still from Invictus | Credits: Warner Bros.

Morgan Freeman has played everything from a boxing coach, a scientist, and a prisoner, to God himself. Known for his deep, narrative voice, Freeman became a pop cultural icon...

Mikey Madison is the current Best Actress Oscar frontrunner for her heartbreaking performance in the title role of Sean Baker‘s “Anora.” Her likeliest competitors are two past Oscar winners — Nicole Kidman, 57, for “Babygirl” and Angelina Jolie, 49, for “Maria” — plus six-time nominee Amy Adams, 50, for “Nightbitch” and Karla Sofia Gascon, 52, for “Emilia Pérez.”

At age 25, Madison has one advantage over her main rivals for the award: her youth. Of the 97 winners of this race, almost one-third (32) were in their 20s.

Among those ingenues to take to the stage to collect this coveted prize was Emma Stone, who was 28 when she won for “La La Land” in 2017. Stone was 35 when she picked up a bookend Oscar earlier this year for “Poor Things,” which made her the 35th Best Actress winner in her thirties.

Bracketing Stone’s two wins were five women who defied this bias toward youth: 60-year-old Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has a lousy track record when it comes to getting its awards to the most deserving nominees. There are myriad examples of injustices, and, when it comes to Best Picture, a history of settling on a movie that most people at least really like, even if few outright love it. In recent years, we've had the perfectly fine "Spotlight," "Argo," Nomadland," and "Coda" take home the top prize. They weren't the best movies of their respective years, not even close, but they were proficiently directed movies buoyed by excellent performances and accomplished (if somewhat formulaic) screenplays.

The Academy has had a decent five year Best Picture run, but in 2018 there was a galling regression to the bad ol' days when white Hollywood phonies made bogus can't-we-all-just-can't-get-along bromides congratulating themselves for viewing people of different colors and ethnicities as actual human beings. That...

Broadway theaters will dim their lights on Sept. 26 in memory of James Earl Jones.

Jones, who died Sept. 9 at the age of 93, was a two-time Tony Award winner as well as a recipient of the 2017 special Tony Award for lifetime achievement. The Cort Theatre was renamed the James Earl Jones Theatre in September 2022.

Broadway theaters will dim their lights at 6:45 p.m. on Sept. 26 in his honor. The dimming of lights has been a tradition on Broadway for notable members of the community who have died, but must be approved by the theater owners.

Jones made his Broadway in 1957 as an understudy in The Egghead. He received his first Tony Award in 1969 for his role in The Great White Hope and won another Tony in 1987 for his role in Fences. He also appeared in The Iceman Cometh, Of Mice and Men, Othello, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Driving Miss Daisy,...

Broadway will dim its lights for the late James Earl Jones this Thursday, September 26, at at 6:45 pm/Et , the Broadway League announced today.

The traditional honor, in which the marquee lights of Broadway venues go dark for one minute, will pay tribute to the two-time Tony-winning actor who died September 9 at the age of 93. Jones was the recipient of the 2017 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement.

“James Earl Jones was a true pillar of the Broadway industry,” said Jason Laks, Interim President of The Broadway League, “providing unforgettable experiences to multiple generations of theatregoers – all while accumulating many well-deserved honors, awards, and achievements for his iconic performances in other entertainment fields. While we acknowledge and celebrate Mr. Jones’ significant legacy across multiple mediums, we are particularly proud of his legacy on Broadway, and are grateful for the many memorable performances with which he graced our stages.”

Jones’ Broadway career...

(Welcome to Tales from the Box Office, our column that examines box office miracles, disasters, and everything in between, as well as what we can learn from them.)

"I never liked the title of my own story, and don't to this day." Those are the words of prolific author Stephen King writing in the 2009 book "Stephen King Goes to the Movies." The movie and story in question is the 1994 classic "The Shawshank Redemption." King was attempting to explain why the film -- which is now considered by many to be one of the greatest movies ever made -- was a box office bomb in its day.

While it may be hard to believe, director Frank Darabont's stirring, emotional prison drama was indeed a huge disappointment upon its initial release. For those who weren't regular ticket buyers at the time of this movie's original theatrical run, that must seem unfathomable.

Chicago – On September 9th 2024, the world lost an icon of acting, voice work and pop culture stardom. The great James Earl Jones passed away at age 93, after a career of prominent statute, memorable characters and a voice to a generation through Darth Vader in “Star Wars” and Mufasa in “The Lion King” (both versions). Photographer Joe Arce of HollywoodChicago.com took an Exclusive Portrait of Jones in 1993 during a Chicago book tour.

Jones was born in Mississippi, and was raised in Michigan by his maternal grandparents. His estranged father became an film actor, and they reconciled in the 1950s. Jones graduated from the University of Michigan as a drama major, and after a stint in the military made his major Broadway debut in 1958 as Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s butler in “Sunrise at Campobello.”

James Earl Jones in Chicago, 1993

Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

He shifted to Shakespearian roles thereafter,...

The social, cultural, and historical relevance of James Earl Jones simply cannot be overstated. The actor’s voice has permeated every vessel and bone of modern society, shaping and informing entire generations since the advent of Star Wars in 1977. By lending a mouthpiece to Darth Vader, the menacing villain with the samurai helmet became infinitely more terrifying, influencing popular culture forever and becoming a forebearer of all evil to come.

Star Wars primary antagonist, Darth Vader [Credit: Lucasfilm]

Now, nearly half a century later, no other voice has been so instantly recognizable and integrally iconic to our pop culture history. Capable of sending literal chills down the spine of his audience, James Earl Jones’s legacy will continue to live on through Darth Vader, with his voice becoming forever immortalized after his heartbreaking death.

However, James Earl Jones had more to his life and identity than one Star Wars character.

James...

I spent my first decade in New York working at Variety’s former offices on Park Avenue South and more than once found myself sharing an elevator with James Earl Jones while he was on his way to or from Verizon to shoot commercials. The giant of an actor, who died today at age 93, never failed to say a warm, “Good morning” or “Good afternoon,” and even if I hadn’t recognized his face or his imposing 6-foot, 2-inch frame, there was no mistaking that sonorous voice.

His voice was the earth-shaking basso rumble coming from behind the forbidding mask of Darth Vader in the Star Wars saga, starting with the original 1977 film, and the stentorian growl of Mufasa, King of the Pride Lands and father of Simba in The Lion King.

It was also the voice of a revered stage actor, who forged his reputation in the 1960s and ‘70s,...

James Earl Jones, the Egot winner who lent his distinctive voice to such iconic film characters as Darth Vader and Mufasa of “The Lion King,” has died at 93.

He died Monday morning at his home in Dutchess County, New York, according to his representatives.

The actor, who made his film debut in Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 black comedy, “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb,” went on to appear in such beloved films as “Field of Dreams,” “Coming to America” and “Conan the Barbarian.” He also authoritatively told viewers, “This is CNN.”

A powerful presence onscreen, Jones was also known to several generations as the voice of the terrifying “Star Wars” villain Darth Vader in George Lucas’ original “Star Wars” trilogy, as well as the regal Mufasa in both versions of Disney’s “The Lion King.”

Jon Favreau, who directed the 2019 remake of the animated classic,...

James Earl Jones, the revered actor who voiced Star Wars villain Darth Vader, starred in Field of Dreams and many other films and Broadway shows and is an Egot winner, died this morning at his home in Dutchess County, NY. He was 93.

His reps at Independent Artist Group confirmed the news to Deadline.

Widely regarded as among the world’s great stage and screen actors Jones is one of the few entertainers to have won the Egot, though his Academy Award was Honorary. Jones has received two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Daytime Emmy, a spoken-word Grammy Award in 1977 and three Tony Awards.

The actor amassed nearly 200 screen credits during his brilliant 60-year career, starting some early-’60s TV guest roles and Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 classic Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). He probably is best known for his voice...

Morgan Freeman is an acclaimed actor whose distinctive voice and versatility have made him a Hollywood legend with a high net worth. With a career spanning over five decades, Freeman has delivered unforgettable performances in films such as The Shawshank Redemption, Driving Miss Daisy, and Million Dollar Baby. Known for his roles in both dramas and comedies, he has become one of the most respected figures in the industry. His impressive filmography has earned him numerous awards, including an Oscar for Million Dollar Baby and the Golden Globes' Cecil B. DeMille Award for "outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment."

Freeman was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and is the youngest of four siblings. He frequently moved around as a child, but found a love of acting at an early age, making his debut at age nine as the lead of his school play (via Celebrity Net Worth). The star has...

One of the most acclaimed films of 2004 is “Collateral,” starring Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx and Jada Pinkett Smith. Written by Stuart Beattie and directed by Michael Mann, the movie tells of a cab driver in nighttime Los Angeles who becomes the hostage of a contract killer. Released 20 years ago in August 2004, “Collateral” was a box office success, grossing $220 million worldwide on a $65 million budget. Read on for more about the “Collateral” 20th anniversary.

Most of the nation’s critics were positive on “Collateral.” Todd McCarthy in Variety wrote, “This intensely focused piece soars not only on the director’s precision-tooled style but also on the outstanding interplay between leads Cruise and Foxx.” Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called the film “a rare thriller that’s as much character study as sound and fury.” And Peter Travers in Rolling Stone said, “Mann hits a new peak, orchestrating action, atmosphere and...

Tom Selleck struggled in films post-Magnum P.I. with poor box office results and critical failures. Her Alibi is considered his worst starring film due to the casting mismatch and flawed premise. Selleck's film career downfall led to his return to successful television roles, eventually overshadowing his film career.

After Tom Selleck was famously denied the chance to play the role of Indiana Jones in the blockbuster 1981 action-adventure film Raiders of the Lost Ark, Selleck made his feature starring debut with a Raiders of the Lost Ark imitator, the 1983 adventure film High Road to China, also known as Raiders of the End of the World, which nonetheless performed respectably at the box office and showed that he possessed a genuine screen presence.

Sellecks dexterity and effortless charm were effectively showcased in his next feature starring vehicle, the 1984 spy thriller Lassiter, in which the actor exudes the kind of suaveness and...

Morgan Freeman’s narration played a significant role in taking The Shawshank Redemption to millions of viewers over the years. However, he was paid very modestly at the time for his role as Ellis Boyd Redding, reportedly less than half a million. The film had a low budget of $25 million and did not manage to recoup the budget in theaters.

Morgan Freeman as Ellis Boyd in The Shawshank Redemption | Castle Rock Entertainment

However, the film made a strong comeback after its Oscar nomination in 1995, making considerable money from re-release and rental video release. Interestingly, Freeman and Tim Robbins are likely still earning residuals from the film, considering what Bob Gunton, who played the antagonist, revealed about his Shawshank income.

Not Morgan Freeman, But Another Shawshank Redemption Actor Earned Millions In Residuals Bob Gunton in The Shawshank Redemption | Castle Rock Entertainment

Morgan Freeman‘s The Shawshank Redemption was considered a box office flop,...

Stars: Justice Smith, David Alan Grier, An-Li Bogan, Drew Tarver, Michaela Watkins, Aisha Hinds, Tim Baltz, Rupert Friend, Nicole Byer | Written and Directed by Kobi Libii

The debut feature from writer-director Kobi Libii, this blackly comic fantasy comedy has a solid central idea, but never quite gets to grips with its own satirical intent. Ultimately, it works better as an offbeat romantic comedy, thanks to an engaging central performance and charming chemistry between the two leads.

Justice Smith stars as Aaron Mbondo, an artist in Los Angeles whose yarn sculptures aren’t quite cutting it with the art gallery crowd. After a painful show, during which he’s mistaken for a waiter, insult is added to injury when he’s nearly beaten up by some white guys who think he’s a mugger. However, he’s rescued at the last minute by Roger (David Alan Grier), a server he recognises from the gallery.