12 Most Oscar-Winning Netflix Original Movies, Ranked

Every year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awards its coveted Oscar to bestow the highest honors in filmmaking. Netflix broke into the Best Picture race for the first time with 2018’s Roma and has since added numerous more titles to that coveted list of nominees, but has so far failed to secure a win, though Apple TV+ broke the barrier this year, becoming the first streaming service to take home Best Picture for CODA despite Netflix leading the pack in nominations for three years running.

Films produced, streamed, and distributed by Netflix have won 22 Oscars in 13 categories from 132 nominations so far (not including the 18 nominations for its original movies in 2024). These best Oscar-winning movies on Netflix are their most lauded. However, Netflix’s catalog of winners is only sure to increase with the multitude of nominations that it has received for the highly anticipated 96th Academy Awards, set to premiere on March 10th.

12 ‘Mudbound’ (2017)

0 Wins, 4 Nominations

Dee Rees’ 2017 film Mudbound sees two families struggling to survive in the Mississippi Delta – one Black, the other white – sharing the same patch of land and keeping a tenuous, race-based peace. But when their sons Ronsel (Jason Mitchell) and Jamie (Garrett Hedlund) return home from the war with a budding friendship, their peace will be tested by segregation and hatred.

At the 90th Academy Awards, Mudbound had four nominations on the ballot: Best Supporting Actress for Mary J. Blige, Best Adapted Screenplay for Rees and Virgil Williams based on the novel by Hillary Jordan, Best Cinematography for Rachel Morrison, and Best Original Song, again for Blige. Blige became the first person to ever be nominated for both an acting and a song Oscar during the same year. Rees became the first Black woman to be nominated for an adapted screenplay. Morrison became the first woman ever to be nominated as a cinematographer. They may not have won, but they did make a lot of history for their work on Mudbound.

11 ‘Don’t Look Up’ (2021)

0 Wins, 4 Nominations

In 2021, writer-director Adam McKay blessed Netflix viewers with a political satire/black comedy with an incredible and quirky ensemble cast, including Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Mark Rylance, Tyler Perry, Timothee Chalamet, Cate Blanchett, and Meryl Streep. It told the story of two astronomers warning the world about its impending demise thanks to an approaching comet. The world, however, remained largely apathetic, an on-the-nose allegory for humanity’s current response to climate change.

Don’t Look Up received mixed reviews from critics and audiences, but the Academy saw fit to bestow four nominations upon it, including a coveted, all-important nomination for Best Picture, which it lost to CODA. It lost Best Original Screenplay to Kenneth Branagh for Belfast, Best Original Score to Hans Zimmer for Dune, and Best Film Editing to Joe Walker, also for Dune.

10 ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ (2020)

0 Wins, 6 Nominations

Aaron Sorkin’s 2020 film The Trial of the Chicago 7 told the story of the seven people charged in the wake of protestors’ violent confrontations with police in the wake of the 1968 Democratic Party Convention. They were forced to stand trial together by a hostile Nixon administration and a volatile judge despite their differing defense philosophies and that one of them, Black Panther Bobby Seale, wasn’t even there.

The Trial Of The Chicago 7 earned an Oscar nomination for Best Picture at the 93rd Academy Awards, which it lost to Nomadland. While the film also picked up nominations for Best Original Song, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, and Best Supporting Actor for Sacha Baron Cohen, it would go home with no wins under its belt. Sorkin, predictably, earned himself a fourth Oscar nomination for his screenplays, though his only win came from 2010’s The Social Network; this time he lost to Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman.

9 ‘The Irishman’ (2019)

0 Wins, 10 Nominations

Martin Scorsese’s epic film The Irishman stars Robert DeNiro as a hitman looking back on his life as Scorsese meditates on the excess of sin and the state of his soul. The incredible cast includes Joe Pesci, Al Pacino, and Harvey Keitel. The film acted as Scorsese’s swan song for his legendary career in crime movies, acting as a beautiful and heartbreaking sendoff to a chapter of his career as a whole.

The 92nd Academy Awards recognized The Irishman with all the biggest nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor nominations for both Pacino and Pesci. Brad Pitt bested them both for Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, and Parasite swept the others, though when Bong Joon-ho accepted his Oscar for Best Director, he said “When I was young and studying cinema, there was a saying that I carved deep into my heart, which is, ‘the most personal is the most creative,’” which he then attributed to Scorsese, prompting a standing ovation for the prolific director.

8 ‘My Octopus Teacher’ (2020)

1 Win, 1 Nomination

Netflix has had some luck with its documentary features. Since 2014, they’ve received 11 nominations in the category. Icarus claimed the first victory in 2018 by revealing Russia’s state-sponsored Olympic doping program. American Factory, the first film to be acquired by Michelle and Barack Obama’s production company, Higher Ground, followed with a win in 2020

Their most notable win in the category came in 2021 when My Octopus Teacher chronicled filmmaker Craig Foster forging a relationship with a wild octopus in a South African kelp forest. It became a global phenomenon and is one of Netflix’s highest-rated documentaries, in large part due to the bizarre but wholly engrossing story about the unique bond between man and animal.

7 ‘Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio’ (2022)

1 Win, 1 Nomination

While Netflix has been highly competitive in the Best Animated Feature category over the years with films like I Lost My Body, Klaus, and The Mitchells vs. the Machines, they finally broke through with Guillermo del Toro‘s Pinocchio. The film took a darker, more gothic take on the classic children’s story, having the story of the wooden boy placed in the backdrop of Mussolini’s Italy, further emphasizing the struggles and hardships of the characters involved.

The film would end up winning Best Animated Feature against the likes of Turning Red, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, and even Netflix’s own The Sea Beast. The win was also notable for Guillermo del Toro’s legendary acceptance speech, in which he brought great weight and importance to the medium of animation, saying that “animation is cinema”. It’s far from particularly surprising, as even now, the film is easily considered to be one of the greatest animated films that Netflix has released, as a magnificent work of art that has been cherished and enjoyed by audiences worldwide. – Robert Lee

6 ‘Marriage Story’ (2019)

1 Win, 6 Nominations

Noah Baumbach broke Netflix subscribers’ hearts via Adam Driver’s riveting performance and Scarlett Johansson’s heartbreaking story in 2019’s Marriage Story about the end of a long relationship. While the movie is still widely considered to be one of Netflix’s best when it comes to emotional and dramatic films, it simply faced too great competition in one of the most stacked years in Academy Awards history.

Marriage Story also could not match Parasite’s raging success, losing Best Picture but being honored just to have been nominated. Driver got a nomination but lost to Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker; Johansson was double nominated for both Marriage Story and Jojo Rabbit, but lost out twice, to Renee Zellweger as Judy Garland and Laura Dern, who played her lawyer in Marriage Story and gave the film its single win.

5 ‘The Power of the Dog’ (2021)

1 Win, 12 Nominations

The Power of the Dog seemed likely to break Netflix’s Best Picture curse, leading the pack with an impressive twelve nominations. Director Jane Campion’s beautiful film is about a fearsome rancher (Benedict Cumberbatch) who torments his brother’s (Jesse Plemons) new wife (Kirsten Dunst) and son (Kodi Smit-McPhee).

With twelve nominations locked up, Netflix was likely confident that its Best Picture drought was about to end. In fact, it was CODA that won the first Best Picture Oscar for a streaming platform at the 94th Academy Awards; its three nominations were the fewest of any Best Picture winner since 1932. The Power Of The Dog’s sole win came courtesy of Best Director, the first film to do so as its sole award since 1967’s The Graduate. Winner Jane Campion was only the third woman to win for direction and was the first woman to be nominated twice, having previously been nominated in 1993 for The Piano.

4 ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ (2020)

2 Wins, 5 Nominations

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom depicted a pivotal but turbulent 1920s recording session by influential blues singer Ma Rainey, performed by the awesome Viola Davis. Chadwick Boseman played opposite her in what would be his final role. Despite the film not getting a nomination for Best Picture (despite Netflix having two other Best Picture-nominated films this year), the film managed to perform just as well as Netflix’s other frontrunners when it came to winning awards.

Davis and Boseman both earned acting nominations, as did the film’s production design. While Boseman was widely considered to be the favorite to win to make for a glorious post-humous victory, he would end up losing to Anthony Hopkins‘ performance in The Father. The film did score wins, however, for makeup and hairstyling, and costume design for Ann Roth. It was Roth’s fifth nomination and her second win, after 1996’s The English Patient.

3 ‘Mank’ (2020)

2 Wins, 10 Nominations

David Fincher’s black-and-white biopic based on his father Jack’s script recounted screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz‘s (Gary Oldman) experiences and the development of his groundbreaking script for Citizen Kane. The film successfully cashed in on the Academy’s love for films in black and white as well as films about old Hollywood, securing nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and much more.

Despite easily having the most nominations out of any film nominated that year with 10 nominations against most other films’ 6 nominations, this praise didn’t translate to actual wins. Mank was losing Best Picture to Nomadland right around the same time The Trial of the Chicago 7 was. It did, however, come away with a Best Cinematography win for Erik Messerschmidt on his first Oscar nomination ever, and for Production Design. Oldman and Amanda Seyfried both lost their acting nominations.

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2 ‘Roma’ (2018)

3 Wins, 10 Nominations

Alfonso Cuarón’s striking, semi-autobiographical film Roma examines the life of the live-in housekeeper for an upper-middle-class family in 1970s Mexico City. Roma’s ten nominations tied 2000’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for the most-nominated foreign language film while also becoming only the fifth film to be nominated for Best Picture and Best Foreign Language Film in the same year. This nomination would usher in a new wave of foreign films being nominated for Best Picture in the process, including the likes of Parasite, Drive My Car, and this year’s The Zone of Interest.

Cuarón helped himself to three Oscars at the 91st Academy Awards – for Best Foreign Language Film, the first Mexican film to do so, and then becoming the first person to win both Best Director and Best Cinematography for the same movie. Arguably, Roma deserved to take home Best Picture as well, as it was the almost unanimous frontrunner to take home the big award, but Green Book controversially took it home instead.

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1 ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ (2022)

4 Wins, 9 Nominations

A modern-day remake of the original Best Picture-winning war film, All Quiet on the Western Front sees eager young Paul Baumer, excited to enlist for the German army during World War I. However, his hopes and perky attitude are soon washed away by the dreadful realities of war, as he watches his friends and comrades die around him as he slowly loses his own sense of self. While the film would end up losing the Best Picture award to Everything Everywhere All at Once, it still made a multitude of victories in the tech categories.

Following in the footsteps of other recent awards-budding war films like Hacksaw Ridge and Dunkirk, All Quiet‘s praise was sparse among major categories, but the majority of its success would be in praise of its masterful craft and tech. Of its 9 nominations, the film would end up taking victories in Best International Feature Film, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, and Best Cinematography. – Robert Lee

NEXT: The Best Netflix Original Movies of All Time, Ranked According to IMDb