Only Two Sci-Fi Movies Have Won Best Picture At The Oscars

In the 97 years that the Academy Awards have been going, certain genres have always remained the underdogs, regardless of how general audiences may feel about them at any given time in history. When it comes to science-fiction, for example, only two entrants in the genre have actually walked away with the Best Picture Oscar, and both are more recent than you might expect. In point of fact, there hadn't been a single Best Picture-winning sci-fi film at all until Guillermo del Toro's sci-fi horror romance "The Shape of Water" came up for air in 2017. Nevertheless, del Toro's story of a woman (Sally Hawkins) falling for a merman (Doug Jones) managed to check all the required boxes at the time, winning Best Picture over the likes of "Call Me By Your Name," "Get Out," "Dunkirk," "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri," "Darkest Hour," "The Post," "Lady Bird," and "Phantom Thread." 

This was also the victory that seemingly broke the seal for the sci-fi genre at the Oscars; just five years later, directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert went on to clean up at the Academy Awards with their own Best Picture-winning sci-fi hit "Everything Everywhere All At Once." Daniels' outlandish tale of alternate dimensions and the dream of just doing laundry with someone was a huge success throughout the 2022 awards season, culminating with stars Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and Jamie Lee Curtis all winning Oscars, and verifying that sci-fi was finally getting some deserved (and long overdue) recognition from the Academy. That brings us to the present where, at the time of writing, yet another sci-fi picture finds itself in contention to win some shiny gold statuettes.

What with the likes of "The Godfather Part II" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" being the only sequels in history to win Best Picture Oscars (and considered some of the best movies of all time), might there be a chance that "Dune: Part Two" join the ranks as a rare champion and another contender from the sci-fi genre that gets some well earned praise? Not since Peter Jackson's initial departure from Middle-earth has a blockbuster epic like this been so loved by both critics and audiences alike, making it a film more than worthy of attention from the Academy.

Besides boasting impressive performances from the likes of Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, and Austin Butler (all of whom deserve to be considered in the Oscar conversation), Denis Villeneuve's direction on the sci-fi tentpole alone warrants attention from the Academy. Indeed, "Dune" and "Dune: Part Two" star Josh Brolin has even threatened to quit acting if Villeneuve doesn't receive an Oscar nomination for his efforts on the "Dune" sequel (and he appears to only be half-joking). Having triumphantly closed the book on Frank Herbert's "unfilmable" tale, "Dune: Part Two" certainly deserves to become one of the rare sci-fi movies to be crowned Best Picture come Oscar night. The Academy may have barred Hans Zimmer's score for the "Dune" sequel from getting a nomination but there's no reason to snub Villeneuve and the rest of the film.

Who knows — with a little luck, 2025 will become the year that we add a third Best Picture-winning sci-fi feature to the pile.