Nothing unites movie lovers quite like fierce debates over where the Academy went wrong. Year after year, standout performances and daring films are overlooked, sending fans into a screaming tizzy, months-long arguments, and plenty of frustrated rants. Some disappointments fade from memory, while others fester for decades. In a countdown that maximizes the drama, legendary talents who never took home a statue, to films that were seemingly robbed blind, here are 10 of the most jaw-dropping Oscar snubs of all time.
10. Amy Adams Shut Out for Arrival
Arrival, directed by Denis Villeneuve, received a staggering eight Oscar nominations, including prestigious recognition in categories such as Best Picture and Best Director. Ironically, Actress Amy Adams, who was the heart and soul of this film, was utterly snubbed in the acting category. It remains a perplexing circumstance, given that her portrayal in this production was so delicate and impactful. To add further intrigue, this occurred in a year when a nomination for Meryl Streep in Florence Foster Jenkins was also featured in the nomination list.
9. The Lego Movie Gets Left Out
“Everything is awesome”… except when the Academy doesn’t notice you. Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s clever, funny, and amazingly visual The Lego Movie was a 2014 pop culture sensation. And yet, it wasn’t even nominated for Best Animated Feature. Fans were stunned, critics were confused, and even though Big Hero 6 won the statue, the snub remains unjust.
8. Angela Bassett & Stephanie Hsu Snubbed
Jamie Lee Curtis took home Best Supporting Actress for Everything Everywhere All at Once at the 2023 Oscars. However, a lot of people thought her co-star Stephanie Hsu, whose character was the focal point in the movie, gave the better performance. While Angela Bassett added weight and emotion to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, she returned home without an Oscar. For some fans, this was a double disappointment that the Academy had made wrong.
7. Apocalypse Now Loses Best Picture
Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now has since become one of the greatest war movies ever produced. In 1980, however, the Academy chose Kramer vs. Kramer, a tender drama about divorce and child custody. Though both are solid movies, history has unequivocally anointed Apocalypse Now the more lasting classic. Coppola had to be satisfied with technical nods for cinematography and sound at the time.
6. Do the Right Thing Ignored
In 1990, Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing was not to be seen on the Best Picture roster. Instead, the Academy awarded Driving Miss Daisy, a conservative, feel-good film. The snub was glaring, particularly given that Lee’s movie is now regarded as a classic of American film and a scathing critique of race relations. The decision spoke volumes about what Hollywood was willing and not willing to honor at the time.
5. Glenn Close: Forever the Bridesmaid
Glenn Close is among the greatest actresses of her generation, and also the most nominated for an Oscar without a victory (eight times). From Fatal Attraction to Dangerous Liaisons to The Wife, she’s given powerhouse performances again and again, only to see someone else take home the prize. It’s now become so routine that the joke that she’s “always a bridesmaid” isn’t humorous—it’s just heartless.
4. Stanley Kubrick Never Takes Home Best Director
Stanley Kubrick revolutionized the art of film with classics such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Dr. Strangelove, and A Clockwork Orange. But the Academy never rewarded him with a Best Director award. His sole Oscar? Best Visual Effects for 2001. For a director whose career helped shape modern cinema, that seems like an enormous faux pas.
3. Alfred Hitchcock Denied His Due
The “Master of Suspense” ranks among the greatest filmmakers in history. But Alfred Hitchcock never received a competitive Oscar for Best Director, even though he was nominated five times. Movies such as Psycho and Vertigo, now considered classics, were all but ignored upon release. Hitchcock did receive an honorary Oscar in later years, but the failure to give him a legitimate win is still one of the Academy’s greatest blind spots.
2. Citizen Kane Loses Best Picture
Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane has a reputation as the greatest film of all time. Naturally, then, the Academy awarded Best Picture in 1942 to How Green Was My Valley. Welles was left with Best Original Screenplay. Although Citizen Kane has grown to be a classic in itself, the defeat is used as shorthand for one of the all-time Academy Award mistakes.
1. Brokeback Mountain Falls to Crash
Few upsets in Oscar history have provoked as much outrage as this one. Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain was all but a sure thing to win Best Picture in 2006. Instead, the Academy opted for Paul Haggis’s Crash, a clumsy, heavy-handed drama now regarded as passé by critics. Losing felt like a statement—that Hollywood wasn’t yet prepared to award its highest honor to a queer love story. It remains to this day the snub that is referenced every time people mention the Academy’s most egregious errors.
Of course, the Oscars have been snubbed, too. George C. Scott famously called the ceremony a “meat parade” and refused his award. Marlon Brando sent activist Sacheen Littlefeather to decline his statue in protest. Katharine Hepburn, despite winning four Oscars, never showed up at all. Turns out, sometimes the snubbing goes both ways.