At the Academy Awards, the so-called "Big Five" awards are those for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay (either Best Original Screenplay or Best Adapted Screenplay).[1] As of the 94th Academy Awards (2021), a total of 43 films have been nominated in all five of these award categories. Only three films have won all five of these major awards: It Happened One Night (1934), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), and The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Eight films failed to win any of the five major awards after being nominated.
In addition, there are three film studios that have won all of the Big Five awards in the same year for two different films, while Everything Everywhere All at Once won the most "above-the-line" awards (includes Supporting Actor/Actress), with six.
This list of films is sorted by the number of Big Five Academy Awards received by each film. Award winners are listed in
bold with green background; others listed are nominees who did not win.This list of film studios is sorted by the number of Big Five Academy Awards received by two different films altogether.
| Awards Ceremony | Year in Film | Film studios | Big Five Awards | Best Picture | Best Director | Best Actor | Best Actress | Best Screenplay (A): Adapted Screenplay / (O): Original Screenplay | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12th | 1939 | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer & Loew's Inc | 4 (Gone with the Wind) + 1 (Goodbye, Mr. Chips) | Gone with the Wind | Victor Fleming (Gone with the Wind) | Robert Donat (Goodbye, Mr. Chips) | Vivien Leigh (Gone with the Wind) | Sidney Howard (A) (Gone with the Wind) | ||
| data-sort-value="07th" | 1976 | United Artists | 3 (Network) + 2 (Rocky) | Rocky | John G. Avildsen (Rocky) | Peter Finch (Network) | Faye Dunaway (Network) | Paddy Chayefsky (O) (Network) | ||
| 2022 | A24 | 4 (Everything Everywhere All at Once) + 1 (The Whale) | Everything Everywhere All at Once | Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All at Once) | Brendan Fraser (The Whale) | Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once) | Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (O) (Everything Everywhere All at Once) |
These films won all four of their nominations for the Big Five Academy Awards. The list is sorted chronologically.
List of films with the most "above-the-line" Academy Awards—that is, the "Big Five" + Supporting Acting. Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) holds the record with six "above-the-line" awards, while eleven other films have received five. The list is sorted chronologically.
| Awards Ceremony | Year in Film | Total Nominations | Total Awards | Total Above-The-Line Awards | Best Picture | Best Director | Best Actor (M) / Best Actress (F) | Best Supporting Actor (M) / Supporting Actress (F) | Best Adapted Screenplay (A) / Best Original Screenplay (O) | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7th | 1934 | 5 | 5 | 5 | It Happened One Night | Frank Capra | Clark Gable (M) / Claudette Colbert (F) | — | Robert Riskin (A) | ||
| 12th | 1939 | 13 | 8 | 5 | Gone with the Wind | Victor Fleming | Vivien Leigh (F) | Hattie McDaniel (F) | Sidney Howard (A) | Clark Gable and Olivia de Havilland were also nominated for Actor and Supporting Actress, respectively | |
| 15th | 1942 | 12 | 6 | 5 | Mrs. Miniver | William Wyler | Greer Garson (F) | Teresa Wright (F) | George Froeschel / James Hilton / Claudine West / Arthur Wimperis (A) | Walter Pidgeon, Henry Travers, and May Whitty were also nominated for Actor, Supporting Actor, and Supporting Actress, respectively | |
| 17th | 1944 | 10 | 7 | 5 | Going My Way | Leo McCarey | Bing Crosby (M) | Barry Fitzgerald (M) | Frank Butler / Frank Cavett (A) | Barry Fitzgerald was also nominated for Actor, for the same performance | |
| 26th | 1953 | 13 | 8 | 5 | From Here to Eternity | Fred Zinnemann | Montgomery Clift and Burt Lancaster (M) / Deborah Kerr (F) | Frank Sinatra (M) / Donna Reed (F) | Daniel Taradash (A) | ||
| 19th | 1946 | 8 | 7 | 5 | The Best Years of Our Lives | William Wyler | Fredric March (M) | Harold Russell (M) | Robert E. Sherwood (A) | ||
| 27th | 1954 | 12 | 8 | 5 | On the Waterfront | Elia Kazan | Marlon Brando (M) | Eva Marie Saint (F) | Budd Schulberg (O) | Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden, and Rod Steiger were also nominated for Best Supporting Actor | |
| 48th | 1975 | 9 | 5 | 5 | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest | Miloš Forman | Jack Nicholson (M) / Louise Fletcher (F) | Brad Dourif (M) | Lawrence Hauben / Bo Goldman (A) | ||
| 52nd | 1979 | 9 | 5 | 5 | Kramer vs. Kramer | Robert Benton | Dustin Hoffman (M) | Meryl Streep (F) | Robert Benton (A) | Justin Henry and Jane Alexander were also nominated for Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress, respectively | |
| 56th | 1983 | 11 | 5 | 5 | Terms of Endearment | James L. Brooks | Shirley MacLaine (F) | Jack Nicholson (M) | James L. Brooks (A) | Debra Winger and John Lithgow were also nominated for Actress and Supporting Actor, respectively | |
| 64th | 1991 | 7 | 5 | 5 | The Silence of the Lambs | Jonathan Demme | Anthony Hopkins (M) / Jodie Foster (F) | — | Ted Tally (A) | ||
| 95th | 2022 | 11 | 7 | 6 | Everything Everywhere All at Once | Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert | Michelle Yeoh (F) | Ke Huy Quan (M) / Jamie Lee Curtis (F) | Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (O) | Stephanie Hsu was also nominated for Supporting Actress |