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Which movie studios won big at the Academy Awards?

By
Christina Austin
Christina Austin
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By
Christina Austin
Christina Austin
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February 23, 2015, 1:20 PM ET
GHB_6852 20130121.CR2
Still of Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton, Tony Revolori and Paul Schlase in The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)Photograph by Martin Scali — Fox Searchlights

The glitz and glamour of award season wrapped up on Sunday night with the 87th Annual Academy Awards, where Fox Searchlight was the most decorated movie studio.

Fox landed 20 nominations and eight wins, thanks largely to The Grand Budapest Hotel and, of course, Best Picture winner Birdman.

But while Fox Searchlight — the small-films unit of 21st Century Fox — was victorious last night, nabbing the coveted Best Picture trophy (and having two of its films nominated for the award), Warner Bros. historically has the most nominations for the category.

Over the 87 years the Oscars have existed, there have only been 31 years where Warner has not received a best picture nomination. It has won nine times and had three of its films nominated in the same year more than once. When you add up all of Warner’s Oscar achievements, it has received 74 Best Picture nominations, bringing its overall Oscar nominations into triple digits. Fox Searchlight, on the other hand, has three Best Picture wins, including for Slumdog Millionaire and 12 Years a Slave. Most of both companies’ winners shared the prize with co-producing entities.

This year, Warner sits in third place for its overall Oscar nominations.

Fox Searchlight, though, is no stranger to box office hits — both critically and monetarily. Juno, Slumdog Millionaire, and Black Swan are its highest-grossing. All were also recognized by the Academy.
[fortune-brightcove videoid=4076143051001]

Sony won four awards last night for Whiplash and Still Alice, making it the number-two winner and nominee among production companies. Historically, it has received four Best Picture nominations, but has yet to take home the golden statuette. It was most recently nominated for Midnight in Paris.

Paramount followed suit with two wins, one each for Selma and Interstellar. Its last Best Picture win came in 1997 with Titanic.

Tied for third place with one win each are the studios Focus, IFC Films/Sundance Selects, Disney (DIS), Radius, Music Box Films, and the Weinstein Company. The most recent Best Picture film to come out of this group is 2011’s The Artist from the Weinstein Company.

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By Christina Austin
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