Only Three Movies Have More Oscar Nominations Than Emilia Perez

Oscar season is alive and well after the announcement of the nominees for this year. At the forefront with the most nominations this year is Emilia Perez, with Wicked and The Brutalist right behind it at 10 nominations each. Emilia Perez however has a total of 13 Oscar nominations including: Actress in a Leading Role (Karla Sofía Gascón), Actress in a Supporting Role (Zoe Saldana), Cinematography, Directing, Film Editing, International Feature Film, Makeup and Hairstyling, Music (Original Score), two nominations for Music (Original Song), Sound, Writing (Adapted Screenplay), and Best Picture.

13 Oscar nominations is a massive accomplishment for any film, and its allows Emilia Perez to join an exclusive club, as only 11 films have also managed to achieved this status. However, the most nominations ever given to a film by the Academy Awards is 14. So far, only three movies have ever achieved this feat that Emilia Perez fell short of by just one nomination.

Titanic, La La Land, and All About Eve Are Tied For The Most Oscar Nominations At 14

The first movie to get to 14 Academy Award nominations was 1950’s All About Eve, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The film is about the titular Eve, a forlorn actress taken under the wing of starlet Margo; however, Eve may not be the helpless woman she presents herself as. At 14 nominations, All About Eve won six Oscars, including Best Screenplay, Best Director, and the coveted Best Motion Picture.

For 47 years, All About Eve had the most nominations out of any film, until 1997 when Titanic would join its ranks with 14 nominations of its own. To this day, Titanic is one of the highest grossing movies ever with a worldwide total gross of over $2.2 billion, making it the third highest grossing film of all time when adjusted for inflation. Of the 14 nominations it received, Titanic won 11 Oscars — five more than the next film to join this exclusive club.

In 2016, less than two decades after Titanic’s sweep at the Oscars, one more film would receive 14 nominations — La La Land. A love letter to Hollywood from Academy Award winning director Damien Chazelle, La La Land is a classic musical for the modern day. It would only receive six Oscars at the awards; however, for a brief moment, it was believed to have won a seventh for Best Motion Picture. This was due to a presenter, Warren Beatty, being given a back-up envelope for Best Actress rather than the actual Best Motion Picture winner envelope, which confirmed Moonlight had won.

At 13 Nominations, Emilia Perez Joins The Likes Of Oppenheimer and Forrest Gump

While there are more films with 13 nominations than there are 14, the few films who have gotten this many are still impressive to say the least. The first movie to reach 13 nominations was Gone With the Wind, which also won 8 of its nominations at The Oscars. This historical yet controversial film set another record, receiving the most Oscar wins at that time.

Several other films would join these ranks, including movies such as Forrest Gump, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Chicago, and The Shape of Water. More recently, juggernaut Oppenheimer joined this exclusive club as well. Once again, Christopher Nolan directed a massive success story that went toe to toe with Barbie at the summer box office. This is also the film that earned the beloved director his first Oscar win for Best Director. He would also win for Best Picture, and in total, Oppenheimer took home seven out of its 13 wins.

Now, Emilia Perez joins the likes of these movies; although, it is unclear how it will perform at The Oscars. So far, Emilia Perez joins has had luck at other awards, like the Golden Globes, where it won four awards, including Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy. Despite these victories, Emilia Perez has faced critiques from LGBTQ+ critics and organizations, like GLAAD, due to its offensive depictions of Mexican culture and trans identity. This, on top of Emilia Perez star Karla Sofía Gascón facing backlash for her past social media posts (via NBC News), has made Emilia Perez a controversial contender for the Oscars, even when it has the most nominations of the year and sits alongside classic feature films of the past 100 years.