9 of the Strangest Nominees Ever for the Best Picture Oscar

When you look at this year’s crop of 8 Best Picture nominees, none really stick out as a true oddball of the bunch. That definitely hasn’t always been the case in years past. The Best Picture category has frequently boasted at least one movie you’ve forgotten was in contention for the top prize in American cinema…or forgotten about entirely, for that matter. We looked back at the past four decades of Oscar history, and picked the 9 most surprising Best Picture nominees from a tasteful drama about candy to a certain all-star disaster movie.

District 9 (2009)
Quick Refresher: Neill Blomkamp’s debut feature takes place in an alternate-present where aliens have been living openly among us for 28 years as second-class citizens.

Why It’s Surprising: Thanks to its next-gen technology and astronomical box office, James Cameron’s Avatar was a shoo-in for Oscar attention that year. But few expected that District 9 would tag along for the ride, making it the rare year where not just one, but two science-fiction blockbusters — a genre that the Academy generally overlooks — were nominated for Best Picture. Credit the movie’s timely social commentary, which lent dramatic weight to the thrillingly choreographed action sequences.

Watch the trailer for District 9:

Chocolat (2000)
Quick Refresher: Chocolatier Juliette Binoche brings her sweet tooth to a tiny, picturesque French town and upends the citizens’ sour ways.

Why It’s Surprising: The last and least essential gasp in Miramax’s ‘90s run of pushing gentle, Euro-centric romantic comedies into the Best Picture race (think Il Postino and Shakespeare in Love), Chocolat is an empty bon-bon with zero flavor. We’re pretty sure that even Binoche doesn’t remember its existence, even though she got a Best Actress nomination for it.

The Full Monty (1997)
Quick Refresher: A crew of unemployed Yorkshiremen become male strippers. Because stripping was the job to have in the ‘90s. (See also: Showgirls, Striptease and Exotica.)

Why It’s Surprising: The Fully Monty was and still is a perfectly amusing trifle, but it’s clearly outclassed in a category that includes L.A. Confidential, Good Will Hunting and the eventual winner Titanic. On the other hand, if Monty was considered Best Picture worthy, that means that Magic Mike XXL might have a legit shot at winning.

Babe (1995)
Quick Refresher: A talking pig proves his worth — and saves his bacon — by mastering an unexpected life skill: sheep herding.

Why It’s Surprising: We vaguely remember Babe being big twenty years ago, but Best Picture big? That’s harder to believe in than a sheep-pig.

Watch the trailer for Babe:

Scent of a Woman (1992)
Quick Refresher: Al Pacino hoo-hah’d his way to an Oscar win as a blind, suicidal colonel with a penchant for tango dancing and harassing his young helper.

Why It’s Surprising: Everyone recalls how Oscar voters gave Pacino the Best Actor statue as a lifetime achievement award. But for some reason they apparently also saw fit to honor the schmaltzy movie itself.

The Accidental Tourist (1988)
Quick Refresher: Estranged from his wife (Kathleen Turner), travel writer Macon (William Hurt) starts a relationship with a chatty dog trainer (Geena Davis) that flowers into love.

Why It’s Surprising: Perhaps even more surprising than its Best Picture nomination is the fact that that The Accidental Tourist was made and distributed by a major studio. These days, modest adult-oriented dramas like it tend to be strictly Sundance fare.

Breaking Away (1979)
Quick Refresher: A high-school grad (Dennis Christopher) breaks away from his small town’s expectations and pursues his lifelong dream of cycling.

Why It’s Surprising: Although it’s deservedly championed as the best cycling feature ever made (not that there’s a lot of competition), it’s strange to think that Breaking Away would have appealed to Oscar voters — even those who’d previously handed Rocky a Best Picture victory. It’s more of a small-town coming-of-age story than a rousing sports picture.

Bound for Glory (1976)
Quick Refresher: A Woody Guthrie biopic, starring David Carradine as the railway-riding folk singer.

Why It’s Surprising: Bound for Glory had the misfortune of being the odd film out in a banner Best Picture year that pitted All the President’s Men, Network, Rocky and Taxi Driver against each other. Measured alongside those still-relevant classics, it can’t help but seem like ancient history.

The Towering Inferno (1974)

Quick Refresher: A bunch of famous people — including Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, and Faye Dunaway — get stuck in a gleaming new skyscraper that turns out to be a firetrap.

Why It’s Surprising: 1970s disaster movies have become so enshrined as campy favorites, it’s difficult to imagine a time when anyone seriously considered them worthy of awards attention. The Towering Inferno’s nod is akin to nominating Roland Emmerich’s 2012 for Best Picture.

Watch a trailer for The Towering Inferno:

Image credits: Columbia TriStar/David Bloomer, Everett