Can You Score 20/20? Ultimate Oscar-Winning Movies Trivia Quiz Challenge!

Answers Below – No Peeking!

Think you know your Academy Award winners? Test your film knowledge with this 20-question trivia quiz on Oscar-winning movies, spanning from the silent era to recent blockbusters. Questions range from easy warm-ups to fiendishly tough challenges – grab a pen and see if you can ace it!

20 Trivia Questions on Oscar-Winning Movies

Question 1: Which film won the very first Academy Award for Best Picture (then called Outstanding Picture) at the 1929 ceremony?

A. The Jazz Singer
B. Wings
C. 7th Heaven
D. Broadway Melody

Question 2: Which epic romance won the Oscar for Best Picture in 1939?

A. The Wizard of Oz
B. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
C. Gone with the Wind
D. Stagecoach

Question 3: Which film won Best Picture in 1941, beating out Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane?

A. Citizen Kane
B. How Green Was My Valley
C. The Maltese Falcon
D. Sergeant York

Question 4: In what year did Casablanca win the Academy Award for Best Picture?

A. 1942
B. 1943
C. 1944
D. 1945

Question 5: Which 1959 epic chariot race spectacle won 11 Oscars, including Best Picture?

A. Spartacus
B. Ben-Hur
C. The Ten Commandments
D. Around the World in 80 Days

Question 6: Who won the Best Actor Oscar for portraying Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather?

A. Al Pacino
B. Robert Duvall
C. Marlon Brando
D. James Caan

Question 7: Which 1975 film achieved the rare feat of winning all five major Oscars (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay)?

A. Jaws
B. Rocky
C. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
D. Network

Question 8: Which Woody Allen comedy won Best Picture in 1977?

A. Manhattan
B. Annie Hall
C. Bananas
D. Sleeper

Question 9: Which Oliver Stone-directed Vietnam War film won Best Picture in 1986?

A. Top Gun
B. Aliens
C. Platoon
D. Stand by Me

Question 10: Which 1991 Best Picture winner stars Anthony Hopkins as the cannibalistic Hannibal Lecter?

A. JFK
B. Bugsy
C. The Silence of the Lambs
D. Beauty and the Beast

Question 11: Which Lord of the Rings film won 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, in 2004?

A. The Fellowship of the Ring
B. The Two Towers
C. The Return of the King
D. Pirates of the Caribbean

Question 12: Which Coen Brothers neo-Western won Best Picture in 2008?

A. Fargo
B. True Grit
C. No Country for Old Men
D. Miller’s Crossing

Question 13: Which underdog tale won Best Picture at the 81st Academy Awards for 2008 films?

A. The Dark Knight
B. Milk
C. Slumdog Millionaire
D. Frost/Nixon

Question 14: Who won the Best Actor Oscar for portraying King George VI in 2010’s The King’s Speech?

A. Geoffrey Rush
B. Gary Oldman
C. Helena Bonham Carter
D. Colin Firth

Question 15: Which Ben Affleck-directed thriller about a fake movie won Best Picture in 2013?

A. Lincoln
B. Zero Dark Thirty
C. Argo
D. Silver Linings Playbook

Question 16: Which Steve McQueen-directed historical drama won Best Picture in 2014?

A. Gravity
B. American Hustle
C. Dallas Buyers Club
D. 12 Years a Slave

Question 17: Which film about Catholic Church abuse scandals won Best Picture in 2016?

A. The Revenant
B. Mad Max: Fury Road
C. Spotlight
D. Bridge of Spies

Question 18: Due to the infamous envelope mix-up, which film actually won Best Picture in 2017?

A. La La Land
B. Hidden Figures
C. Moonlight
D. Manchester by the Sea

Question 19: Which South Korean film became the first non-English language movie to win Best Picture in 2020?

A. Roma
B. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
C. Parasite
D. Babel

Question 20: Which Christopher Nolan-directed atomic bomb epic won Best Picture at the 2024 Oscars?

A. Inception
B. Dunkirk
C. Tenet
D. Oppenheimer

Answers

  1. B. Wings – Wings (1927/28) won Outstanding Picture at the 1st Academy Awards in 1929; The Jazz Singer was the first talkie but didn’t win Picture, while the others were nominees.
  2. C. Gone with the Wind – This Civil War epic swept the 12th Oscars in 1940 for 1939 films, winning 8 awards including Best Picture; the others were strong contenders but lost.
  3. B. How Green Was My Valley – John Ford’s family drama won Best Picture at the 14th Oscars over Citizen Kane, which got only one technical award despite 9 nominations.
  4. C. 1944 – Casablanca won Best Picture at the 16th Academy Awards on 2 March 1944, honouring 1943 films (though released in late 1942).
  5. B. Ben-Hur – The 1959 remake won a record 11 Oscars at the 32nd ceremony, tying the record later matched by Titanic and Return of the King; others won fewer.
  6. C. Marlon Brando – Brando refused his second Best Actor Oscar for The Godfather (1972) at the 45th Oscars; Pacino was nominated but lost for Michael Corleone.
  7. C. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – This rare ‘big five’ sweep occurred at the 48th Oscars for the 1975 film; Rocky won the following year.
  8. B. Annie Hall – Woody Allen’s romantic comedy won 4 Oscars including Best Picture at the 50th ceremony; Manhattan came later in 1979.
  9. C. Platoon – Stone’s semi-autobiographical film won 4 Oscars including Best Picture at the 59th Awards; Top Gun had no Picture wins.
  10. C. The Silence of the Lambs – The thriller won 5 Oscars including Best Picture at the 64th ceremony; Jodie Foster also won Best Actress as Clarice Starling.
  11. C. The Return of the King – The trilogy finale won 11 Oscars at the 76th Awards, sweeping technical categories; earlier entries won fewer.
  12. C. No Country for Old Men – The Coens won 4 Oscars including Best Picture at the 80th ceremony (no Best Director due to shared credit rule at the time).
  13. C. Slumdog Millionaire – Danny Boyle’s film won 8 Oscars including Best Picture at the 81st Awards; The Dark Knight got only sound editing.
  14. D. Colin Firth – Firth won Best Actor at the 83rd Oscars for The King’s Speech (2010), which also took Best Picture; Rush won Supporting Actor.
  15. C. Argo – Affleck’s CIA rescue tale won Best Picture at the 85th Oscars (he wasn’t nominated for Directing); Lincoln won several acting awards.
  16. D. 12 Years a Slave – McQueen’s film won Best Picture at the 86th Oscars, with Chiwetel Ejiofor nominated for Best Actor; Gravity won technical awards.
  17. C. Spotlight – The Boston Globe exposé film won Best Picture at the 88th Oscars; The Revenant won Best Director and Actor.
  18. C. Moonlight – Moonlight was declared the true Best Picture winner at the 89th Oscars after the La La Land announcement error.
  19. C. Parasite – Bong Joon-ho’s thriller won 4 Oscars including Best Picture at the 92nd ceremony, making history as the first foreign-language winner.
  20. D. Oppenheimer – Nolan’s 2023 biopic won 7 Oscars including Best Picture at the 96th Academy Awards; others received nominations but no Picture win.

How did you score? Drop your results in the comments and challenge friends to top your tally on these Oscar-winning classics!