Top 10 Shortest Best Picture Oscar Nominees: Which is barely an hour long?

Over the past 94 years, the academy has nominated 581 films for the Best Picture Oscar that have ranged in length from one to four hours. It is more common than not for films in the running for the top honor to be at least two hours long, and only 27 have fallen under 90 minutes. All but two of those 27 (“High Noon,” 1953 and “Beauty and the Beast,” 1992) were nominated prior to 1950.

The academy’s rules state that, in addition to meeting screening requirements, a film can qualify for Best Picture consideration as long as it is at least 40 minutes long. None has ever had quite such a low running time, and only six films have fallen under 100 minutes in the past 10 years. The shortest one to have been recognized in the last decade is “Gravity” (2014, 91 minutes), followed by “Beasts of the Southern Wild” (2013, 93 minutes) and “Lady Bird” (2018, 94 minutes).

Scroll through our gallery to learn about the 10 shortest Best Picture Oscar nominees, including three that are under 80 minutes long and one that barely crosses the one hour mark.

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