Oscars: Every Best Picture Winner Ever Ranked From Worst To Best

35. The Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King (2003)

The Lord Of The Rings The Return Of The King Frodo Baggins Elijah Wood
Warner Bros. Pictures

15 years later, it's still shocking that the Academy awarded Best Picture to a fundamentally daft - yet brilliantly crafted - fantasy threequel, essentially rewarding Peter Jackson for his work on the entire trilogy of epic features.

Though wildly overlong and infamously bloated out with several false endings, Return of the King's fantastically overblown style, sweeping emotion and terrific ensemble cast carried it effortlessly over the line, even if its record-tying 11-award sweep ultimately made for a pretty boring ceremony.

Fans may argue that it's not even the best of the three movies, but it was a refreshing case of the Academy proving they're not always total snobs.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.