Top 10 Unpopular Films That Won Academy Awards

The overall popularity of the films in this article is determined by the rating given to them on popular film websites such as IMDB and the like. The following won Oscars but got very dismal ratings.

1. Terms of Endearment

Rating- 7.3

This film won an Oscar for Best Picture and beat movies like The Dresser and Tender Mercies. The star cast included Jack Nicholson and Shirley McLaine. It is an ordinary film about a mother and daughter duo and their journey as they try to find happiness and joy in very different ways.

2. Chariots of Fire

Rating- 7.3

This film is about two athletes, Eric and Harold. They reach some sort of compromise and manage to run during the 1924 Olympics. It stars Ben Cross and Ian Charleson and was directed by Hugh Hudson. It beat other deserving movies like Reds and On Golden Pond.

3. An American in Paris

Rating- 7.3

An American in Paris is laced with romantic complications because while Jerry, an artist falls in love with Lise, a French girl, an heiress falls for Jerry. A very messy triangle is formed and the movie is quite a snooze-fest. Many people agree with the fact that Quo Vadis should have won.

4. Gentleman’s Agreement

Rating- 7.3

Gregory Peck plays the character of a journalist at a well-known magazine in New York. He gets a break and decides to be Jewish for a while so that he can write about bigotry and its effects. The rest of the movie is about how he is denied certain basic rights and refused a job.

5. Titanic

Rating- 7.2

Most people will be appalled to see this movie on this particular list because people all but fawn over it till date. It’s basically about the unsinkable ship that ends up sinking. Leonardo DiCaprio plays his part perfectly and so does Kate Winselet. But then again, it mustn’t be all that hard to pretend to be filthy rich, right?

6. The English Patient

Rating- 7.2

Directed by Anthony Minghella, this film starred Kristin Scott Thomas and Ralph Fiennes. The plot revolves around four characters whose lives mesh together during the Second World War.

7. Out of Africa

Rating- 6.9

The star cast of this film was fabulous- it included Robert Redford and Meryl Streep which is the main reason it did well. The plot talks about the life and struggles of Karen Dinesen Blixen. The other nominees were Kiss of the Spider Woman and The Color Purple.

8. Around the World in Eighty Days

Rating- 6.8

Somebody challenges a man named Phileas Fogg that he should prove it if he can travel around the world in eighty days. He accepts and takes off with a butler and bets all the money he has. It has a surprising twist which will make you wonder whether the man is as clean as he seems to be.

9. The Greatest Show on Earth

Rating- 6.7

Brad Braden is a circus manager who wants to enhance his profits during the current season. He removes Holly, his girlfriend from her spot and what follows is a dangerous competition between the two. Buttons the Clown is a part of the plot as well and the lucky audience gets to understand his past in great detail.

10. The Broadway Melody

Rating- 6.5

Directed by Harry Beaumont and starring Kenneth Thomson, Charles King, Bessie Love and Anita Page, this film from the 1930s is about two performers who come to Broadway because their fried, Mr.Kerns needs them. Kerns falls in love with one of them but a socialite marries her.