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Big Four (American film guilds awards)

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Starting in 1995, major awards collectively from the four most prestigious American film top industry guilds' associations, the so-called "Big Four":

Similar to the film critics' awards, these four guilds' awards in a single (or more than once) film/s secure its wins significantly increase its chances to the eventual winner of the Academy Awards, often seen as a strong indicator of future award success.

As of 2025, American Beauty, No Country for Old Men, Slumdog Millionaire, Argo and Everything Everywhere All at Once are the only five films to have won all four guilds' awards and ended up winning the Academy Award for Best Picture at their respective annual years.[1]

Winners

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Year WGA PGA DGA SAG Best Picture winner Total
1995 Sense and Sensibility (Adapted)
Braveheart (Original)
Apollo 13 Braveheart Apollo 13 (3)
1996 Sling Blade (Adapted)
Fargo (Original)
The English Patient The Birdcage The English Patient The English Patient (2)
1997 L.A. Confidential (Adapted)
As Good As It Gets (Original)
Titanic The Full Monty Titanic Titanic (2)
1998 Out of Sight (Adapted)
Shakespeare in Love (Original)
Saving Private Ryan Shakespeare in Love Saving Private Ryan / Shakespeare in Love (2)
1999 Election (Adapted)
American Beauty (Original)
American Beauty American Beauty (4)
2000 Traffic (Adapted)
You Can Count on Me (Original)
Gladiator Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Traffic Gladiator Traffic (2)
2001 A Beautiful Mind (Adapted)
Gosford Park (Original)
Moulin Rouge! A Beautiful Mind Gosford Park A Beautiful Mind A Beautiful Mind (3)
2002 The Hours (Adapted)
Bowling for Columbine (Original)
Chicago Chicago (3)
2003 American Splendor (Adapted)
Lost in Translation (Original)
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (3)
2004 Sideways (Adapted)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Original)
The Aviator Million Dollar Baby Sideways Million Dollar Baby Million Dollar Baby / Sideways (2)
2005 Brokeback Mountain (Adapted)
Crash (Original)
Brokeback Mountain Crash Brokeback Mountain (3)
2006 The Departed (Adapted)
Little Miss Sunshine (Original)
Little Miss Sunshine The Departed Little Miss Sunshine The Departed Little Miss Sunshine (3)
2007 No Country for Old Men (Adapted)
Juno (Original)
No Country for Old Men No Country for Old Men (4)
2008 Slumdog Millionaire (Adapted)
Milk (Original)
Slumdog Millionaire Slumdog Millionaire (4)
2009 Up in the Air (Adapted)
The Hurt Locker (Original)
The Hurt Locker Inglourious Basterds The Hurt Locker The Hurt Locker (3)
2010 The Social Network (Adapted)
Inception (Original)
The King's Speech The King's Speech (3)
2011 The Descendants (Adapted)
Midnight in Paris (Original)
The Artist The Help The Artist The Artist (2)
2012 Argo (Adapted)
Zero Dark Thirty (Original)
Argo Argo (4)
2013 Captain Philips (Adapted)
Her (Original)
12 Years a Slave
Gravity
Gravity American Hustle 12 Years a Slave Gravity (2)
2014 The Imitation Game (Adapted)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Original)
Birdman Birdman (3)
2015 The Big Short (Adapted)
Spotlight (Original)
The Big Short The Revenant Spotlight The Big Short / Spotlight (2)
2016 Arrival (Adapted)
Moonlight (Original)
La La Land Hidden Figures Moonlight La La Land (2)
2017 Call Me by Your Name (Adapted)
Get Out (Original)
The Shape of Water Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri The Shape of Water The Shape of Water (2)
2018 Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Adapted)
Eighth Grade (Original)
Green Book Roma Black Panther Green Book Five films each received one award
2019 Jojo Rabbit (Adapted)
Parasite (Original)
1917 Parasite 1917 (2)
2020 Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (Adapted)
Promising Young Woman (Original)
Nomadland The Trial of the Chicago 7 Nomadland Nomadland (2)
2021 CODA (Adapted)
Don't Look Up (Original)
CODA The Power of the Dog CODA CODA (3)
2022 Women Talking (Adapted)
Everything Everywhere All at Once (Original)
Everything Everywhere All at Once Everything Everywhere All at Once (4)
2023 American Fiction (Adapted)
The Holdovers (Original)
Oppenheimer Oppenheimer (3)
2024 Nickel Boys (Adapted)
Anora (Original)
Anora Conclave ? Anora (3)

Milestones

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Three awards

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All five films have won three awards (PGA, DGA, SAG) and also Best Picture but failed to win the Writers Guild of America Awards for categories. These included Chicago, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The King's Speech, Birdman, and Oppenheimer; The Return of the King, The King's Speech and Birdman instead winning the Academy Award for writing categories. Apollo 13 is the only film to win all three but failed both to win Best Picture and WGA.[2]

PGA and DGA

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Since 1990, both PGA and DGA are extremely attached each other can have a high possibility of chances to the eventual winner of Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Directing. With the exception of first four films (1990–1994), only twenty-three films have won two out of four guilds' awards with the remaining fourteen also win both Best Picture and Directing; each five films have won overall with the most consecutive years (2007–2011). The remaining eight films failed to win Best Picture or Directing: exceptional films did not win Best Picture including Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan, Brokeback Mountain, Gravity, La La Land and 1917; exceptional films did not win Best Directing including Apollo 13, Chicago, Argo, and 1917; only Apollo 13 and 1917 are the only films failed to win Academy Awards.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Carr, Mary Kate (March 6, 2023). "Everything Everywhere All At Once completes guild sweep with WGA win ahead of Oscars". The A.V. Club. G/O Media. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
  2. ^ "ErikLundegaard.com". eriklundegaard.com. Retrieved 2025-02-25.