Paramount
So let's pretend you made a film and your movie has just been nominated for a bunch of Oscars (we're talking five or six or more, even). Although the voting of the Academy members can be unpredictable and you don't want to jinx yourself, it's probably safe to assume that your movie will be probably wind up winning at least one in a single category, right?
Actually, you might want to get your hands on all the good luck charms you can find. As it turns out, plenty of films have been nominated in loads of Oscar categories but failed to take home anything at all. For some of them the reasons are obvious (like stiff competition), but other shutouts have left people wondering why for years.
Here is a list of films, including three from the 2014 Academy Awards, with five or more nominations that ended up going home without any wins.
Paramount PicturesDirector Martin Scorsese (whose name will pop up a few times on this list) has never made a film like the three-hour sex-and-drug fueled The Wolf of Wall Street. That alone garnered plenty of attention from Academy voters and it received five Oscar nominations this year. Though this included Scorsese's eighth Best Director nomination and Jonah Hill's second Best Supporting Actor nomination, all eyes were on Leonardo DiCaprio as The Wolf of Wall Street marked his fifth Best Actor nomination with no previous wins.
As we now know, DiCaprio himself is now 0-5 because the Oscar went to Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club (incidentally, McConaughey had a small role in The Wolf of Wall Street as DiCaprio's character's mentor). However, DiCaprio wasn't the only shutout since the movie itself didn't win any other Oscars either.
Though The Wolf of Wall Street got rave reviews, ultimately it was probably too raunchy and chaotic for the Academy, which generally gravitates toward safer, feel-good dramas with strong "messages." In other words, The Wolf of Wall Street didn't have a chance.
