# The Best Picture winners of the 2000s

The ten films released between 2000 and 2009 that won the Academy Award for Best Picture, from Gladiator to The Hurt Locker.

- 52 votes · 10 items
- May 29, 2026 · Amanda Hill
- https://even.best/en/l/712/the-best-picture-winners-of-the-2000s

## Top 10

1. **Gladiator** (7 · ▲8 ▼1) — Ridley Scott, 2000. Russell Crowe as Maximus, general turned gladiator.
2. **The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King** (7 · ▲7 ▼0) — Peter Jackson, 2003. Eleven Oscars out of eleven nominations, tying the record.
3. **A Beautiful Mind** (6 · ▲6 ▼0) — Ron Howard, 2001. Russell Crowe as mathematician John Nash.
4. **Chicago** (5 · ▲7 ▼2) — Rob Marshall, 2002. The first musical to win since Oliver! in 1968.
5. **Million Dollar Baby** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — Clint Eastwood, 2004. Hilary Swank as a boxer trained by Eastwood.
6. **Crash** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — Paul Haggis, 2004. Intersecting stories about race in Los Angeles; a famous upset over Brokeback Mountain.
7. **The Hurt Locker** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — Kathryn Bigelow, 2008. A bomb-disposal unit in Iraq; Bigelow was the first woman to win Best Director.
8. **No Country for Old Men** (2 · ▲3 ▼1) — Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007. Javier Bardem's Anton Chigurh.
9. **The Departed** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Martin Scorsese, 2006. Moles in the Boston police and mob; Scorsese's long-awaited win.
10. **Slumdog Millionaire** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — Danny Boyle, 2008. A Mumbai teenager on a quiz show; eight Oscars.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.