The ABC's of Oscar

He's not the only Oscar that knows his ABC's

We continue our trio of Oscar trivia articles for the week today with a peak at the linguistics of Best Picture.  Yes, as the title intimates, we're going to look to see what letters of the alphabet are the most common letters when it comes to winning a Best Picture nomination (this is Oscar nerd-dom at its wonkiest, ladies and gents).

A Few Notes Before We Begin: For those of you nitpickers, I did not count any of the three most common articles (A, An, and The) as that would have given A and T an impossible to overcome advantage, so the title was whatever letter came next after them.  Additionally, it's worth noting all but one letter of the alphabet (X) has at least one nominated Best Picture.  Lastly, it's unlikely any of these films get dethroned this year though the rankings may change, as the 11th place between H and R would require three more Best Pictures to pull into tenth, which is unlikely to happen for either letter this year.

10. D

Number of Films: 27
First Film to Be Nominated: Disraeli and The Divorcee, both at the 1929-30 Academy Awards.  For the record, neither of these movies is particularly good.
Most Recent Film to Be Nominated: Dallas Buyers Club, last year.  Another film that is not particularly good.
Best Picture Winners: There have been four Best Picture winners that have won that have started with the letter D.  The first was The Deer Hunter in 1978, followed by Driving Miss Daisy, Dances with Wolves, and The Departed.
Most Likely to Be Nominated in 2014: The letter D has almost no chances this year in any category.  About the best that it can hope for is Dawn of the Planet of the Apes gains nominations in some of the technical categories, but after doing some major gains in recent years, it appears the letter will be sitting out this race.

9. F

Number of Films: 29
First Film to Be Nominated: The Front Page from the 1930-31 Academy Awards.
Most Recent Film to Be Nominated: The Fighter, David O. Russell's introduction to the Oscar's that led to his current omnipresence at the awards.
Best Picture Winners: Three.  From Here to Eternity kicks off its run in 1953, followed by 1971's The French Connection and then 1994's Forrest Gump.  With this every other decade trend we should hit one sometime in the next few years.
Most Likely to Be Nominated in 2014: This is certainly Foxcatcher, which does have a solid amount of momentum though it had a weird hiccup at BAFTA when Steve Carell went supporting.  Earlier this year Fury was also in the running, but it will be lucky to make the sound categories.

8. T

Number of Films: 31
First Film to Be Nominated: Trader Horn, a film from the 1930-31 Oscars that features some really impressive sequences with live animals, though it's not what you'd consider a lively film after the first fifteen minutes.
Most Recent Film to be Nominated: Twelve Years a Slave just last year not only was nominated, but actually won the top trophy.
Best Picture Winners: In addition to Twelve Years last year, the letter has won three other trophies: Tom Jones, Terms of Endearment, and everyone's favorite love story on a ship, Titanic.
Most Likely to Be Nominated in 2014: This is the first letter in the countdown that's certain to add to its total with the 2014 roster, with The Theory of Everything one of the surest bets for a Best Picture nomination in the field.  No other films, however, seem to jump out as being obvious.

6. G (tie)

Number of Films: 33
First Film to Be Nominated: Grand Hotel, which won at the 1931-32 Academy Awards.
Most Recent Film to Be Nominated: Last year's epic in space Gravity.
Best Picture Winners: G is one of the most popular letters to start a Best Picture winner with, as eleven Best Pictures winners have all started with the letter G.  They are (chronologically) Grand Hotel, The Great Ziegfeld, Gone with the Wind, Going My Way, Gentleman's Agreement, The Greatest Show on Earth, Gigi, The Godfather, The Godfather, Part II, Gandhi, and Gladiator.
Most Likely to Be Nominated in 2014: G has had a good few weeks with The Grand Budapest Hotel looking more and more likely to land somewhere on the Oscar list, though gaining that twelfth win is probably out of the question (Gravity had a better shot last year).  Gone Girl is also a serious threat for the Best Picture race, though I wouldn't say it's as likely as Grand Budapest.

6. B (tie)

Number of Films: 33
First Film to Be Nominated: The Broadway Melody in 1928-29, which was the second film to win Best Picture (and the first sound film to do so).
Most Recent Film to be Nominated: Beasts of the Southern Wild two years ago
Best Picture Winners: In addition to The Broadway Melody, The Best Years of Our Lives, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Ben-Hur, Braveheart, and A Beautiful Mind have all won for a total of six.
Most Likely to Be Nominated in 2014: G clearly has to watch its back, as B is certain to land two nominations this upcoming year with both Birdman and Boyhood looking to not only score, but likely wrestle for an actual trophy.

5. L

Number of Films: 34
First Film to Be Nominated: The Love Parade in 1929-30
Most Recent Film to be Nominated: L had a really massive catch-up year in 2012 with Lincoln, Les Miserables, and Life of Pi adding three more films to their list.
Best Picture Winners: Five: The Life of Emile Zola, The Lost Weekend, Lawrence of Arabia, The Last Emperor, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Most Likely to be Nominated in 2014: L seems to be a letter that goes in spurts, as it has no major contenders for Best Picture.  Films like The Lego Movie and Life Itself could score in animated or documentary categories, respectively, but that seems about it.

4. C

Number of Films: 35
First Film to Be Nominated: Chang and The Crowd, which were both nominated at the first Oscars in a category that kind of exists now (Best Picture was broken out into two categories that year).
Most Recent Film to Be Nominated: Captain Phillips just last year
Best Picture Winners: While Citizen Kane famously missed here, Cimarron, Cavalcade, Casablanca, Chariots of Fire, Chicago, and Crash all made it for a total of six.
Most Likely to Be Nominated in 2014: Another letter that historically was stronger than it is this year, C won't play in the Best Picture races but could factor into somewhere like Best Actress with Cake.

3. M

Number of Films: 36
First Film to Be Nominated: In what is the latest start any of these ten got, the first 'M' film didn't make the cut until 1935 with Mutiny on the Bounty and A Midsummer Night's Dream both scoring.
Most Recent Film to Be Nominated: Both Moneyball and Midnight in Paris were nominated in 2011.
Best Picture Winners: Seven films have won that start with M: Mutiny on the Bounty, Mrs. Miniver, Marty, My Fair Lady, A Man for All Seasons, Midnight Cowboy, and Million Dollar Baby.
Most Likely to Be Nominated in 2014: Despite a three-year drought it doesn't appear that 2014 will gain M any favors, as Mr. Turner and A Most Violent Year both seem to be too small to gain in the top category.

2. A

Number of Films: 42
First Film to Be Nominated: Alibi at the 1928-29 Oscars (despite what the title may intimate, this is not actually an Alfred Hitchcock film).
Most Recent Film to Be Nominated: American Hustle just last year.
Best Picture Winners: Like G earlier on, we have another eleven Best Picture winners that start with the first in the alphabet: All Quiet on the Western Front, All About Eve, All the King's Men, Amadeus, American Beauty, An American in Paris, Annie Hall, The Apartment, Argo, Around the World in 80 Days, and The Artist.
Most Likely to Be Nominated in 2014: 43 is definitely within reach if the buzz surrounding Clint Eastwood's American Sniper is legitimate.

1. S

Number of Films: 50
First Film to be Nominated: Seventh Heaven and Sunrise, both at the first Oscars and both starring Janet Gaynor, are the first of the most popular letter.
Most Recent Film to be Nominated: Silver Linings Playbook two years ago
Best Picture Winners: Though it's easily the most popular letter for nominations, it can't approach A or G in terms of actual winners as it only have seven: Schindler's List, Shakespeare in Love, The Silence of the Lambs, Slumdog Millionaire, THe Sound of Music, The Sting, and Sunrise.
Most Likely to Be Nominated in 2014: It's genuinely hard-to-tell exactly where Selma stands with Oscar, but it's definitely this letter's best shot at a 51st nomination.

And there you have it folks-the ten most popular letters with Oscar-what are your thoughts?  Any surprises (I was a little stunned at how well G does and that N doesn't make the list)-get your inner Wheel of Fortune on and share in the comments!