The Academy Award for Best Original Score is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer. Some pre-existing music is allowed, though, but a contending film must include a minimum of original music. This minimum since 2021 is established as 35% of the music, which is raised to 80% for sequels and franchise films. Fifteen scores are shortlisted before nominations are announced.
History The Academy began awarding movies for their scores in 1935. The category was originally called Best Scoring. At the time, winners and nominees were a mix of original scores and adaptations of pre-existing material. Following the controversial win of Charles Previn for One Hundred Men and a Girl in 1938, a film without a credited composer that featured pre-existing classical music, the Academy added a Best Original Score category in 1939. In 1942, the distinction between the two Scoring categories changed slightly as they were renamed to Best Music Score of a Dramatic Picture and Best Scoring of a Musical Picture. This marked the first time the category was split into separate genres. From 1942 to 1985, musical scores had their own category, with the exception of 1958, 1981, and 1982. During that time, both categories had many name changes:
1. Non-musical scores Best Music Score of a Dramatic Picture (1942) Best Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture (1943–1962) Best Music Score—substantially original (1963–1966) Best Original Music Score (1967–1968) Best Original Score—for a motion picture [not a musical] (1969–1970) Best Original Score (1971, 1976–1995, 2000–present) Best Original Dramatic Score (1972–1975, 1996–1999)
2. Musical scores Best Scoring of a Musical Picture (1942–1962) Best Scoring of Music—adaptation or treatment (1963–1968) Best Score of a Musical Picture—original or adaptation (1969–1970) Best Original Song Score (1971) Best Scoring: Adaptation and Original Song Score (1972–1973) Best Scoring: Original Song Score and Adaptation -or- Scoring: Adaptation (1974–1976) Best Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Adaptation Score (1977–1978) Best Adaptation Score (1979) Best Original Song Score and Its Adaptation -or- Adaptation Score (1980, 1983) Best Original Song Score or Adaptation Score (1984) Best Original Song Score (1985) Best Original Musical or Comedy Score (1996–1999)
Following the wins of four Walt Disney Feature Animation films in six years from 1990 to 1995 (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King) during a period called the Disney Renaissance, it was decided to once again split the Best Original Score category by genres, this time by combining comedies and musicals together. As Alan Bergman, the chairman of the Academy's music branch said, "People were voting for the songs, not the underscores. We felt that Academy members outside the music branch didn't distinguish between the two. So when a score like The Lion King is competing against a drama like Forrest Gump, it's apples and oranges – not in the quality of the score, but in the way it functions in the movie. There's a big difference." The category was therefore split into Best Original Dramatic Score and Best Original Musical or Comedy Score in 1996. This change proved unpopular in the other branches of the Academy as Charles Bernstein, chairman of the Academy's rules committee, noted that "no other Oscar category depended on a film's genre" and "the job of composing an underscore for a romantic comedy is not substantially different from working on a heavy drama." This split was reverted in 2000.
In 2020, rules were changed to require that a film's score include a minimum of 60% original music. Franchise films and sequels must include a minimum of 80% new music. In 2021, the rules were changed again, lowering the minimum percentage of original music from 60% to 35% of the total music in the film.
Academy Award for Best Original Musical The Academy Award for Best Original Musical is a category that was re-established in 2000 after the Best Original Musical or Comedy Score category was retired. It has never been awarded in its present form due to a prolonged drought of films meeting the sufficient eligibility requirements. The Music Branch Executive Committee of the Academy decides whether there are enough quality submissions to justify its activation.
According to the rules, the Best Original Musical is defined as follows:
Winners and nominees The following is the list of nominated composers organized by year, and listing both films and composers. The years shown in the following list of winners are the production years, thus a reference to 1967 means the Oscars presented in 1968 for films released in 1967.
1930s Year Film Nominees1934(7th) One Night of Love Columbia Studio Music Department, Louis Silvers, head of department (Thematic music by Victor Schertzinger and Gus Kahn) The Gay Divorcee RKO Radio Studio Music Department, Max Steiner, head of department (Score by Kenneth Webb and Sam Hoffenstein) The Lost Patrol RKO Radio Studio Music Department, Steiner, head of department (Score by Steiner) 1935(8th) The Informer RKO Radio Studio Music Department, Max Steiner, head of department (Score by Steiner) Captain Blood (write-in) Warner Bros.-First National Studio Music Department, Leo F. Forbstein, head of department (Score by Erich Korngold) Mutiny on the Bounty Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Music Department, Nat W. Finston, head of department (Score by Herbert Stothart) Peter Ibbetson Paramount Studio Music Department, Irvin Talbot, head of department (Score by Ernst Toch) 1936(9th) Anthony Adverse Warner Bros. Studio Music Department, Leo F. Forbstein, head of department (Score by Erich Korngold) The Charge of the Light Brigade Warner Bros. Studio Music Department, Forbstein, head of department (Score by Max Steiner) The Garden of Allah Selznick International Pictures Music Department, Steiner, head of department (Score by Steiner) The General Died at Dawn Paramount Studio Music Department, Boris Morros, head of department (Score by Werner Janssen) Winterset RKO Radio Studio Music Department, Nathaniel Shilkret, head of department (Score by Shilkret) 1937(10th) One Hundred Men and a Girl Universal Studio Music Department, Charles Previn, head of department (no composer credit) The Hurricane Samuel Goldwyn Studio Music Department, Alfred Newman, head of department (Score by Newman) In Old Chicago 20th Century-Fox Studio Music Department, Louis Silvers, head of department (no composer credit) The Life of Emile Zola Warner Bros. Studio Music Department, Leo F. Forbstein, head of department (Score by Max Steiner) Lost Horizon Columbia Studio Music Department, Morris Stoloff, head of department (Score by Dimitri Tiomkin) Make a Wish Principal Productions, Hugo Riesenfeld, head of department (Score by Riesenfeld) Maytime Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio Music Department, Nat W. Finston, head of department (Score by Herbert Stothart) Portia on Trial Republic Studio Music Department, Alberto Colombo, head of department (Score by Colombo) The Prisoner of Zenda Selznick International Pictures Music Department, Alfred Newman, head of department (Score by Newman) Quality Street RKO Radio Studio Music Department, Roy Webb, head of department (Score by Webb) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Walt Disney Studio Music Department, Leigh Harline, head of department (Score by Frank Churchill, Harline and Paul Smith) Something to Sing About Grand National Studio Music Department, Constantin Bakaleinikoff, head of department (Score by Victor Schertzinger) Souls at Sea Paramount Studio Music Department, Boris Morros, head of department (Score by W. Franke Harling and Milan Roder) Way Out West Hal Roach Studio Music Department, Marvin Hatley, head of department (Score by Hatley) 1938(11th) Original Score The Adventures of Robin Hood Erich Korngold Army Girl Victor Young Block-Heads Marvin Hatley Blockade Werner Janssen Breaking the Ice Victor Young The Cowboy and the Lady Alfred Newman If I Were King Richard Hageman Marie Antoinette Herbert Stothart Pacific Liner Russell Bennett Suez Louis Silvers The Young in Heart Franz Waxman Scoring Alexander's Ragtime Band Alfred Newman Carefree Victor Baravalle Girls' School Morris Stoloff and Gregory Stone The Goldwyn Follies Alfred Newman Jezebel Max Steiner Mad About Music Charles Previn and Frank Skinner Storm Over Bengal Cy Feuer Sweethearts Herbert Stothart There Goes My Heart Marvin Hatley Tropic Holiday Boris Morros The Young in Heart Franz Waxman 1939(12th) Original Score The Wizard of Oz Herbert Stothart Dark Victory Max Steiner Eternally Yours Werner Janssen Golden Boy Victor Young Gone with the Wind Max Steiner Gulliver's Travels Victor Young The Man in the Iron Mask Lud Gluskin and Lucien Moraweck Man of Conquest Victor Young Nurse Edith Cavell Anthony Collins Of Mice and Men Aaron Copland The Rains Came Alfred Newman Wuthering Heights Scoring Stagecoach Richard Hageman, W. Franke Harling, John Leipold and Leo Shuken Babes in Arms Roger Edens and Georgie Stoll First Love Charles Previn The Great Victor Herbert Phil Boutelje and Arthur Lange The Hunchback of Notre Dame Alfred Newman Intermezzo Louis Forbes Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Dimitri Tiomkin Of Mice and Men Aaron Copland The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex Erich Korngold She Married a Cop Cy Feuer Swanee River Louis Silvers They Shall Have Music Alfred Newman Way Down South Victor Young
1940s