OSCAR HISTORY: Best Adapted Screenplay

One of the most important things to remember about motion pictures is that every single movie begins when a gifted writer sits down with an empty page and puts those two awesome words down ... "FADE IN." From there, they craft a screenplay from which every other element flows, eventually resulting in an audience sitting down to see the film unfold that started in the mind of a screenwriter, or sometimes even more daunting, a screenwriter taking an already published work to adapt it to the film medium. For either case, these were the wonderful and imaginative screenplays that the Academy selected as the best each year.


2023: AMERICAN FICTION by Cord Jefferson     (View Acceptance Speech)
2022: WOMEN TALKING by Sarah Polley     (View Acceptance Speech)
2021: CODA by Sian Heder     (View Acceptance Speech)
2020: THE FATHER By Christopher Hampton & Florian Zeller     (View Acceptance Speech)
2019: JOJO RABBIT by Taika Waititi     (View Acceptance Speech)
2018: BLACKkKLANSMAN BY Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, & Spike Lee     (View Acceptance Speech)
2017: CALL ME BY YOUR NAME by James Ivory     (View Acceptance Speech)
2016: MOONLIGHT by Barry Jenkins & Tarell Alvin McCraney     (View Acceptance Speech)
2015: THE BIG SHORT by Charles Randolph & Adam McKay     (View Acceptance Speech)
2014: THE IMITATION GAME by Graham Moore     (View Acceptance Speech)
2013: 12 YEARS A SLAVE by John Ridley     (View Acceptance Speech)
2012: ARGO by Chris Terrio     (View Film Clip)
2011: THE DESCENDANTS by Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, & Jim Rash     (View Film Clip)
2010: THE SOCIAL NETWORK by Aaron Sorkin     (View Acceptance Speech)
2009: PRECIOUS by Geoffrey Fletcher     (View Acceptance Speech)
2008: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE by Simon Beaufoy     (View Acceptance Speech)
2007: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen     (View Acceptance Speech)
2006: THE DEPARTED by William Monahan     (View Acceptance Speech)
2005: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN by Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana     (View Acceptance Speech)
2004: SIDEWAYS by Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor     (View Acceptance Speech)
2003: THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, & Peter Jackson     (View Acceptance Speech)
2002: THE PIANIST by Ronald Harwood     (View Acceptance Speech)
2001: A BEAUTIFUL MIND by Akiva Goldsman     (View Acceptance Speech)
2000: TRAFFIC by Steven Gaghan     (View Acceptance Speech)
1999: THE CIDER HOUSE RULES by John Irving     (View Acceptance Speech)
1998: GODS AND MONSTERS by Bill Condon     (View Film Clip)
1997: L.A. CONFIDENTIAL by Curtis Hanson & Brian Helgeland     (View Acceptance Speech)
1996: SLING BLADE by Billy Bob Thornton     (View Film Clip)
1995: SENSE AND SENSIBILITY by Emma Thompson     (View Acceptance Speech)
1994: FORREST GUMP by Eric Roth     (View Acceptance Speech)
1993: SCHINDLER'S LIST by Steven Zaillian     (View Acceptance Speech)
1992: HOWARDS END by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala     (View Film Trailer)
1991: THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS by Ted Tally     (View Acceptance Speech)
1990: DANCES WITH WOLVES by Michael Blake     (View Acceptance Speech)
1989: DRIVING MISS DAISY by Alfred Uhry     (View Film Clip)
1988: DANGEROUS LIAISONS by Christopher Hampton     (View Oscar Moment)
1987: THE LAST EMPEROR by Bernardo Bertolucci & Mark Peploe     (View Oscar Moment)
1986: A ROOM WITH A VIEW by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala     (View Film Trailer)
1985: OUT OF AFRICA by Kurt Luedtke     (View Oscar Moment)
1984: AMADEUS by Peter Shaffer     (View Oscar Moment)
1983: TERMS OF ENDEARMENT by James L. Brooks     (View Oscar Moment)
1982: MISSING by Costa-Gavras & Donald Stewart     (View Film Trailer)
1981: ON GOLDEN POND by Ernest Thompson     (View Acceptance Speech)
1980: ORDINARY PEOPLE by Alvin Sargent     (View Oscar Moment)
1979: KRAMER VS. KRAMER by Robert Benton     (View Film Clip)
1978: MIDNIGHT EXPRESS by Oliver Stone     (View Acceptance Speech)
1977: JULIA by Alvin Sargent     (View Oscar Moment)
1976: ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN by William Goldman     (View Acceptance Speech)
1975: ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST by Bo Goldman & Lawrence Hauben     (View Acceptance Speech)
1974: THE GODFATHER PART II by Francis Ford Coppola & Mario Puzo     (View Acceptance Speech)
1973: THE EXORCIST by William Peter Blatty     (View Acceptance Speech)
1972: THE GODFATHER by Francis Ford Coppola & Mario Puzo     (View Film Clip)
1971: THE FRENCH CONNECTION by Ernest Tidyman     (View Acceptance Speech)
1970: M*A*S*H by Ring Lardner, Jr.     (View Film Clip)
1969: MIDNIGHT COWBOY by Waldo Salt     (View Oscar Moment)
1968: THE LION IN WINTER by James Goldman     (View Film Clip)
1967: IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT by Stirling Silliphant     (View Film Clip)
1966: A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS by Robert Bolt     (View Film Clip)
1965: DOCTOR ZHIVAGO by Robert Bolt     (View Oscar Moment)
1964: BECKET by Edward Anhalt     (View Film Clip)
1963: TOM JONES by John Osborne     (View Oscar Moment)
1962: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Horton Foote     (View Film Clip)
1961: JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG by Abby Mann     (View Film Clip)
1960: ELMER GANTRY by Richard Brooks     (View Acceptance Speech)
1959: ROOM AT THE TOP by Neil Paterson     (View Film Trailer)
1958: GIGI by Alan Jay Lerner     (View Film Clip)
1957: THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI by Pierre Boulle, Carl Foreman, & Michael Wilson     (View Oscar Moment)
1956: AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS by John Farrow, S.J. Perelman, & James Poe     (View Film Clip)
1955: MARTY by Paddy Chayefsky     (View Film Clip)
1954: THE COUNTRY GIRL by George Seaton     (View Film Clip)
1953: FROM HERE TO ETERNITY by Daniel Taradash     (View Film Clip)
1952: THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL by Charles Schnee     (View Film Clip)
1951: A PLACE IN THE SUN by Harry Brown & Michael Wilson     (View Film Clip)
1950: SUNSET BOULEVARD by Charles Brackett, D.M. Marshman Jr., & Billy Wilder     (View Film Clip)
1949: BATTLEGROUND by Robert Pirosh     (View Film Clip)
1948: THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE by John Huston     (View Film Clip)
1947: MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET by George Seaton     (View Film Clip)
1946: THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES by Robert E. Sherwood     (View Film Clip)
1945: THE LOST WEEKEND by Charles Brackett & Billy Wilder     (View Film Clip)
1944: GOING MY WAY by Frank Butler & Frank Cavett     (View Film Clip)
1943: CASABLANCA by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, & Howard Koch     (View Film Clip)
1942: MRS. MINIVER by George Froeschel, James Hilton, Claudine West, & Arthur Wimperis     (View Film Clip)
1941: HERE COMES MR. JORDAN by Harry Segall & Seton I. Miller     (View Film Clip)
1940: THE PHILADELPHIA STORY by Donald Ogden Stewart     (View Film Clip)
1939: GONE WITH THE WIND by Sidney Howard     (View Film Clip)
1938: PYGMALION by Ian Dalrymple, Cecil Lewis, W.P. Lipscomb, & George Bernard Shaw     (Watch Full Movie)
1937: THE LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA by Heinz Herald, Geza Herczeg, & Norman Reilly Raine     (View Film Trailer)
1936: THE STORY OF LOUIS PASTEUR by Pierre Collings & Sheridan Gibney     (View Film Trailer)
1935: THE INFORMER by Dudley Nichols     (View Film Clip)
1934: IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT by Robert Riskin     (View Film Clip)
1932 / 33: LITTLE WOMEN by Victor Heerman & Sarah Y. Mason     (View Film Trailer)
1931 / 32: BAD GIRL by Edwin Burke     (View Film Clips)
1930 / 31: CIMARRON by Howard Estabrook     (View Film Clip)
1929 / 30: ---NOT GIVEN---    
1928 / 29: ---NOT GIVEN---    
1927 / 28: 7TH HEAVEN by Benjamin Glazer     (View Film Clip)