Cimarron (1931 film) being "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?") to receive nominations in every eligible category. It won for three of them, including Best Picture. It would win the first of only two Best Picture Oscars for the studio, the other being awarded to 1946's "The Best Years of Our Lives". It was the first Western to win the Best Picture award, and it would not be until 1990 when "Dances with Wolves" won, that another Western would garner that honor. Cimarron (1931 film) Cimarron is a 1931 Pre-Code Western film directed by Wesley Ruggles, starring Richard Dix and Irene Dunne, and featuring
Academy Award for Best Picture AMPAS announced that the number of films to be nominated in the Best Picture award category would increase from five to ten, starting with the 82nd Academy Awards (2009). The expansion was a throwback to the Academy's early years in the 1930s and 1940s, when eight to 12 films were nominated each year. "Having 10 Best Picture nominees is going to allow Academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize," AMPAS President Sid Ganis said in