Barbie’s Oscar Failure Continues A Disappointing 22-Year Trend

Barbie may not have won as many Oscars as some expected, but it still did very well, despite missing out on an award that continues the losing streak for one of the movie’s genre labels. The Greta Gerwig project was a lighthearted adventure with some powerful underlying themes. The method of conveying the movie’s messages varied, but one of the storytelling devices of which Barbie made heavy use was arguably a sign the film was always doomed to fail in one key category.

Margot Robbie led the Barbie cast to the top of the 2023 box office charts. Despite its cultural impact, immense financial success, and every song on the Barbie soundtrack being performed by a superstar, the movie only came away with six Oscars. While this is still impressive, it’s a much lower figure than some were anticipating. However, one of the awards on which Barbie missed out perhaps isn’t so surprising when similar movies are taken into account.

Barbie Continues The Oscars’ Disappointing Musicals Trend

A musical hasn’t won Best Picture since 2002’s Chicago

The harsh truth of the matter is that musicals just don’t tend to win the Oscar for “Best Picture” very often. While Barbie is perhaps less of a true musical than past winners, there is still a strong argument for it to belong solidly within the category. When the Oscars began in 1927, it only took two years for 1929’s The Broadway Melody to take home the Best Picture award. However, only nine other musicals have since won the award. Even then, the vast majority of musical Best Picture winners came in the 20th century.

2002’s Chicago was the last musical to win in the coveted Oscars category, and that was over two decades ago. The musical genre’s failures in this area haven’t been due to a lack of suitable candidates. There have been plenty of brilliant musical movies since 2002 that haven’t won the Best Picture Oscar either. That being said, Barbie did better than most by even receiving a nomination in the category. Even more recent phenomena, like 2017’s The Greatest Showman or 2021’s Encanto, weren’t put forward for Best Picture at all.

The Oscars’ Musical Record Proves How Unlikely Barbie Was To Win Best Picture

Barbie was always fighting an uphill battle

Out of all 10 Oscars 2024 Best Picture nominees, Barbie was seen as one of the favorites. Even with Barbie‘s status as a musical, the movie was expected by many to break the streak of losses that started the year following 2002’s Chicago. However, history repeating itself once again was a foregone conclusion. If any movie was set to end the musical Best Picture shut-out, it was Barbie, but the unfortunate record will continue for at least another year.