The 18 Best Searchlight Pictures Films

Oscar-sweeping prestige dramas sit beside scrappy indie breakouts and offbeat cult comedies from the boldest specialty studio around. Where do you stand?

1

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Wes Anderson's whimsical, symmetrically styled 2014 caper at a fictional European hotel.

1000pts

2

(500) Days of Summer

The 2009 non-linear romantic comedy about love and heartbreak in Los Angeles.

964pts

3

Juno

The 2007 indie comedy about a sharp-tongued pregnant teenager navigating adoption.

874pts

4

Slumdog Millionaire

Danny Boyle's 2008 Mumbai-set rags-to-riches story that swept the Oscars including Best Picture.

856pts

5

The Shape of Water

Guillermo del Toro's 2017 monster romance that won Best Picture and Best Director.

856pts

6

Sideways

Alexander Payne's 2004 wine-country comedy about two friends on a road trip.

856pts

7

Nomadland

Chloe Zhao's 2020 meditative road drama starring Frances McDormand, a Best Picture winner.

807pts

8

The Banshees of Inisherin

Martin McDonagh's 2022 tragicomedy about a friendship abruptly ending on an Irish isle.

807pts

9

The Favourite

Yorgos Lanthimos's 2018 period dark comedy of court intrigue under Queen Anne.

749pts

10

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Martin McDonagh's 2017 dark comedy-drama about a grieving mother's crusade for justice.

681pts

11

Birdman

Alejandro G. Inarritu's 2014 one-shot-style backstage drama and Best Picture winner.

681pts

12

Jojo Rabbit

Taika Waititi's 2019 anti-hate satire about a boy with an imaginary Hitler.

599pts

13

12 Years a Slave

Steve McQueen's harrowing 2013 drama that won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

599pts

14

The Wrestler

Darren Aronofsky's gritty 2008 drama starring Mickey Rourke as a faded pro wrestler.

599pts

15

Napoleon Dynamite

The 2004 deadpan cult comedy about an awkward teen in small-town Idaho.

599pts

16

Black Swan

Darren Aronofsky's 2010 psychological ballet thriller that won Natalie Portman an Oscar.

499pts

17

Poor Things

Yorgos Lanthimos's 2023 surreal Frankenstein-tinged odyssey starring Emma Stone.

499pts

18

Little Miss Sunshine

The 2006 road-trip comedy about a dysfunctional family chasing a beauty pageant.

499pts