Netflix Is Revisiting One Of The Craziest Best Picture Races Ever With December Releases

Netflix Is Revisiting One Of The Craziest Best Picture Races Ever With December Releases Netflix logo By  Abigail Stevens Published 21 minutes ago Abigail is an editor for ScreenRant, currently writing and editing movie news. You may also have seen her thoughts on animated television, musical theater, and fantasy literature in Paste Magazine, Fantasy Hive, or The Oxford Blue. She has also written SR lists and op-eds covering movies, TV, and books as well. She is an English major through and through, having graduated with a B.A. from UC Santa Barbara and an MPhil from Oxford University. Sign in to your ScreenRant account Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap

Netflix has revealed its list of titles that will be gracing the platform next month, ranging from family franchise favorites to some of the biggest Oscar movies of all time. Netflix's own submissions for this year's awards season will also all be streaming by the end of the year, following their qualifying limited theatrical releases.

Train Dreams, A House of Dynamite, and Frankenstein are already there, with Jay Kelly and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery coming soon. But December will also be a blast from the past on Netflix, with major pieces of cinematic history becoming available on the platform, though we don't know for how long.

Per What's on Netflix, Pulp Fiction will be on Netflix from December 1, while Forrest Gump will release on the platform on December 4. Both milestone movies came out in 1994 and hence were competing with each other during the awards season. Forrest Gump won the Oscar for Best Picture over nominees Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption.

Tom Hanks and Robin Wright in Forrest Gump

The fall of 1994 is a time that captures the imaginations of cinema aficionados, especially if they were not alive for it. Forrest Gump was still in theaters from its summer premiere by the time Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption were released in October, while The Lion King and even 1993's Jurassic Park were still extending their theatrical runs.

All these movies being in theaters at the same time led to a Best Picture race that still invites debate the following year. The three movies being considered all have the sprawling narratives and technical prowess to become a Best Picture winner, but Forrest Gump's being the most feel-good watch may have boosted it, as well as Tom Hanks' career-defining performance.

John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson pointing guns in Pulp Fiction

Following his breakout hit of 1992's Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino delivered Pulp Fiction, the career-making non-linear gangster epic of subtle redemption. Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, and others all give performances among their most iconic in strangely satisfying scenes while delivering Tarantino's quintessential witty dialogue.

Forrest Gump, however, uses one fundamentally good man as a POV to explore many major events in American history. The Shawshank Redemption is not available on Netflix and will not be in December 2025, but if viewers can watch it elsewhere, they can see all three movies again and ask themselves: Which one would they have voted for that historic year?

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