Everything Everywhere All at Once Passes Return of the King as Most-Awarded Movie Ever

Everything Everywhere All at Once can add another historic win to its list. 

According to IGN’s calculations, the multiversal hit is now the most-awarded film ever with 158 accolades to date from major critics organizations and awards bodies. This spot was previously held by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which earned 101 major awards by IGN’s math.

IGN painstakingly tallied every single accolade Everything Everywhere All at Once has received this awards season, including those from major critics organizations and pre-Oscars awards such as the Golden Globes, SAG Awards, and Indie Spirits. 

Now, some caveats, and why our math may look different from yours: not every single critics’ organization made the cut, and neither did things like IGN’s own year-end best-of list. If every single nomination and award was counted, Everything Everywhere All At Once would still beat out Return of the King in both awards and nominations (336 awards, 691 nominations to 213 awards, 337 nominations).

Additionally, in the 20 years since the release of Return of the King, a whole new slew of organizations, critics circles, and websites began giving out their own awards to movies. For EEAAO, the amount of awards it won was heavily influenced by the number of organizations that nominated it (110 compared to ROTK’s 90).

In an effort to level the playing field, IGN narrowed the list down to only award-giving bodies that recognized both films. Out of the 152 total organizations that gave nominations to EEAAO and ROTK, only 45 recognized both films. Narrowing down their totals to just these 45 organizations, EEAAO still has ROTK beat when it comes to awards (138 to 127), nominations (295 to 189), and organizations that gave them an award (39 to 37). See below a quick look at IGN’s math.

There’s no doubting Everything Everywhere All at Once’s breakthroughs in Hollywood over this past year. Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan made history at the SAG Awards last month for their portrayals of Evelyn Wang and Waymond Wang, respectively. Yeoh became the first Asian best actress film winner in SAG history, while Quan became the first Asian male to win the outstanding supporting actor award in film. 

With 11 Oscar nominations under its belt, Everything Everywhere All at Once could score big at the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday.

Michaela Zee is a freelance news writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @michaelakzee.