Spotlight has been critically acclaimed, and has been included in many critics' Top Ten Films of 2015 lists.[69] The film has received over 100 industry and critics awards and nominations. The American Film Institute selected Spotlight as one of the Top Ten Films of the year.[70] The film garnered three Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director for McCarthy, and Best Screenplay for McCarthy and Josh Singer.[71] It was nominated for five Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Feature, Best Director, Best Screenplay for Singer, Best Editing for Tom McArdle and Honorary Robert Altman Award for the cast.[72] Rachel McAdams and the ensemble cast received nominations for the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role and the Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture respectively, with the cast winning the latter.[73]
The New York Film Critics Circle awarded Michael Keaton the Best Actor award,[74] while it won the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Ensemble cast at the New York Film Critics Online Awards.[75] Spotlight won the Best Film and Best Screenplay from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. It received eight nominations from the Broadcast Film Critics Association, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Screenplay and Best Score.[76] It won the Best Cast in a Motion Picture at Satellite Awards and was nominated for six other awards including Best Film, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Screenplay.[77]
At the Academy Awards, the film received six nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Ruffalo, Best Supporting Actress for McAdams, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing, winning Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. It is the first Best Picture winner to win fewer than three Academy Awards since 1952's The Greatest Show on Earth. At the time of its win, the film had made $39.2 million at the North American box office, which made it the second lowest domestically grossing film (adjusted for ticket-price inflation) to win Best Picture within the past four decades (after The Hurt Locker with $17 million).[78]
Spotlight was listed on over 120 critics' and publications' top ten lists.[69]
It was also voted the 88th greatest film since 2000 in an international critics' poll conducted by BBC.[79] In 2018, IndieWire writers ranked its screenplay the 12th best American screenplay of the 21st century, with Kate Erbland saying that the script "ticks along so well, not cutting any corners when it comes to the nitty gritty of real-world reporting, while also finding time to develop its characters and tell a banger of a story. It hits the right beats, but it does so in earned ways, rooted in realism".[80]
