Oscar-nominated films include big-budget movies, small names
The Oscars don’t necessarily have the best reputation for nominating and awarding mainstream movies.
Especially in the last five years, the nominees and winners have reflected “smaller” or more independent works, exemplified most strongly in “The Hurt Locker’s” (2008) multicategory victory over box office titan “Avatar” (2009) last year.
This year, though, things are different. In its second year of reinstating 10 Best Picture nominees instead of five, the Academy has found a way to nominate not only box office hits but a collection of offbeat films that stand as a solid representation of 2010’s strongest and most popular movies.
With the 83rd Oscars ceremony only five days away, over half of the nominees for Best Picture have crossed or are near the “blockbuster plateau” of $100 million.
The highest grosser of the bunch is Pixar’s “Toy Story 3,” which earned a massive $415 million at the domestic box office and is nominated for four Oscars including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.
Coming in close behind it, money-wise, is the other summer blockbuster nominee, Christopher Nolan’s “Inception,” with an enormous $292.57 million domestic gross. The sci-fi thriller is nominated for eight Oscars, tying it with “Social Network” for the third highest of any film this year, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Cinematography.
As of Sunday, the Coen brothers’ “True Grit” has earned $164.5 million at the box office. This makes it not only the Coens’ highest grossing film ever (significantly higher than their Best Picture-winning “No Country for Old Men” (2007), which earned $74 million), but the second highest grossing Western of all time behind seven-time Oscar winner “Dances with Wolves” (1990). It also has 10 Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Director and Actor for Jeff Bridges.
Apart from these three heavy grossers that could be said to have a broader appeal, other nominees have had spectacular success where they were expected to only perform modestly. For example, Best Picture frontrunner and nominees leader “The King’s Speech” is a rousing bit of historical drama, not the kind of movie that usually chalks up heavy returns. As of this weekend, though, it’s officially earned nearly $105 million.
Ditto “Black Swan,” whose eccentric mix of art house indie and psychological horror doesn’t necessarily play for large audiences. But on the heels of Natalie Portman’s multiple statues and the film’s Best Picture and Best Director nominations, it too has earned slightly over $101 million.
This doesn’t even take into account “The Social Network,” whose early-October opening led it to just under $100 million and boxing drama “The Fighter,” which has currently earned approximately $88 million.
This is an Oscars year for movies that people love, and each of the above films have extremely ardent supporters. Maybe that’s the key to getting people to tune in to the show — nominate films they like — or maybe this just means studios and distributors are more anxious to foot the bill on more “unique” movies.
Either way, it’s surely one of the most varied Oscar lineups in years, and with all the Best Picture nominees earning between four and 12 nominations, they’ll be battling each other across multiple categories Sunday night.
Of course, with great box office returns comes great responsibility, and it’s now up to the same financiers and producers to do their best to keep this kind of quality and diversity undeniable at next year’s Oscars.
That’s Entertainment.