Oscars 2014: How did the Best Picture nominees do at the box office?

The Academy Awards are supposed to promote filmmaking and draw some extra attention to the films that receive nominations. However, most of the Best Picture nominees wind up being smaller films that are hits with the critics, but not with the general public. This was a problem that persisted for most of the previous decade, but since the Best Picture field was expanded to at least 10, the Academy has done a better job at nominating movies that have been blockbusters.

Last year was an amazing year for Best Picture nominees. According to Box Office Mojo’s statistics, four of the nominees had reached past $100 million before they were nominated (Argo, Lincoln, Les Miserables and Django Unchained). A fifth made it past $90 million (Life of Pi). By the time the films ended their theatrical runs, six of the nine ended up with over $100 million (Silver Linings Playbook joined the group) and one made it past $90 million (Zero Dark Thirty). Ben Affleck’s Argo, which wound up winning Best Picture, finished its run with $136 million. The top-grossing nominee was Lincoln, which finished with $182 million. In total, the Best Picture nominees grossed $1 billion. Sure, that’s one Avengers movie, but it still shows that the most of the nominees were loved by the public, too.

This year’s nine movies are actually doing a bit better, based on the current numbers. Four have reached $100 million (Gravity, The Wolf of Wall Street, American Hustle and Captain Phillips) and only one - Gravity - has reached $200 million.

Gravity is currently up to $269.5 million domestically, which is astonishing. The movie has been a crossover hit and is easily one of the frontrunners for the Best Picture statue. While it is a beloved movie (positive reviews certainly help), there are two main factors for its success.

First, the movie is only 90 minutes. That allowed theaters across the country to squeeze in more showings. The second is that everyone wanted to see it in IMAX. Alfonso Cuaron made a movie that needed to be seen in the large format and audiences understood that, even if it meant shelling out too much for a single ticket.

The other front runner for Best Picture is Fox Searchlight’s 12 Years A Slave. Although the film was released back in October and expanded nationwide in November, it’s still only up to $49.36 million so far.

The lowest-grossing Best Picture nominee this year is Nebraska, which has only made $16.7 million. Although Alexander Payne’s The Descendants was a beloved hit, he made Nebraska on a much smaller scale, opting to shoot in black and white. Plus, the star is Bruce Dern, not George Clooney. It’s a case where critics loved it, but audiences didn’t turn out. (When this author saw the movie, it was practically a private screening.)

The main difference between this year’s class and last year’s class is that some of them have already hit home video or are about to. Two nominees were released this week - Nebraska and Gravity. Dallas Buyers Club and Captain Phillips have also already been released. Philomena is scheduled for Tuesday.

If 12 Years A Slave actually wins, it will make its post-Oscar money on Blu-ray as well, since it comes out on Tuesday. The film will still be in theaters and could, like Affleck’s film, still make money in theaters for people who want to see it on a big screen. (It really does need to be seen on the big screen).

Of course, all these dollar figures really only matter to the studios, but it really is interesting to see which films have clicked with both audiences and the industry. What does matter is if these are good movies or not and it’s still true that 2013 was a strong year for the industry.

Here’s how the movies have done so far, based on Box Office Mojo’s numbers:

Gravity - $269.5 million (Warner Bros.)
American Hustle - $144.7 million (Sony)
The Wolf of Wall Street - $113 million (Paramount)
Captain Phillips - $106.9 million (Sony)
12 Years A Slave - $49.3 million (Fox Searchlight)
Philomena - $33.4 million (TWC)
Dallas Buyers Club - $24.8 million (Focus Features)
Her - $24.1 million (Warner Bros.)
Nebraska - $16.7 million (Paramount)

The Oscars are on Sunday, live on ABC.

image courtesy of Warner Bros.