 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Hollywood's biggest grossers don't make it to the Oscars!
If the latest study in Hollywood is any indication, there are two types of successful films.
There are films that break box office records and others that reign supreme at the Oscars.
According to a study conducted by boxofficemojo.com, some of the biggest blockbusters have been consistently facing disappointment at the Oscars while the ones that have clinched the top honours at Academy Awards only managed to do decent business.
Take, for instance, The Artist, that clinched all the top awards this year including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Film.
Quite interestingly, the film made only $77 million at the box office. Before you gape at us for saying 'only' for the seemingly staggering figure, let's consider the fact that it is one of the most universally acclaimed films in recent times.
The figure also appears modest if you compare it to the earnings of this year's top grosser Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows 2. The last film in the franchise made a whopping $ 1.33 billion but got three nominations in the Art Direction, Visual Effects and Makeup categories. It lost out on all counts.
Here's looking at how the trend has shaped up in the last decade.
The King's Speech and Toy Story 3
Last year's big winner The King's Speech won in the top two categories -- Best Picture and Best Actor -- and made $ 414 million at the box office.
2011's top grosser Toy Story 3 made $ 1.6 billion but won in only Best Animated Film and Best Song categories.
It was also nominated in the Best Picture, Best Sound Editing and Best Adapted Screenplay categories.
The Hurt Locker and Avatar
Kathryn Bigelow's 2009 American war film The Hurt Locker made $49 million at the BO but was nominated for nine Oscars.
The film went on to win in six categories in 2010 including Best Director, Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.
On the other hand, Bigelow's former husband James Cameron's epic 3D extravaganza Avatar raked in $ 2.78 billion but won in three categories -- Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, and Best Art Direction.
Slumdog Millionaire and The Dark Knight
Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire swept the Oscars in 2009 with eight wins out of 10 nominations including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.
It made $378 million at the box office as compared to that year's The Dark Knight that made a whopping $ 1 billion.
The Dark Knight received eight nominations and won for two -- Best Sound Editing and Best Supporting Actor for the late Heath Ledger.
No Country For Old Men and Spiderman 3
One of the highly acclaimed films of 2007, No Country For Old Men won four out of eight categories it was nominated in in 2008, including Best Picture. It earned $ 172 million during its run in the theatres as opposed to Spiderman 3 that made $ 891 million.
The superhero flick didn't recieve any Academy award nominations.
The Departed and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Martin Scorsese's multi-starrer crime thriller The Departed was the big winner at the 2007 Oscars. The film won four Academy awards including Best Picture and Best Director.
It also earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Mark Wahlberg. But the film made $290 million against the year's top grosser Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest film's $ 1.9 million.
The Pirates film garnered four Oscar nominations and won only for Visual Effects.
Crash and Star wars Episode 3
American drama Crash won three Oscars in 2006 -- Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing and made a modest $ 98 million at the BO while Star Wars Episode 3 raked in $ 849 million.
The film was nominated for just one Oscar -- in the Makeup category which went to The Chronicles Of Narnia.
Million Dollar Baby and Shrek 2
Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby won four Academy awards in 2005 including Best Picture and raked in $ 217 million as opposed to the year's highest grosser Shrek 2 that made $ 920 million.
Shrek 2, however, was nominated in the Best Animated Film category but lost out to The Incredibles.
The Lord Of The Rings
It was probably the only exception of the decade when The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King earned the distinction of becoming the highest grossing film of 2003, surpassing Finding Nemo and winning all the 11 Oscar categories it was nominated in, breaking all previous records in 2003.
The film became one of the greatest critical and box offcie successes of all time.
Chicago and Spiderman
Chicago won six Oscars in 2002 including Best Picture and made an impressive $ 307 million too.
But Spider-Man came out on top as the highest grossing film of the year with $ 822 million in earnings even though lost out in the two Oscar categories it was nominated in -- Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Mixing.