{"id":405,"date":"2009-01-22T18:09:00","date_gmt":"2009-01-22T18:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2009\/01\/oscar-winners-slipping-at-the-box-office-2008\/"},"modified":"2009-01-22T18:09:00","modified_gmt":"2009-01-22T18:09:00","slug":"oscar-winners-slipping-at-the-box-office-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2009\/01\/oscar-winners-slipping-at-the-box-office-2008.html","title":{"rendered":"Oscar winners slipping at the box office — 2008"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I devoted posts to this subject in 2005<\/a>, 2006<\/a> and 2007<\/a> \u2014 so I might as well whip one up for 2008, as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

First, a recap:<\/p>\n

2005<\/a> marked the first time since 1996 that the Best Picture winner<\/i> did not gross at least $100 million, the first time since 1985 that not one of the Best Picture nominees<\/i> grossed at least $100 million, and the first time in living memory that the Best Picture winner was not one of the Top 25 grossing films of its year. In fact, the winner that year \u2014 Crash<\/a><\/i> \u2014 grossed a mere $54.6 million and ranked way, way down at #49.<\/p>\n

2006<\/a> brought a return to Hollywood form with the Best Picture victory of The Departed<\/a><\/i>, which grossed $132.4 million and ranked #15 for the year.<\/p>\n

Then, in 2007<\/a>, the Oscars went \u201carthouse\u201d again, by giving the top prize to No Country for Old Men<\/a><\/i>, which grossed $74.3 million and ranked #36 for the year. Ironically, the only nominee that year to gross over $100 million was also an \u201cindependent\u201d film, namely Juno<\/a><\/i>.<\/p>\n

And now, it is time for the nominees<\/a> of 2008<\/a>. Here are their current grosses and box-office rankings, as of yesterday:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button<\/a><\/i> \u2014 $104,388,850 \u2014 22nd<\/li>\n
  2. Slumdog Millionaire<\/a><\/i> \u2014 $44,711,799 \u2014 62nd<\/li>\n
  3. Milk<\/a><\/i> \u2014 $20,655,400 \u2014 111th<\/li>\n
  4. Frost\/Nixon<\/i> \u2014 $8,888,701 \u2014 145th<\/li>\n
  5. The Reader<\/a><\/i> \u2014 $8,061,851 \u2014 148th<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    For what it\u2019s worth, this marks the first time since 1983<\/a> that not one but two<\/i> of the Best Picture nominees had made less than $10 million at the time of their nomination. And, between them, the five nominees for 2008 have an average gross of $37,341,320, which is virtually tied with 2005\u2019s average of $37,279,704; you have to go all the way back to 1986<\/a> to find a year that had a clearly lower average on the day the nominees were announced.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Of course, these totals can and will change, and the rankings of the various films will no doubt slide up a bit. In fact, all five nominees were in this past weekend<\/a>\u2018s Top 25, and only one of those films (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button<\/i>) has had a wide release so far; two more (Frost\/Nixon<\/i>, Slumdog Millionaire<\/i>) are expanding to over a thousand theatres tomorrow, and presumably the other two will get wider releases as well.<\/p>\n

    I\u2019ll copy the list that I compiled three years ago below, and I\u2019ll add this year\u2019s winner after it is announced February 22.<\/p>\n

    2008 \u2014 29 \u2014 $98.0 million (so far) \u2014 Slumdog Millionaire<\/i>
    2007 \u2014 36 \u2014 $74.3 million \u2014 No Country for Old Men<\/i>
    2006 \u2014 15 \u2014 $132.4 million \u2014 The Departed<\/i>
    2005 \u2014 49 \u2014 $54.6 million \u2014 Crash<\/i>
    2004 \u2014 24 \u2014 $100.5 million \u2014 Million Dollar Baby<\/i>
    2003 \u2014 1 \u2014 $377.0 million \u2014 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King<\/i>
    2002 \u2014 10 \u2014 $170.7 million \u2014 Chicago<\/i>
    2001 \u2014 11 \u2014 $170.7 million \u2014 A Beautiful Mind<\/i>
    2000 \u2014 4 \u2014 $187.7 million \u2014 Gladiator<\/i>
    1999 \u2014 13 \u2014 $130.1 million \u2014 American Beauty<\/i>
    1998 \u2014 18 \u2014 $100.3 million \u2014 Shakespeare in Love<\/i>
    1997 \u2014 1 \u2014 $600.8 million \u2014 Titanic<\/i>
    1996 \u2014 19 \u2014 $78.7 million \u2014 The English Patient<\/i>
    1995 \u2014 18 \u2014 $75.6 million \u2014 Braveheart<\/i>
    1994 \u2014 1 \u2014 $329.7 million \u2014 Forrest Gump<\/i>
    1993 \u2014 9 \u2014 $96.1 million \u2014 Schindler\u2019s List<\/i>
    1992 \u2014 11 \u2014 $101.2 million \u2014 Unforgiven<\/i>
    1991 \u2014 4 \u2014 $130.7 million \u2014 Silence of the Lambs<\/i>
    1990 \u2014 3 \u2014 $184.2 million \u2014 Dances with Wolves<\/i>
    1989 \u2014 8 \u2014 $106.6 million \u2014 Driving Miss Daisy<\/i>
    1988 \u2014 1 \u2014 $172.8 million \u2014 Rain Man<\/i>
    1987 \u2014 25 \u2014 $44.0 million \u2014 The Last Emperor<\/i>
    1986 \u2014 3 \u2014 $138.5 million \u2014 Platoon<\/i>
    1985 \u2014 5 \u2014 $87.1 million \u2014 Out of Africa<\/i>
    1984 \u2014 12 \u2014 $52.0 million \u2014 Amadeus<\/i>
    1983 \u2014 2 \u2014 $108.4 million \u2014 Terms of Endearment<\/i>
    1982 \u2014 12 \u2014 $52.8 million \u2014 Gandhi<\/i>
    1981 \u2014 7 \u2014 $59.0 million \u2014 Chariots of Fire<\/i>
    1980 \u2014 11 \u2014 $54.8 million \u2014 Ordinary People<\/i>
    1979 \u2014 xx \u2014 $106.3 million \u2014 Kramer Vs. Kramer<\/i>
    1978 \u2014 xx \u2014 $49.0 million \u2014 The Deer Hunter<\/i>
    1977 \u2014 xx \u2014 $38.3 million \u2014 Annie Hall<\/i>
    1976 \u2014 xx \u2014 $117.2 million \u2014 Rocky<\/i>
    1975 \u2014 xx \u2014 $109.0 million \u2014 One Flew over the Cuckoo\u2019s Nest<\/i>
    1974 \u2014 xx \u2014 $47.5 million \u2014 The Godfather Part II<\/i>
    1973 \u2014 xx \u2014 $156.0 million \u2014 The Sting<\/i>
    1972 \u2014 xx \u2014 $133.7 million \u2014 The Godfather<\/i>
    1971 \u2014 xx \u2014 $51.7 million \u2014 The French Connection<\/i>
    1970 \u2014 xx \u2014 $61.7 million \u2014 Patton<\/i><\/p>\n

    FEB 22 UPDATE: Updated to include the winner for 2008.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I devoted posts to this subject in 2005, 2006 and 2007 \u2014 so I might as well whip one up for 2008, as well. First, a recap: 2005 marked the first time since 1996 that the Best Picture winner did not gross at least $100 million, the first time since 1985 that not one of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOscar winners slipping at the box office -- 2008<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I devoted posts to this subject in 2005, 2006 and 2007 -- so I might as well whip one up for 2008, as well.First, a recap:2005 marked the first time since\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2009\/01\/oscar-winners-slipping-at-the-box-office-2008.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Oscar winners slipping at the box office -- 2008\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I devoted posts to this subject in 2005, 2006 and 2007 -- so I might as well whip one up for 2008, as well.First, a recap:2005 marked the first time since\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2009\/01\/oscar-winners-slipping-at-the-box-office-2008.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-01-22T18:09:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. 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