5 Films With Depth, if Not Breadth

And the Oscar nominees for best picture are ... five movies most people haven’t seen.

Turning its back on the traditional shoo-ins -- platform extravaganzas, personal-victory dramas, to say nothing of popular comedies and fantasy films -- the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated for best picture a group of films straight from an art-house marquee: “Brokeback Mountain,” “Capote,” “Crash,” “Good Night, and Good Luck” and “Munich.”

The five movies had the lowest collective box office since the best picture nominees of 1986; at $186 million, their total take is dwarfed by the summer sex comedy “Wedding Crashers” alone.

Depending on how you look at it, Tuesday’s nominations are either a fitting way to cap one of the worst box-office years ever or a wake-up call, a reminder that small, character-driven films have fueled the entertainment industry since it began.

None of the five was conceived as a blockbuster or big film. To a title, the nominees are politically charged stories. (It’s a remarkable year when a film about Truman Capote is considered the least controversial of the batch.) None has been in more than 2,000 theaters.

At their widest reach, “Munich” was shown in 1,498 theaters and “Capote” in 348. Compare that with, say, “Dukes of Hazzard,” which went to 3,785. Not surprisingly, the vast majority of those theaters are on the East and West Coasts.

Population concentrations dictate that most films do better on the coasts, but there is a greater disparity for the nominees. More than half of their audiences were on the West Coast or in the Northeast.

“There is no ‘Titanic’ this year,” said Gilbert Cates, producer of the Oscar telecast, acknowledging that this creates a challenge for the show, which depends on mainstream viewers. “There is no ‘Lord of the Rings.’ The creative community has chosen to honor films that are different from those the rest of the country is seeing.”

There has always been a disconnect between the top films at the box office and what the academy recognizes, said Josh Horowitz, author of “The Mind of the Modern Movie Maker.” “The academy is not afraid to say, ‘This is what we think is the best. Take your medicine -- it’s good for you and it’ll entertain you.’ ”

This does not mean the nominated films were unsuccessful. All but “Munich,” which at $75 million had far and away the biggest budget, have generated millions more at the box office than they cost to produce. Nor does it mean they haven’t had an effect -- from “Brokeback Mountain” to “Munich,” they’ve driven social discourse to an extent that far outstrips their box-office numbers.

“Hollywood [has returned] to its role of cultural arbiter,” said Vance Van Petten, executive director of the Producers Guild of America. “For every person in Missouri or Georgia who sees ‘Brokeback’ or ‘Crash,’ eyes will be opened.”

Writer Jeffrey Caine sees the films more as mirrors. “It reflects what has happened in the world since 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq, the uneasiness America feels about its place in the world,” said Caine, nominated for best adapted screenplay for “The Constant Gardener,” another highly political film. “People are drawn to movies that say something.”

How drawn will be made clearer during the next few weeks as the films begin showing in more theaters in response to their new status. “Capote” stands to gain the most, jumping from its current 325 theaters to 1,200. “Good Night, and Good Luck” will increase from 105 back to 850, “Brokeback Mountain” will go from 1,654 to 2,011 and “Munich” from 980 to 1,120. “Crash,” now available on DVD, has no major re-release plans.

Still, there is the obvious question of Oscar’s relevance. Historically, the best picture list contains at least one big, popular film.

But this year what Americans have seen in great numbers -- “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” “War of the Worlds,” “Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith,” “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” -- did not meet the academy’s standards of excellence in the acting or directing categories, either.

So will Americans care about a ceremony that honors films they haven’t seen?

Every year, the Academy Awards show faces pressure to improve its ratings in a prime-time landscape increasingly littered with awards shows. Although this will not be Cates’ toughest year -- that honor still goes to 2003, when the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq coincided with the broadcast -- he does not deny that the combination of small films and low star wattage presents a challenge.

“The issue becomes, how do you reach the numbers of people who saw the movies the creative community is not honoring?” said Cates, who has produced 12 Oscar telecasts.

One way is to shore up the star power by bringing in the big guns, such as Tom Hanks, who will be a presenter. Host Jon Stewart, whose fan base is also fairly bicoastal, was an instant magnet for A-list presenters, said Danette Herman, executive in charge of talent.

Cates also plans to bring in elements from the box-office hits, he said, by using either their stars as presenters or clips as part of the show’s film shorts.

“We will deal with the films that are nominated,” he said, “but also those that haven’t been. Unashamedly and unabashedly.”

Beyond the ratings issue is the statement this year’s Oscars seem to be making in the rejection of the so-called tent-pole movies studios count on for cash and awards. Not since “The English Patient” won the 1996 race, beating the romantic-comedy hit “Jerry Maguire,” has an art film with no recognizable stars and meager box office won best picture honors.

The promotion of smaller films is, after all, one of the goals of the Academy Awards. Whenever we witness a sweep by a big movie such as “Titanic” or even “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” there is grumbling that the Oscars have become a popularity contest.

“Most of those big movies are not that wonderful,” said actor and film historian Robert Osborne. “This trend toward honoring smaller films -- it’s a very healthy one.”

And, filmmakers argue, these movies are playing very well to the audiences for which they were intended. George Clooney, nominated in three categories for two highly political films (best director and best adapted screenplay for “Good Night, and Good Luck” as well as best supporting actor for “Syriana”), said he had gotten reaction to “Good Night” from all over the country.

“I got a letter from a person in San Antonio yesterday [saying] that a couple of weeks ago, when they saw it, the theater was packed,” he said. “I think it does play in the heartland. It’s in black and white. It wasn’t really designed to be a giant hit.”

Producer Jim Stern finds the roster of nominations “terrific” -- “that the Oscars is rewarding films that make people think is great,” he said. Like Van Petten, he believes that even though the films have not been widely seen, that could change.

“It’s important to give these films a hand up to the DVD audience,” he said. “Important for our culture as much as our industry.”

Michael Barker, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics, sees a return this year to the sort of films that used to dominate the Oscars. “Our perception has been skewed by films like ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Titanic,’ ” he said. “The [nominated] films remind me of the studio movies of the ‘70s -- ‘The Last Picture Show,’ ‘Five Easy Pieces,’ ‘Shampoo’ -- all of which won lots of Oscars and ended up grossing very well.”

In anticipation of the nominations, Malco Theaters, a Memphis, Tenn., company with 30 movie houses in the South, had been planning to show “Brokeback Mountain” and “Capote” on more screens as well as bring back “Good Night, and Good Luck.” Though there were no plans to expand “Munich” to more screens, Jeff Kaufman, Malco’s vice president of film, said he intended to do just that.

“We’ve had it on since Christmas but had taken it off in some theaters. And now that it’s gotten a nomination, we’re bringing it back into more theaters.”

Kaufman said he was disappointed that “Walk the Line,” which was filmed in Memphis and had been doing well in what he called the “heartland,” did not get a best picture nomination.

“This picture has played very well for us,” Kaufman said. “It has played very well in the middle of the country.”

For other theater owners, this year’s nominations will probably have little effect.

“If it’s a film that was strong in release when the nominations came out, like ‘Brokeback’ is right now, you might see a little boost,” said Terrell Falk, vice president of marketing and communications for Cinemark USA Inc., which has 3,353 screens in 309 theaters in 33 states.

A more tangible concern, she said, is the Winter Olympics, which begin Feb. 10. “An Olympic year always takes attention away from the movies.”

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Times staff writers R. Kinsey Lowe, Rachel Abramowitz and Cynthia Cho contributed to this report.

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Big on the coasts

The five best picture nominees have a combined average of 58% of their audiences in the Pacific and Northeast, estimates Nielsen EDI. By contrast, those regions drew 46% of audiences for all films in 2005. Nielsen regions do not match state boundaries.

*--* Percentage of ‘Brokeback ‘Crash’ ‘Capote’ ‘Good Night ‘Munich’ box office from Mountain’ Good Luck’ Pacific 27% 26% 30% 30% 27% Northeast 28 27 34 34 27 Southeast 10 13 8 10 12 So. Central 8 8 7 7 8 No. Central 4 3 3 3 3 Midwest 8 12 8 10 8 Rockies 3 2 2 3 3 Canada 12 9 8 3 12 Box office* (millions) $51.0 $53.4 $15.3 $25.1 $40.6

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*Through Jan. 30

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Source: Nielsen EDI Inc.