THE 66th ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS : What’s Eating Nominated Studios? Nothing

It was the day the Oscars were announced and executives at Hollywood’s studios were wondering how they could capitalize on the avalanche of publicity that naturally ensues when a film is nominated.

For Paramount Pictures, the question was: What to do now that Leonardo DiCaprio has been nominated for best supporting actor in a quirky little film called “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”?

Released in mid-December, the film about a dysfunctional family in a small Iowa town has been seen only in a few major cities--a mere 19 screens last weekend. Up to that point, it seemed to many industry observers that Paramount hadn’t a clue how to market the offbeat film starring Johnny Depp as a young man torn by his relationships to his 500-pound mother and mentally disabled younger brother (DiCaprio).

But Paramount officials said Wednesday that they have had plans in place for some time to put the film on 600 screens on March 4.

“We felt we needed to go very slow, be very patient to let it find it’s audience,” said Barry London, president of worldwide distribution at Paramount.

For Disney, the question was: What to do now with the rock ‘n’ roll drama “What’s Love Got to Do with It” after Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett received nominations for best actor and actress?

The film grossed $39 million domestically by the time it disappeared from most screens by summer’s end and is scheduled for release on video in late March. A Disney spokesman said Wednesday that as a result of the nominations, the movie would now be re-released in an “unspecified number of theaters” for an “unspecified amount of time.”

For Warner Bros., the question was how to capitalize on success now that its summer hit garnered a best picture nomination and a best supporting actor nomination for Tommy Lee Jones?

The Harrison Ford thriller “The Fugitive” had gone out of wide release around Christmas. Betting it could garner an Oscar nod or two, Warner Bros. made plans long ago to re-release 1,000 prints of “The Fugitive” this weekend.

At Universal Pictures, the question was whether to stay the course? Universal had already made plans to have Steven Spielberg’s Holocaust drama “Schindler’s List” in 175 U.S. markets by this date while preparing it for worldwide release later this month. The movie has been difficult to distribute because of the lack of labs that can produce the black-and-white prints.

Universal also had plans to increase the number of theaters showing “In the Name of the Father” from 150 to 500.