Life after the nomination

Oscar nominations. Ah, the parties, the glamour, the cachet -- and the cash. Yes, the Academy Awards are the U.S. movie industry’s reward to itself, but they are also about marketing, whether pumping up a film that’s been building momentum slowly or squeezing a couple of million more out of a movie that has run its course -- at least until the DVD lands.

This year’s best picture nominees have maintained a higher profile at the box office than nominees in recent years, with three of the five movies -- “Million Dollar Baby,” “The Aviator” and “Sideways” -- remaining solidly in the top 10 for the last three weekends. In the five previous years, usually only two of the nominees stayed within the top 10, and in 2003, “Chicago” was the only best picture nominee that stayed near the top. “The Hours” rose to No. 10 only once after the nominations, an analysis of Boxofficemojo.com statistics found.

“The reason why this year’s crop is getting such a boost is because they weren’t that popular going into the nominations,” Boxofficemojo.com President Brandon Gray said, “and the lower the gross, the more a picture stands to gain.”

It was part popularity, part strategy. “Million Dollar Baby” was in only a handful of theaters and Warner Bros. withheld it from wide release until the Friday after the nominations. Now director Clint Eastwood’s drama is in more than 2,100 locations. “Sideways” had been in about 700 theaters before the nominations, with Fox Searchlight expanding the movie into nearly 1,800 (currently in 1,300).

“Prior to the nominations,” Gray added, “this is the least popular crop of nominees since 1986, the year of ‘Platoon,’ which went on to win and became a blockbuster and cultural phenomenon.”

Among the choices for best picture of 2004, “Million Dollar Baby” probably stands to gain the most at the box office, and so far it has, taking in an additional estimated $46.2 million in its post-nominations wide release, as of Sunday. “Ray,” which is still in a few theaters but came out on DVD on Feb. 1, has added $1.7 million, the least of any nominee. “Sideways” has added an extra $25.7 million. (Although “Finding Neverland” has not made it into the top 10 since the nominations, it has added $12.8 million.)

The highest-grossing nominee, the Miramax-Warner Bros. production “The Aviator,” which was already in wide release before the nominations were announced Jan. 27, added another $29.7 million to the $58.5 million it had made domestically before nomination day.

Over the last five years, from the time contenders were announced till the day of the Oscar ceremony, the best picture nominees as a group generated an average of about $97.7 million in business.

Actually winning an Oscar usually adds a little more, although it tends to be limited, with the weekend after winners are announced typically the last significant gain. In the current year, the five movies together had done about $116 million in extra business through Sunday.

The picture nominees of 2002 as a group brought in $118.1 million, the most additional revenue of any group of nominees from 1999 through 2003. The current crop will soon surpass that figure.

“Chicago,” the best picture of 2002, took in more money after it was nominated and won than any other movie in the previous five years. The extra $106.1 million brought its theatrical total to $170.7 million, 164% more than its pre-nomination figure, information on the box-office tracking site shows. The next biggest gainer was “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” which more than doubled its tally of $60.8 million to $128.1 million.

Theatrical revenues for the five best picture nominees heading into Sunday’s Oscar telecast add up to roughly $321 million so far. That’s less than any of the top three grossers of the year: best animated feature nominee “Shrek 2” ($441.2 million), “Spider-Man 2” ($373.6 million) and “The Passion of the Christ” ($370.3 million).