Okay, we are in the middle of the awards season right now. Highly praised films like Sideways, The Aviator and Million Dollar Baby grace most critics' TOP 10 lists and win different awards. As we all know many movies get their box-office boosted by the award buzz (which mostly consists of the Oscar buzz). Some movies profit of it to a bigger extent than others. For instance, Gangs of New York would have never made $75+ million total after a $9.3 million opening without the tons of award buzz it was getting. I mean, seriously, without all the award buzz and the wins as well as nominations for Sideways, I doubt it'd be doing the way it does right now. I am also certain that if Eternal Sunshine of the spotless Mind was released in November/December, it'd have done much more than it did back in March.

What movies do you think will benefit from the award buzz this year the most?

Personally, I think the following will profit the most:

Sideways (at least $30 million coming from the award buzz, in my opinion)
Million Dollar Baby (expect most of its gross be based on the awards buzz)
Closer (considering the rather sub-par WoM and the harsh drop in its 2nd weekend and good holds after that, I'd thank the award buzz for members of the cast)
Hotel Rwanda (If it wasn't for great award buzz, I don't think it'd even cross $20 million)


Of course, it'll help others like The Aviator and Finding Neverland as well, but I think that the ones I mentioned above would definitely do worse than how they are doing right now.

I agree. I think Finding Neverland will generate some additional money due to award buzz though.

I doubt Ray would have opened to $20 million if not for the award buzz surrounding it.

Also, Birth may benefit from the best actress buzz during its re-release.

Closer will benefit the most in my opinion, look at its cast, IF it wins some awards, then it would have a better basis for people to see it, ie. stars = reliable, hence, make more cash

Definitely Closer, but I don't really know if it will get any nominations beyond Clive Owen.

I think the two that will really pick up are Sideways, and especially Million Dollar Baby. Sideways has already made a lot of money for the kind of movie that it is, and many people don't even know what Million Dollar Baby is, so when it gets the oscar nominations (which it most certianly will), it's got a ton of money coming its way.

Thats true hehe

Well, I am pretty sure, Natalie Portman will get nominated and maybe Best Adapted Screenplay.

I have a feeling that Ray will get a wide reissue once the nominations are announced. Could it get 100 million?

Natalie Portman should get nominated, but maybe thats my bias because i think she's hot :?

It wont get $100 Million with a re-issue, but i think they might try.

Well that worked for Mystic River, but I oubt it'll work for Ray. I mean, Ray will most likely not receive a Best Picture nomination, probably just Best Actor and another 2-3 minor noms. It might get somewhat expanded, but I don't see it passing $85 million.

What wored for Mystic River? it didnt get $100M.

Mystic River got an extra $35-40 million after the expansion. If Ray got that, it'd cross $100 million, that's what I meant.

Oh i see, totally.

Round to that intersting time of year so soon.

It will be quite interesting to see how much money Sideways will make! With a Best Picture Nomination it will get a huge boost again and with a Best Picture win it will easily make another $20-30m (that would be a total of $50+m from the Award Buzz alone!)...

The legs of Sideways will be great!

I think its a certainty that Million Dollar Baby and Aviator will benefit the most - even though they can do well without much buzz.

Sideways will benefit most as a % of gross.

As of now, I think Closer is definitely benefiting from it. Though it's not really getting much awards love, the general audiences still are getting an oscar vibe from this movie which helped it to cross $30 million.

70% of Sideways' gross is coming from the awards buzz around it, in my opinion.

Looking at the dailies of The Aviator, this movie seems to be the one that benefits the most from the award buzz it's getting.

Vera Drake?

I think that it will gross more than $5 million.