A nod from Oscar always helps, as films such as "Slumdog Millionaire" discovered when the glow of Thursday's Academy Award nominations caused a surge in contenders' ticket sales over the weekend.
Although they couldn't beat out such fresher, undecorated fare as "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" and "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans," the top two revenue generators this weekend, all of the Oscar nominees for best picture got a significant boost.
Many of the nominees had been in limited release, but studios added theaters and award-season spectators followed the glint of Oscar gold. Critically acclaimed heavyweights such as "The Reader" and "Milk" sold more tickets than in previous weeks.
"Slumdog," a colorful Fox Searchlight movie set in Mumbai, made nearly a fifth of its total ticket sales in its 11th week after grabbing 10 Academy Award nods. The film saw an 80% boom week over week in ticket sales, partly by adding 829 theaters to its previous limited-release run.
The rags-to-riches film, itself a Cinderella tale after averting an original direct-to-DVD fate, blazed into fifth place by collecting $10.6 million of its $55.9-million total and is expected to surpass the $100-million mark eventually.
"This little film has got terrific word of mouth, and it's one of the specialty films that ends on an up note when so many of the nominated films are serious and depressing," said Sheila DeLoach, senior vice president of distribution for Fox Searchlight. "It's the underdog movie that became the top dog."
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," from Paramount, pushed into the ninth spot after earning 13 nominations, the most this year. It garnered $6 million to give it $111 million in ticket sales over five weeks.
With a Golden Globe win and Oscar nomination for lead actor Mickey Rourke, Fox Searchlight's "The Wrestler" was released in 422 more theaters and watched its ticket sales jump 117% to an estimated $3.7 million this weekend. Universal's "Frost/Nixon" soared 351% when it tacked 946 theaters onto its original 153-theater run.
Even "The Dark Knight," which landed Heath Ledger a posthumous nod for best supporting actor, pulled in $661,000 for Warner Bros. during a special re-release in theaters.
"A nomination will never hurt your box office, with what it gets you in audience credibility," said Media by Numbers President Paul Dergarabedian. "It's like a golden stamp of approval, and all these films are capitalizing on it."
