Surprises were few and far between at this year’s Oscars. Ultimately taste won out in the battle for Best Film, with Hurt Locker beating Avatar.
All the major categories went as expected with the exception of Original Screenplay (won by Hurt Locker, beating both Up and A Serious Man), Adapted Screenplay (won by Precious, beating Up In The Air), and Foreign Film (the Argentine entry beating The White Ribbon and A Prophet – that’s a real shock).
It’s also a pity that Barry Ackroyd’s outstanding cinematography on Hurt Locker has gone unrewarded, being pipped by Mauro Fiore on Avatar.
It remains to be seen whether Sandra Bullock’s win will help sell her Mid West, Bible-friendly Blind Side internationally.
The most interesting factoid from this year’s Oscars is box office-related. The Best Film winner, Hurt Locker, grossed less than 1% of its major, Smurf-like rival: $21.3m versus $2.5bn…
Indeed, since modern gross receipt recording started in the late 70s, Hurt Locker is quite possibly the poorest performing Best Film. Over the past 10 years, the Best Film has taken an average of $336.2m worldwide; Hurt Locker’s current take is just 6.3% of that total. If we factor out The Return Of The King’s $1.1bn, the average drops to $249.3m, of which Hurt Locker’s haul represents just 8.5%.
But box office take is no measure of a film’s merits! I wonder if the Hurt Locker’s distributors will re-release it in cinemas… While the Oscar wins will help its DVD sales, it truly is a film to be seen on the big screen.
Best Film Oscar Winners 2010 – 2001
2010: The Hurt Locker - $21.3m
2009: Slumdog Millionaire - $377.4m
2008: No Country For Old Men - $162.1m
2007: The Departed - $289.8m
2006: Crash - $98.4m
2005: Million Dollar Baby - $216.7m
2004: The Return Of The King - $1,119m
2003: Chicago - $306.7m
2002: A Beautiful Mind - $313.5m
2001: Gladiator - $457.6m
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