What years did the top box office movies and the nominees for Best Picture line up the closest? (I know the lists of both is out there, I’m just not a number cruncher).
And do you think there’s any significance to those years? Was the public more interested in quality films? Did the Academy recognize the value of popular work?
To get things started, I did a quick search for years when the top grossing film won the Best Picture Oscar.
1929: The Broadway Melody
1933: Cavalcade
1935: Mutiny on the Bounty
1939: Gone with the Wind
1940: Rebecca
1942: Mrs. Miniver
1944: Going My Way
1952: The Greatest Show on Earth
1957: The Bridge on the River Kwai
1959: Ben-Hur
1961: West Side Story
1962: Lawrence of Arabia
1964: My Fair Lady
1965: The Sound of Music
1972: The Godfather
1973: The Sting
1976: Rocky
1979: Kramer vs Kramer
1988: Rain Man
1997: Titanic
2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
(Forrest Gump also won and was the highest grossing film in 1994.)
Probably 1982.
(Lists of best picture nominees where most were in the top 20 highest grossing domestic films of the year. The number before each title is their box office yearly ranking. I’ve only included the higher ranking nominees.)
1982:
1 E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial Uni. $329,397,487
2 Tootsie Col. $100,768,069
11 The Verdict Fox $39,691,104
12 Gandhi Col. $11,861,444
1991:
3 Beauty and the Beast BV $145,863,363
4 The Silence of the Lambs Orion $130,742,922
16 The Prince of Tides Col. $59,335,243
17 JFK WB $58,112,996
1997:
1 Titanic Par. $338,710,764
6 As Good as It Gets Sony $92,637,620
7 Good Will Hunting Mira. $68,865,287
24 L.A. Confidential WB $39,738,569
2000:
4 Gladiator DW $186,610,052
12 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon $128,078,872 12/08
13 Erin Brockovich Uni. $125,595,205
15 Traffic USA $71,208,084
2010 (ten nominees)
1 Toy Story 3 BV $415,004,880
6 Inception WB $292,576,195
13 True Grit Par. $138,507,277
18 The King’s Speech Wein. $135,453,143 11/26
Are you kidding?
1939
If you normalized the movie attendance by looking at market penetration, it is 1939.
Period.
Take the total number of tickets sold, divide by the population of this country.
Now graph that for all years for all Oscar contenders.
…and Bob’s yer uncle, there is your answer.