How successful the 2018 Oscar best picture nominees really were at the box office
- In 2018, most of the best picture nominees have been relatively successful at the box office.
- We compared every 2018 best picture nominee's budget to its domestic box-office gross, based on numbers from Box Office Mojo.
- Domestically, "Dunkirk" is the highest earner at $188 million.
- "Get Out," which only cost $4.5 million to make, is in second at $176 million.
2017 was a great year for critically lauded movies hitting it big at the box office.
We took a look at every 2018 best picture nominee's budget and compared it to its domestic box-office gross, based on numbers from Box Office Mojo.
Usually, the box office doesn't have an effect on a film's chances of getting nominated for Oscars. But it's interesting to see the nominees in 2018 performing well compared to the 2017 nominees. The highest-earning best picture nominee in 2017 was "Hidden Figures," which earned about $169 million domestically.
This year's second-highest earner, "Get Out," is over that at $176 million now - and that number is going up after its recent theatrical re-release. Christopher Nolan's "Dunkirk," the top earner in this year's group of nominees, made $188 million domestically.
Indie films with smaller budgets like "Call Me by Your Name," "Lady Bird," and "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" performed well compared to their tiny budgets. These films, including "The Shape of Water," which has 13 nominations and won the Golden Globe for best drama and best director, saw spikes at the box office after Oscar nominations were announced in late January.
The numbers show that people are interested in Oscar nominees, but also in a variety of storytelling perspectives - from "Call Me by Your Name," a story about men falling in love, to the female-driven "Lady Bird" and the biting social and political commentary in films like Jordan Peele's horror satire "Get Out," and Steven Spielberg's "The Post."
See below how all the 2018 Oscar best picture nominees did at the box office compared to their budgets:
