Oscar gold translates into DVD dollars

By Gregg Kilday and Thomas K. Arnold

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - For all the talk of Oscar gold, this year the best picture winner will have to look to DVD to see a payout.

As of the weekend, Warner Bros. Pictures' best picture winner "The Departed" had grossed $131.6 million at the domestic box office and picked up an additional $146.7 million internationally. But because the movie hit DVD shelves in the U.S. on February 13, it's not in the position to take anything more than a cursory bow in the form of further theatrical engagements.

In years past, most of the major nominees were still in theaters during awards season, meaning a best picture win could result in a significant boxoffice bump. Last year's winner, Lionsgate's "Crash" -- a May release that hit the video shelves the previous September -- suggested that a new pattern had arrived.

For the 10 years before "Crash," setting aside the entirely sui generis 1998 winner "Titanic," the average increase at the domestic box office after a best picture win was 12%, or $18.8 million. With "Crash," the bump was all about added DVD sales. And because of the timing of its DVD release, "Departed" is even better positioned to take advantage of its four Oscar wins.

As far as the theatrical life of this year's best picture contenders went, being nominated wasn't just an honor but also an opportunity for some of the smaller films to raise their box office profile. The five best picture nominees saw their domestic box office take increase by more than $9 million between the nominations January 23 and Sunday night's ceremony.

But the returns varied significantly. Fox Searchlight's "Little Miss Sunshine," which already had picked up $59.59 million by the time it was nominated, had to settle for a little loose change. "Departed," which had been in theaters for 16 weeks by the time of the nominations, boosted its domestic grosses from $121.7 million to $131.6 million. Paramount Vantage's "Babel," which had a more difficult time finding its box office footing, saw its domestic gross climb from $23.7 million to $33.8 million. Miramax Films' "The Queen," taking full advantage of Helen Mirren's awards-season success, soared from $25.6 million to $52.9 million -- with an added purse of $17.3 million, it was the biggest beneficiary of the nominations. Warners' "Letters From Iwo Jima," which still was in limited release when the nominations came down a month ago, rose from $2.4 million to $12.8 million.

By Oscar night, though, three of the films had migrated to video.

"Sunshine" has been out since December; the day after it received its four Oscar nominations, sales rose by 60% to 200% in retail stores nationwide, according to Fox.

"Departed" bowed at No. 1 on the national DVD sales as well as on the rental charts the week of its February 13 release. Consumers bought more than 3 million copies of the two DVD versions -- a single disc and a two-disc special edition -- in its first week in stores, on the high end of what a film with a box office gross of about $130 million typically sells.

"Babel," a third best picture nominee, came out Tuesday and is expected to top the sales and rental charts for the week, though results won't be in until Wednesday.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter