A hundred million dollars was an important milestone 10 years ago. But with budgets and ticket prices today, 150 or higher seems better as a marker.

$100m is still good even today for adult oriented movies.

M$B is on track to be the lowest grossing Best Picture winner since 1996 (1998 if it passes Shakespeare in Love).

That may be (or is) true, but still i believe crossing the century mark is a nice feat for a serius drama even in this age. Not that many reach $100m, just look at movies like House of Sand and Fog, 21 Grams or the likes how much they gross.

For a serious drama, yes, I'll give you that.

It's quite abnormal though for a Best Picture winner. Since 1979, only 10 films have failed to break $100 Million.

17 Million Dollar Baby WB $300,000 -52.2% 455 -447 $659 $99,243,000 $30 / - 19


Big drop, I think that it will need a push, otherwise I doubt it will make it.

Best Picture or not, it's not a movie for everyone. It's not lighthearted stuff and it's just not the kind of a movie people flock to see. It is outgrossing Mystic River which is already quite a feat considering that Mystic River is a more accessible movie with a cast just as great (if not possibly better).

Now if The Aviator had won, it'd have made at least $115 million because despite a ~170 minutes running time, it's far more accessible and not as heavy as Million Dollar Baby. Best Picture wins help the movies, but they don't mean box-office gold.

Let me go through the years:

2003 - Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Okay, I don't need to say much about tis one's success.

2002 - Chicago - Moulin Rouge made musicals popular again, but this one had the right timing and a great all-star cast of Zellweger, Zeta-Jones, Gere and numerous cameos. Moreover, it is one of the most popular Broadway musicals ever and even The Phantom of the Opera, despite being ripped apart by the critics pulled in $50+ million. This one had great reviews, was entertaining and as light as it goes. Besides that it had 13 Oscar nominations and wasn't overshadowed nominations-wise by any movie in its year.

2001 - A Beautiful Mind - Russell Crowe was still riding high on his Gladiator success and this biopic was more accessible than most other oscar-nominated movies in its year. While it had dark implications to it, it is not hard to watch.

2000 - Gladiator - Before it won the Oscar it was a summer blockbuster that opened the summer box-office season. It revived the epic genre and was a given success even before its release. A great releas date, good marketing and good reviews helped it.

1999 - American Beauty - Okay, this one is rather iffy, but I think the fact that it had a comedic angle to it helped it quite a bit as well. Besides that it was one of the most raved-about movies in recent memory (deservingly so), far more than Million Dollar Baby, it appears.

1998 - Shakespeare in Love - Now this one is one of the low grossers and it's actually weird that it is. I believe what hurt it in a way, was its R-rating. Unlike Million Dollar Baby, this movie was accessible as well because, in te end, it was a romance with comedic elements and not much more. I believe if it was PG-13, it'd have made even more than it actually did. Considering that this movie had more Oscar noms/wins than Million Dollar Baby and is a more accessible film, Million Dollar Baby's gross appears as excellent.

1997 - Titanic - It's Titanic. Nuff' said.

1996 - The English Patient - Here we have a good example of a not-so-accessible movie which was further hurt by the R-rating and the fact that, unlike Million Dollar Baby, it didn't have an all-star cast. This movie scored 9 Academy Award winsand overshadowed all other films (oscar-wise) in its year and yet its total gross asn't anywhere close Million Dollar Baby's. It was overlong, the perception by the audiences was rather mixed and the movie wasn't lighthearted or accessible in any way.


Here we go. I can go back further, but I think the statement is clear.

- On your opening comments about Mystic River - the castings are a draw but Mystic River was a much darker movie. And as you used comedic points above - M$B had more comic flair to it.

Mystic River had elements of

Rape / Abuse
Murder of a teenager / girl / daughter
Childhood Abuse
Kidnapping
Revenge killings

Etc.

Not exactly a light-hearted or accessible movie. Sorry but that was a bad point

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I can't even continue when the opening statement is so far off base - I will let someone else deal with the rest of this.

Am I the only one to notice that Goldie is starting the obsessive behavior with Lecter again? Ignore him, and stop with the shitty comments, Goldie... :???:

How's that for dealing with the rest of it?

Sorry Mav - I will comment on the rest of this when I get back.

Well - if Lecter or anyone is going to put stuff like that out there - It deserves to be analyzed.

Sorry if you just like giving people a pass with weak points.

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On a side note - are you ever going to get to your promised - Planet of the Apes review - I forget who you promised to teach a lesson to with your review.

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And FYI - In writing the opening statement has to be the big getter - but when it is so far off base - it just loses my interest.

It was a shitty and antagonistic comment and tone toward Lecter, and with your past history, you're not going to getting any leeway from me where he's concerned, so stop. We've ALL had enough of the obsessive negative attitude from you where Lecter is concerned. Even in the Oscar forum, you are purposely adding shitty comments in between a conversation with andaroo and Lecter. It's definitely not too much to expect you to NEVER act like that again. Lecter's comments about Mystic River were spot on, by the way, but with all the people that make baseless comments around here, that you ignore over and over, it's more than a little suspicious that you make an exception with Lecter, and decided to call him out.

I'll try to get to my Planet of the Apes review as soon as I can, but in the meantime, stop focusing on Lecter in such a negative way. If you have a difference of opinion with something he says, it's best to just ignore it and more on to something more positive, but if you can't do that for whatever reason, try presenting yourself in a way that's more polite and doesn't make you come off like such a dickhead. :wink:

I'm not sure there has been a Best Picture winner that's for everyone.

I think SiL is a bad comparison when you mention it outscored M$B at the Oscars. It's a period piece, 9 out of 10 times, a period piece BP winner will always score more nominations/wins than a contemporary film (tech awards).

We can use inflation if we really want to compare the recent box office performance of BP winners.

M$B is a low grosser in terms of recent BP winners.

I don't see the argument.

I just mean that it was still very successful for what it was. It is a dark, dead-serious, not-too-accessible drama.

Also, Titanic was apparently for everyone as it is the most successful movie of all time

Obviously, being a period piece helped SiL. Its gross won't be far off M$B's anyway, so there is not much of an argument there.

Not quite dead-serious (thanks Danger).

Everyone apparently did love Titanic, that much is true. Damn you love story/disaster film genre. :swear: