The Oscars proved to be little help at the box office with no film seeing a real Oscar bounce. Only a handful of films saw any growth in overall box office or per theater average, and none had both. For most films, however, the Oscars came too late in their run to have any effect.

The biggest bounce came from The Lives of Others, which saw its weekend haul climb $340,000 or 77%. Happy Feet had a larger percent increase at 110%, but overall it was an insignificant blip compared to its nearly $200 million box office run and the same can be said of The Departed and its 11% bounce. Two limited releases also benefited with The Last King of Scotland up 23%; while Pan's Labyrinth saw its weekend box office dropped 7%, but its per theater average grew by more than 20%.

It is important to note that for many films the real bounce came when they were nominated. For instance, The Last King of Scotland went from a running tally of $3 million before the Oscar nominations were released to $15 million now. Oscar buzz accounted for at least $10 million of its total box office so far.

- C.S.Strowbridge

Date posted: 2007-03-07