February 3, 2008–All five best picture contenders–“Atonement,” “Juno,” “Michael Clayton,” “No Country for Old Men” and “There Will be Blood”–have enjoyed significant commercial gains since the announcement of Academy Award nominations on January 22.
Over the weekend, Paramount Vantage's epic “There Will Be Blood” grossed an estimated $4.8 million as it upped its screen count to 1,507, landing at No. 10 overall for the frame. That put the film's cumulative at $21.1 million–$11.3 million of that figure having been made since the Oscar nominations were revealed Jan. 22.
Of the five films, “Blood” was released last, over Christmas week. Vantage and partner Miramax had been waiting until Oscar nominations to begin aggressive expansion, and the move paid off.
Focus Features' “Atonement” was also hanging back for the heart of awards season before expanding too much. Since winning the Golden Globe for best drama on Jan. 13, followed by the Oscar noms, “Atonement” has grown its cume by $8.3 million. In its latest sesh, film grossed $3 million over the weekend from 1,367 runs. Cume now stands at $42.2 million.
For the weekend, “Juno” grossed an estimated $7.4 million from 2,475 theaters, keeping it on the upper reaches of the box office chart. Film's cume is $110.3 million. Of that $20.4 million has come in the two weekends since the Oscar nominations.
Miramax's “No Country for Old Men” and Warner's “Michael Clayton” had been in theaters for some time. Both kept enough theater counts to hang back in the wings until nominations were announced.
“No Country,” which added another win to its war chest this weekend with the Producers Guild of America top trophy, has the second highest cume of the five picture nominees after “Juno.” Released in early November, it's another Miramax-Vantage co-production. Over the weekend, “No Country” grossed an estimated $2.2 million from 1,273 theaters for a cume of $55.1 million. Of that, $5.6 million has come over the past two weekends as the film picked up runs again.
“Michael Clayton” is the oldest among this year's best pictures, having been released October 5. The film was playing in only a small number of theaters through January, and then expanded again to more than 1,000 runs after Oscar noms were announced.
The picture grossed $1.8 million from 1,010 runs over the weekend for a cume of $44.2 million. Of that, $4.8 million has come the last two weekends.
