What is the lowest-grossing ‘Best Picture’ Oscar winner?
Since the Academy Awards began handing out gold statuettes in celebration of some of the finest names and movies in cinema, a collection of both genuinely good and rather unforgettable titles has been awarded ‘Best Picture’.
In some cases, movies have nabbed the accolade despite being obvious Oscar bait, ticking every box needed for the Academy to consider it a feat of filmmaking, such as being a historical drama, an epic, or a biopic. Examples of obvious Oscar bait include The Artist, Green Book, and Forrest Gump, all of which won ‘Best Picture’.
Elsewhere, some movies have won the prize despite actually grossing very little – if a movie has what the Academy considers the hallmarks of a good film, it doesn’t seem to matter if it flopped at the box office or not.
Some of the greatest ‘Best Picture’ winners with the lowest grosses include Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman, Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight, and the Coen brothers’ No Country For Old Men. However, taking the top spot is The Hurt Locker, directed by Kathryn Bigelow.
The movie grossed $17million in the United States, only earning $2m more than its budget. You would think that a movie that followed a group of American soldiers would earn more money at the domestic box office, but its gross was rather modest. While it did make $49m worldwide, that’s still a considerably small number, particularly for a ‘Best Picture’ winner.
The Hurt Locker made history when it won ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’, with Bigelow becoming the first female director to achieve this feat. The fact that it took 80 years for a female filmmaker to win ‘Best Director’ only emphasised the Academy’s sexist biases and lack of diversity, and since then, only two more women have won the prize.
In an interview with Slate, Bigelow explained her intentions behind the movie. She stated: “One of the great opportunities of The Hurt Locker was to be able to combine entertainment with substance. And I think this balance fosters this kind of physical experience of the film.” However, upon its release, The Hurt Locker was criticised by many veterans for its lack of realism in depicting the horrors of war.
While some people hated the film, others loved it and, according to Bigelow, many audiences “had a physical reaction to it”. This level of divisiveness often comes with an Oscar-winning work, so, in a way, it is unsurprising that the movie won the prize. The Hurt Locker managed to beat movies such as Avatar, Up, Inglorious Basterds and District 9, making history in the process.
