‘Anora’ is among the lowest-grossing Best Picture winners of the modern era
One year after Oppenheimer became one of the highest-grossing Best Picture of all time, the Academy bestowed its top prize on Anora, one of the lowest-grossing winners in the modern era.
With $15.6 million in domestic ticket sales and just over $40 million worldwide, Anora is the lowest-grossing Best Picture winner since The Hurt Lucker, except the pandemic-impacted Nomadland ($39 million) and the streaming film CODA (less than $3 million worldwide, with no significant U.S. theatrical release).
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The only Best Picture winners to gross less than $50 million worldwide since 1990 are The Hurt Locker, Nomadland, CODA, and Anora.
However, despite the low gross, Anora was an unqualified success for filmmaker Sean Baker and distributor Neon even before it won five Oscars on Sunday night, including a record four individual awards for Baker (he’s the first person to ever win four Oscars for the same film in one night).
Anora was reportedly produced for roughly $6 million and funded independently, as Baker has said several times throughout awards season — including on the Oscars stage. Neon released the film in theaters in October and kept it in theaters for months as it accrued goodwill and precursor prizes. It’s a model that Baker praised while accepting Best Director and urged distributors and filmmakers to follow.
“We’re all here tonight and watching this broadcast because we love movies. Where did we fall in love with the movies? At the movie theater,” Baker said. “Watching a film in the theater with an audience is an experience. We can laugh together, cry together, and, in a time in which the world can feel very divided, this is more important than ever. It’s a communal experience you don’t get at home. And right now, the theater-going experience is under threat.”
“Distributors, please focus first and foremost on the theatrical releases of your film. Neon did that for me, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Baker added. “Parents, introduce your children to feature films in movie theaters and you’ll be molding the next generation of movie lovers and filmmakers. And when we can, please watch movies in the theater and let’s keep the great tradition of the movie-going experience alive and well.”
Titanic is the highest-grossing Best Picture winner, followed by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Oppenheimer. The only films that grossed $1 billion and won Best Picture are Titanic and Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
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