Good News! The 2024 Oscar Nominees Got A Nice Boost At The Box Office

Last week, the 2024 Oscar nominations were revealed and now the race to Hollywood's biggest night is officially upon us. One thing that stood out is that massive hit movies such as "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" led the way with a slew of nominations, including Best Picture. In short, several movies that general audiences are invested in are not only nominated for the night's top prizes but also stand a good shot at winning. But those aren't the movies benefiting the most in the early going as this year's Oscar nominees got a big bump at the box office over the weekend.

This past weekend saw no new major releases hit theaters. It's been a rough year so far. What audiences did have, however, were several movies such as "Poor Things," "American Fiction," and "The Zone of Interest" that were given a big boost in terms of public awareness. As a result, those movies saw a nice uptick in ticket sales. Here's a little breakdown of how much money the 2024 Oscar nominees made, and the increase that number represents when compared to the prior weekend.

• "Poor Things" – $3 million/43% increase

• "American Fiction" – $2.89 million/65% increase

• "Godzilla Minus One" – $2.7 million/290% increase

• "The Zone of Interest" – $1.08 million/142% increase

• "Oppenheimer" – $1 million/284% increase

• "The Boy and the Heron" – $637,000/24% decrease

• "The Holdovers" – $520,000/568% increase

• "The Color Purple" – $430,000/42% decrease

• "Killers of the Flower Moon" – $220,000/3,811% increase

• "Anatomy of a Fall" – $195,225/399% increase

Only "The Boy and the Heron" and "The Color Purple" decreased their take over the weekend, though those movies didn't get much love from the Academy overall, and neither were nominated for Best Picture. In total, these movies brought in around $12 million, or roughly 20% of the weekend's total box office, per The Numbers. Given that "The Beekeeper" topped the charts with just $7.4 million, theaters sorely needed every bit of help they could get.

Thankfully, moviegoers still care (to a point) about the Academy Awards. Universal decided to put Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" back in wide release thanks to the film's 13 nominations. $1 million isn't going to change the narrative too much, but it's significant given that the movie is readily available on from the comfort of home VOD, streaming, and Blu-ray. The same can be said of "The Holdovers" and "Killers of the Flower Moon." Even so, audiences decided it was worth heading to a theater to see these movies that have a shot at being crowned Best Picture.

"Poor Things" benefited the most in terms of raw dollars. The film added 890 screens and is now playing on 2,300 across the nation, meaning it's now a true wide release. The Searchlight Pictures release has now amassed $51 million worldwide and figures to leg it out all the way through awards season. A24's disturbing World War II film "The Zone of Interest" is currently in the process of expanding, landing on 317 screens over the weekend, an increase of 235 compared to the prior week. That Best Picture nomination figures to help this one a great deal as it continues to expand wide.

There's also the interesting case of "Godzilla Minus One." While the film only scored one nomination in the Best Visual Effects category, Toho's take on the classic monster has been an unexpected runaway hit. Coinciding with the Oscar nominations, the studio released a black-and-white version of the film in theaters over the weekend, accounting for the bump. It has now made more than $100 million worldwide and stands as the third-biggest, non-English film ever in the U.S. Thankfully, these movies are here to help carry the load during a particularly dark time for theaters.

The 96th annual Academy Awards are set to air on Sunday, March 10, 2024, on ABC.