Oscar Bump 'Phenomenon' Has Declined; Best Picture Nominees Earn 13% Of Revenue Post-Nomination

The best picture nominees at the recently concluded 95th Academy Awards saw a smaller bump in the box office post-nomination than previous nominees but experienced a significant surge in streaming demand, according to a report.

Between late January and Wednesday, the 10 best picture nominees for the 2023 Oscars added about $82 million in domestic box office sales collectively after the nominations were announced, CNBC reported, citing data from Comscore.

Of this figure, $71 million came from "Avatar: The Way of Water." Other nominees were "All Quiet on the Western Front," "The Banshees of Inisherin," "Elvis," "The Fabelmans," "Tár," "Top Gun: Maverick," "Triangle of Sadness," "Women Talking" and "Everything Everywhere All at Once."

The 2023 best picture Oscar nominees reportedly garnered less than 13% of revenue from post-nomination box office, except for Sarah Polley's "Women Talking," which generated 77% of its revenue, or an estimated $3.9 million, after the nominations, Comscore data showed.

The 2020 best picture Oscar nominees generated around $201 million at the domestic box office after being nominated in mid-January, according to Comscore data. The 92nd Academy Awards was held on Feb. 9, weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic prompted shutdowns worldwide.

Previous nominees such as "1917," "Hidden Figures" and "Silver Linings Playbook" earned 50% or more of their domestic box office revenue after scoring a nod.

In 2014, best picture nominee "American Sniper" generated 99% of its box office ticket sales, a whopping $346 million, post-nomination.

"Many of this year's contenders sprang from earlier on the release calendar and thus were 'played out' in terms of their ability to generate Oscar bonus dollars in cinemas," Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian said of the data.

But while the Oscar box office bump seemed to have declined this year, the best picture nominations did boost demand for the nominees on the streaming side.

A report by Parrot Analytics indicated that this year's 10 nominated films had an average audience demand increase of 21% in the first week after nominations were announced.

The report, which was calculated by analyzing consumption, including piracy, social media posts and interactions, social video views, and online research on sites like IMDb and Wikipedia, suggested that much of that demand was most likely streaming.

"The Oscars bump is not a new phenomenon," Parrot Analytics industry strategist Brandon Katz told CNBC.

He continued, "For decades, we've seen contenders pick up extra box office ticket sales once the picture nominations were announced. But what has changed more recently, particularly as the Oscars have taken place a month later than usual in recent years and they've been impacted by Covid, is a streaming bump."

"The Banshees of Inisherin" had a significant increase in ticket sales between the week before nominations and the weeks after. But while ticket sales jumped 381%, this was only an increase from $73,000 in box office receipts to $352,000.

The weekend following Jan. 24, the day the Oscar nominations were announced, "Everything Everywhere All at Once," "The Fabelmans," "Tar," "Triangle of Sadness" and "Women Talking" each earned under $1 million in ticket sales, despite the bump in audience traffic.

James Cameron's "Avatar: The Way of Water" was the only film that generated more than $1 million, garnering $15.9 million in domestic receipts. Ticket sales declined by at least 21% during that weekend, though it had a successful pre-nomination run grossing more than $670 million in North America alone.

The data was affected by when the films were released, their availability on streaming platforms as well the genres of the films, CNBC noted.

During the 95th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles Sunday, A24's "Everything Everywhere All at Once" took home the coveted best picture award.

The sci-fi action comedy, which was released in March 2022, racked up more than $100 million in ticket sales, according to CBS News. The film's stars, Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis, earned their first-ever Oscar win for best actress, best supporting actor and best supporting actress, respectively.