Tracking Box Office

With the Oscar race heating up, isn’t it time the Oscar movies started making some serious cash? Only one, two if you count Revolutionary Road, has yet to open and have the box office challenge put to the test — however, you can see that since ballots go out on December 26, there won’t be a whole lot of time for Benjamin Button to rally at the box office to make any significant impact before voters turn in their ballots. Back in the day, box office mattered to any best picture contender. Right now, if you add in The Dark Knight, you have one Titanic of a money maker up against little teeny tiny but respectable movies. Here is how it is shaking down right now:

The Dark Knight – $531,000,000
Wall-E – $224,000,000
Slumdog Millionaire – $12,000,000
Milk – $10,000,000
Frost/Nixon – $1,500,000
Doubt – $1,400,000
Benjamin Button – TBA
Revolutionary Road – TBA

They haven’t released any of these films wide yet, which is odd, isn’t it? Perhaps they know that a nomination will mean everything, and that the film will use the box office returns to go for the big win once the film gets its expected nomination. Still, it is yet another example of why 2008 is so hard to figure out, at least it seems that way to me.

Results from Box Office Mojo