Oscar's Got Deep Pockets
Shakespeare in Love won big at the Academy Awards and according to Michael J. Wolf, author of The Entertainment Economy, any movie that wins an Oscar for best picture is going to have "a huge bump in sales, because all of us who haven't seen the film will immediately want to go out and see it."
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Wolf says the first bump in the box office comes with a nomination. Since Life Is Beautiful received seven nominations, it has become the highest grossing foreign film in history. And art house favorite Shakespeare in Love's 13 nominations helped it with mainstream audiences. Its take so far: $69 million. Either film would hit the jackpot with a best picture Oscar.
"If a film wins the Oscar for best picture, on average, it does about $100 million more at the box office," notes Wolf.
It's not just the movies themselves. It seems these days, virtually everyone in Hollywood stands to benefit financially from this big night. Wolf says the Oscars ceremony itself produces about $100 million in revenue for Hollywood, including advertisements, caterers, makeup artists, hairdressers, and the fashion industry.