Marketing costs and opaque accounting can make it hard to tell whether hot-ticket movies are profitable. Here’s our take on which 2016 best picture nominees are making their financial backers happy. (All box office figures as of Jan. 19.)
CASHING IN
The Big Short
THE BIG SHORT, from left: Jeremy Strong, Rafe Spall, Hamish Linklater, Steve Carell, Jeffry Griffin, Ryan GoslingPhotograph by Jaap Buitendijk — Paramount/Everett Collection
Global box office: $70 million
Adam McKay’s dark-comedy account of the U.S. financial crisis actually made more money internationally than in the U.S. the week after Oscar nominations were announced.
Bridge of Spies
BRIDGE OF SPIES, from left: Mark Rylance, Tom HanksPhotograph by Jaap Buitendijk — Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Everett Collection
Global box office: 7 million
Steven Spielberg’s moody Cold War drama, made for about million, has earned more than million in Western Europe—and around million in Russia. Détente, anyone?
Mad Max: Fury Road
MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, l-r: Tom Hardy, Charlize TheronPhotograph by Warner Bros/Everett Collection
Global box office: 6 million
The vehicular-mayhem adventure, which had a budget of 0 million, pulled in $222 million outside the U.S.—despite not having been released in China. That wasn’t enough to enable the movie to crack the global top 10 for 2015.
The Martian
THE MARTIAN, Matt DamonPhotograph by 20thCentFox/Everett Collection
Global box office: $598 million
The best-performing movie among the Best Picture nominees, it opened on a whopping 3, 854 screens. Some 62% of its total take came from outside the U.S., according to Box Office Mojo.
Room
ROOM, from left: Brie Larson, Jacob TremblayPhotograph by George Kraychyk — A24/Everett Collection
Global box office: million
As of nomination day, this drama was the sixth-lowest-grossing Best Picture nominee of the past 33 years, but it has a low budget to match, with three production companies sharing the risk.
SWEATING IT OUT
Brooklyn
BROOKLYN, from left: Saoirse Ronan, Emory CohenPhotography by Fox Searchlight/Everett Collection
Global box office: $25 million
Backers of this coming-of-age tale included the Irish Film Board and BBC Films. Its marketing budget was reportedly unusually high for an indie, but strong results abroad could make it profitable.
The Revenant
Photograph by Kimberley French — TM and Copyright 20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved./Everett Collection
Global box office: $156 million
It earned more Oscar nominations (12) than any other movie—and it needed the resulting box-office bump, since production costs alone (not including marketing) ballooned past $130 million.
Spotlight
SPOTLIGHT, from left: Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Brian d’Arcy James, Michael Keaton, John SlatteryPhotograph by Kerry Hayes — Open Road Films/Everett Collection
Global box office: $31 million
This movie’s tight focus on a very specific American milieu—journalists and Catholics in Boston—could make it a tough sell abroad. Its production costs were an estimated $20 million.
