Oscar nominees feel box office bump

Warner Bros’ war film starring Bradley Cooper amassed approximately 95% of its current $319.6m North American running total after January 15.

Like almost all of the eight features in Screendaily’s decidedly unscientific survey that follows, American Sniper benefited from Academy recognition.

The brief review of each film’s box office career does not operate on a level playing field because of the range of release dates, distribution patterns and film size.

However it does illustrate the significance of the nominations as a springboard for those distributors that were willing and able to manipulate the timing to their advantage.

American Sniper opened on December 25 and had grossed $13.4m from four sites by January 15.

One day later it expanded to 3,555 venues and the gross climbed to $33.8m. By the end of the long January 16-19 weekend the film stood at $110.6m.

The current running total stands at $319.6m and the film plays in 3,235 sites. At its peak the site count reached 3,885 for two weeks starting on January 20.

Birdman opened through Fox Searchlight on October 17 and has made roughly 30% of its running total since January 15.

The film stood at $26.6m by nominations day, playing in 228 theatres. It expanded on January 16 to 471 and by the end of the January 16-19 weekend had reached $28.6m.

The film’s highest theatre count was 976 during the period of January 30-February 5. It currently plays in 407 and stands at $37.7m.

Boyhood went on release via IFC Films on July 11 and has grossed 3% of its total haul since January 15.

By the end of weekend of Jan 16-19 the coming-of-age saga had reached $24.6m and remained active in 189 sites.

The latest tally stands at $25.3m and it plays in 170 sites. The highest venue count was 775 in early September.

The Grand Budapest Hotel opened via Fox Searchlight on March 7 and finished its run by August 24, by which time it had grossed $59.1m.

The theatre count reached a high of 1,467 in mid-April.

The Imitation Game opened through TWC on November 28 and grossed roughly 49% of its current $83.9m after the nominations announcement.

By January 15 the true-life WWII drama had reached $42.8m and was active in 1,566 theatres. On January 16 it expanded to 1,611 and by the end of the January 16-19 weekend the running total had climbed to $51.6m.

The highest site count reached 2,402 in the week from January 30 and the current site count is 1,408.

Selma opened via Paramount on December 25 and the Civil Rights drama’s box office has climbed 66% since January 15.

As of nominations day box office stood at $16.5m and the site count was 2,179. By the end of the January 16-19 weekend the film had vaulted to $31.5m and was playing in a historic high of 2,235 sites.

Selma currently plays in 566 sites and stands at $49.6m.

The Theory Of Everything went on release via Focus Features on November 7 and took 21% of its current $33.6m running total after the nominations.

By January 15 the Stephen Hawking drama was at $26.2m and played in 408 theatres. Several days later, by the end of the January 16-19 weekend, it stood at $27.5m and played in 509.

The film reach its high count of 1,220 in mid-December and currently plays in 466. The latest running total has reached $33.6m.

Whiplash opened via SPC on October 10 and grossed approximately 40% of its current $11.3m running total after January 15.

By the end of weekend of Jan 16-19 the drama stood at $6.7m on 189 sites. It reached a peak theatre count of 567 by the weekend of January 23-25.