With the 73rd Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday, this year's Best Picture candidates are taking full advantage of their nominations to build their box office before one of them walks off with all the glory.Chocolat and Traffic in particular have seen a host of last minute pre-Oscar openings. Lasse Hallstrom's latest saw massive screen averages of $8,014 and $9,003 over its four-day openings in Switzerland and Germany. The film has opened in all Nordic territories, the UK, Netherlands and France in the last four weeks as well as Italy and Australia where it continues to show impressive figures at box offices headed by Steven Soderbergh's Traffic.Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has clocked up over $50m internationally, breaking foreign-language film records in multiple territories including the UK where it has taken $11m. The longevity of the Mandarin-language phenomenon owes much to the awards season and its publicity machine.Even Gladiator and Erin Brockovich are not laying idly by. Despite opening in most territories in the first half of 2000, the Best Picture box office leaders have seen a spate of re-releases in recent weeks. Gladiator, which has taken an international total of $263m ($450m worldwide), returned to the arena in the UK and Italy last weekend courtesy of UIP. The UK will receive Erin Brockovich again this weekend following the films' re-release in Mexico where it opened alongside Chocolat and Traffic on March 16. The true-life drama has taken $131m in the international market ($257m worldwide).